Review: Bloomsbury in Wiltshire

 I don't feel like I've been out and about much of late - the hot weather is not my favourite and so I've been staying in, but on the way back from visiting my Dad, we popped into Salisbury Museum to visit their current exhibition, Bloomsbury in Wiltshire...

I've been to Charlston on a few occasions now and absolutely loved it, but had no idea of the relationship between the Bloomsbury set and my home county. Turns out there are plenty of links, not least Ham Spray House, home of Carrington, Lytton Strachey, Ralph Partridge and Frances Partridge. There is also Cleeve House in Seend, not far from my home-town Devizes, Mill Cottage and Brook House in the south of the county, home of Julia Strachey, Stephen Tomlin (Mill Cottage) and Henry and Lady Pansy Lamb (Brook House). There is also the Guinness family house, Biddesden House, where Carrington painted a trompe l'oeil window in 1931. Blimey, I had no idea...

Well, mercifully, Salisbury Museum, next to the glorious cathedral, has an exhibition to sort all that out. In two big rooms of glorious stuff, it tells the story of how these complex, talented people lived, loved and worked in a few beautiful houses. Starting with Strachey and Carrington, possibly the best known of this side of Bloomsbury thanks to the 1995 film, and Ham Spray House, you can see artworks from this period when they lived together with Carrington's husband, Ralph Patridge.  There is a lovely pencil sketch of Carrington by Mark Gertler...

Carrington's work is unusual and it is a treat to see it. I was particularly struck by the Lily which was made from oil, ink and silver foil on glass which made it glitter...

A Lily in Spanish Landscape (c.1928) Carrington

Now, here is a slight criticism and I completely understand the problem - Carrington is also Dora Carrington and throughout the exhibition both versions of her name are used, which is not exactly confusing but a bit inconsistent (I was very hot and slightly sun-stroked and for a few minutes thought it was two people, I admit). It is definitely not as straightforward as Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein) who was Gluck and only Gluck, but I would definitely have stuck to one and possibly 'Carrington' would have respected the artist's wishes (she hated her first name and thought it vulgar). Anyway, possibly the most touching object in the room was a lock of Carrington's hair...

There are two locks, one given to Gerald Brenan, who she painted in 1921, and one taken on the day she died, together with flowers gathered on that day. She died in a tragic manner, taking her own life after the death of her close friend, Lytton Strachey. 

Gerald Brenan (1921) Carrington

Blimey, next room please...

Bust of Julia Strachey (1928) Stephen Tomlin

A frequent visitor to Ham Spray House (which, I'm sorry, sounds like a ham-scented perfume) was Lytton's niece Julia, writer, who met sculptor Stephen Tomlin there. The couple married in 1927 and moved to Mill Cottage, Swallowcliffe. Among other visitors were more familiar names, such as Duncan Grant...

Self Portrait (1909) Duncan Grant

Duncan Grant was also a cousin of Strachey (it's a small world) and at least two of Grant's paintings were displayed at Ham Spray House. There are also beautiful paintings by other friends, such as Vanessa Bell...

Venice, Gesuati (c.1930) Vanessa Bell

as well as decorated tiles by Carrington...

Ham Spray Tile, decorated by Carrington

...and paintings showing friends working in their own interiors, making you feel this was a world within our own post-war world.

Raymond Mortimer sitting at a desk at Long Crichel (undated) Edward Le Bas

It is quite easy to forget there were more people under the Bloomsbury umbrella that just the Woolfs and Bells - in that way, it is very similar to the Pre-Raphaelites. Carrington is Bloomsbury-adjacent, and you can see the ethos and mindset of that group spreading across the southern counties, painting, writing and living in a challenging (and privileged) way. There is a romance to all that free love and heartbreak and the art is undeniably beautiful, so take yourself off to Salisbury and enjoy a thorough gorgeous exhibition of the little-known aspects of Wiltshire history.

Bloomsbury in Wiltshire is on until 27th September and more information can be found here.

Unexpectedly Modern Janet

 Often my favourite blog posts are ones where I stumble across an artist while nosing around something else. Today's subject/victim is a prime example of this - I was looking at a catalogue of the Women's Exhibition at Earl's Court from 1900 (as you do) and the second artist listed was Janet Fisher. In my ignorance, I was shocked that there were Victorians called Janet (there were a fair number) but the peak was in the mid-twentieth century, so I wasn't being a complete idiot (on this occasion). Anyway, I looked into Miss Fisher's work and liked it so much, I thought I'd show you too.

Gathering Firewood (no date)

Janet Caroline Fisher was born in the winter of 1862 to Frederic Colborne Fisher and Rosamond Adelin (no 'e' on the end), who were living in Walton-on-Trent. Frederic was a rector, with the family growing rapidly after their marriage in 1856. Janet was towards the end, with Rosamond Adeline (with an 'e') (1857-1932), Mary Colborne (1858-1940), Frederic Colborne  jnr (1860-1942), Charles John (1861-1947) all preceding her and only Arthur Colborne (1864-1896) and George Colborne (1867-1867) after her. In 1871, the family was ensconced in the Walton Rectory with half a dozen servants, including a governess. 'Miss Janet' as she was known to the village, was held in high regard and her career seems to have been followed in the way that successful artists from small town seem to be.  She began her training at Derby Art School, a glorious building currently on the endangered list. She then became a 'Slade girl,' taught by Alphonse Legros at the Slade School of Art during his tenure between 1867 and 1892.  I'm guessing that Janet was towards the latter end as in the census of 1881 she appears with no occupation but in 1891 she is finally declared an 'Art Student (Painting)'. To complete her tour of every art school available, she spent time at the Herkomer School at Bushey. Again, she was pushing that deadline as there were only two rules for Bushey - you had to be unmarried and under 28. Interestingly, by the time she started exhibiting, she was over thirty which is a mark of either her family situation (her mother died in 1888) or that her class and background gave her the leisure to work at her own pace.

Distant Thoughts (Day Dreams) (undated)

The first mention I could find for her in an exhibition is in 1894 at the Institute of Oils where she showed a 'clever low-toned' Study of a Head (as Lady's Pictorial called it) and Day Dreams. The former was a portrait of a gypsy child with curly hair, which also drew admiration from Queen magazine. I can't find anything until her debut at the Royal Academy in 1897 with At the Well. At this point it went past unnoticed, but that would change.

Woman Knitting (no date)

Quick note - as you will no doubt notice, it has been a struggle to find any of the pictures she actually showed and was commended for.  I have no idea why that is, but the couple of relevant ones I could find I was grateful for. Also, I wonder if there is a problem of title changes, so things might not have the same title they had to begin with.  Anyway, onwards.

 Her 1898 outing was the summer exhibition of the Dudley Art Gallery, where she showed her 'luminous and interesting' Driving Home the Geese (according to the African Critic) which was praised as perfecting 'the clear darkness of evening before the moon has gained its strength' (according to the Gentlewoman).  The year later, Janet appeared at the Crystal Palace annual exhibition with At the Well, which won a silver medal and was mentioned in many newspaper articles. She also showed  Evening in Holland at the Derby Art Gallery exhibition. She also had "I ply my Spinning Wheel" at the RA.  She also lost her father in December which might have provided her with some funds to continue her life as a single artist.

At the Spinning Wheel (I Ply My Spinning Wheel?) (no date)

The turn of the century brought Through Dutch Meadows to the RA, but that was ignored in favour of At the Well (again) which appeared at the Earl's Court exhibition. Although mainly run by men, I think we need to give some credit to the fact this was a women's exhibition but there are still shades of 'really good but not 'man good'' in the introduction.  Rosa Bonheur was the only one seen as an equal to men on canvas (sorry Lady Butler), who had died the year before. Anyway, the Fine Art Committee consisted of Cecilia Beaux (American artist), Henriette Ronner (Dutch artist), Marchioness of Granby (Violet Manners, British artist), Marianne Stokes (Austrian artist), Feodora Gleichen (British sculptor), Annie Swynnerton (British artist), Anna Lea Merritt (Anglo-American artist), Henrietta Ward (Mrs E M Ward, British artist) and Mary Watts (Mrs G F Watts, British artist). Mercifully, there were also a couple of men there to keep an eye on them, Francis Howard and S Laing Moffett (the curator). In Francis Howard's introduction to the fine art section of the exhibition, he quotes a critic who held that fine art was for manly strong hands and in lady hands it would inevitably become dangerous, which is apparently not true. The second introduction reiterated that women were, in fact, not terrible at art, so it would be a lovely exhibition. I do feel that the number of articles you need to read before actually reaching the list of paintings shown smacks of trying to convince people rather than comment on the paintings and artists. Anyway, Janet's well is the second painting listed.

Happy Holland (no date)

At the Society of women artist in 1900, Janet showed a painting of a little girl examining a chestnut, Under the Sweet Pea Hedge, mentioned in both Ladies Field and The Queen. According to her obituary (spoiler alert, she dies in the end) once her parents died, Janet was off to London to the studio she would keep for the rest of her life, but as we have seen in such articles, that isn't exactly true and is a rather simplified version of events. Janet's address in the RA catalogues (such a useful resource for between census) is the Walton Rectory until 1900. She seems to be missing from the 1901 census (as do a couple of her siblings) and so I wondered if she travelled to the continent, using the rectory (now home to her brother who had taken over the role at the church) as a base. In 1902 she was back at the RA with Angele, mentioned in Ladies Field but not described. Her painting of a fisher-girl shown at the Dudley Gallery in June reminded the Lady's Pictorial of Mrs Stanhope Forbes. I wonder if they were aware of her drawing of Polperro, Cornwall that had appeared at the Society of Women Artists in February?

On the Breezy (no date)

In 1903 Janet again appeared at the Society of Women Artists with Little Bo-Peep which the Ladies Field called 'quaint'. It is described by the Queen magazine as 'a child seated, asleep among lambs and primroses,' an illustration for the nursery rhyme. At the Society of Oil Painters, she showed Old Normandy Shepherdess which was deemed 'very good' by the Northern Whig newspaper. 1904 saw another continental picture, Weighing Figs on Santa Margherita at the Dudley Gallery. She also sent A Procession to the Derby Art Gallery autumn exhibition, showing a boy leading geese as he plays his pipe. It is interesting that when Janet was not at the RA, she seemed to garner far more attention which I suppose is due to the difference in critic.  For something as establishment as the RA, I bet they send their Jonathan Jones-type but for the smaller or less formal galleries, they get someone else who actually likes art. 

The Little Shepherdess (c.1915)

In 1905 the Dudley Gallery had to move out of the Egyptian Hall due to its demolition (shame) and found refuge in the Alpine Club in Mill Street (which sounds lovely). The World claimed the cleverest drawing in the whole exhibition was Janet Fisher's A Venetian Silhouette. Janet was also one of two new members of the Dudley Gallery and had two pieces displayed, the second being an evening sky with tall poplars and a flock of sheep, which might be The Little Shepherdess (although the Wilson gallery who own it have it as c.1915) but the description mentions the sheep are coming towards us, so possibly something similar. At the Women's International Art Club at the Grafton Galleries, she appeared with another sheep-y picture, Counting the Flock mentioned in the Black and White journal as being notable. Most importantly, Janet had her first one-man show at the Ryder Gallery in Mayfair, showing around sixty works described by the Manchester Evening News as displaying 'much charm and spontaneity of feeling.' The works were all landscapes, with only a few being native, the rest from Normandy, Venice, San Remo and Bordighera.

Picking Bluebells (Bluebells ?) (no date)

The 1906 Dudley Art Show, again at the Alpine Club, was exceptional only for the inclusion of Japanese artist Ishibashi Kazunori.  The Daily News didn't find Mr Ishibashi very Japanese though, feeling that Whistler did better Japanese stuff, which is a bold assertion. Janet's landscape painting, Bluebells, was one of the few others that were felt to be acceptable in an otherwise rough review. Despite not appearing at the RA again, she had a strong showing at the Oil Institute with Knitting, and also showed a profile of a child entitled Evening Primroses and The Goatherd at the Society of Women Painters, which were admired by the Lady's Pictorial. She also showed Counting the Flock at the Dore Gallery in March, Little Bo Peep (again) at the Bristol Fine Arts Academy in February and Homeward in an autumn show in London. On the whole, you can see Janet's profile rising gradually, her pictures being mentioned, maybe not as the highlight of the show but always as an honourable mention.

Girl Knitting (no date)

1907 and still not RA, but again off to the Dudley Gallery with The Little Virgin of the Lilies, where the Western Daily Press felt that Janet tackled the problem of sunlight in order to get brightness on the red hair of her figure. At the Dore again she had two paintings Cup of Coffee and Noonday Heat. Her work at the Society of Women Painters was decidedly 'above average' according to the London Daily Chronicle, but by 1906 standard it was a quieter year.

1908 found her back at the RA with Breakfast and the first notice of her new address, 9a Joubert Mansion, Jubilee Place where she would remain for many years.  Her painting of sheep in The Flock for the Dudley was felt to be poetic by the London Evening Standard, and she was mentioned in connection to the Gentlewoman's Art Exhibition, opened by the Countess of Bective (Lady Alice Maria Hill). Her painting of a butterfly at the Society of Women Artists was seen as 'sure to please the average viewer' (according to the Lady's Pictorial, not sure if that's a compliment).  Interestingly, The Queen praised her work and felt it demonstrated French training in its restraint, which is possible although I've found no further reference to her training abroad, nor to her being in France much, but they might just be referring to Alphonse Legros.

In the 1909 review of the Society of Women Artist's exhibition, the tagline was 'much industry but little inspiration.' The reviewer from the Daily News bemoaned that most of the work did not rise above imitation, although Janet did get off lightly as her work, Noonday Heat was seen to be interesting, and was also singled out in The Queen. Again she appeared at the Dore with the other female artists, and was seen as one of the strongest workers with her Moonrise in Normandy.

Donkey at the Green Gate (no date)

1910 seemed to be filled with re-runs, including the ever-popular Little Virgin of the Lilies.  I was very excited by 1911 as she seemed to be getting a lot of newspaper coverage, but unfortunatly the Janet Fisher that got the most headlines was the sister of the Australian Prime Minister who married a British constable. Otherwise, our Janet was getting good reviews still for her work; The Fish Market at the Society of Women Artists was praised for the portrayal of older women, bartering for produce. Her canvas The Blind Beggar was seen as an effective picture at the Royal Academy in May and her picture of a pig market raised a few smiles at the Old Dudley Gallery in the autumn. In the 1911 census, Janet was living alone in her Joubert Mansion, aged 48, with the occupation of 'painter (artist)'.

On the Shore of the Lake (no date)

In 1912, Janet tours some greatest hits again, for example The Fish market appearing in Hull. We've seen before artists sending out popular paintings and hoping for a municipal art gallery or town hall to snap them up.  I wonder how much luck Janet had on this front of looking at her ArtUK entry, she has 11 paintings in public collections in this country, the majority of them in the Wilson in Cheltenham, which makes some sort of sense as I think they were gifted to the museum after Janet's death by her brother Frederic, which I will come to. In 1912, Janet had two paintings at the RA, The Statue by the Lake: Fontainebleau and The Sleeping Child, the former getting some notice as a good landscape.

1913 saw Janet back at the RA with two more paintings, Moonlight by the Lake and Carnac Church. The latter was felt to be 'truthful' by the West Sussex Gazette. She also showed The Pig Market and Fontainebleau again to positive reviews, and I'm wondering if she travelled consistently as her pieces were all based in either the Netherlands, France or Italy. This also might explain why in some years she has a couple of new pictures but others are reruns of greatest hits. It also suggests that, although popular, she wasn't selling the pictures.

Garden with Two Fountains (no date)

My guess that she travelled is possibly backed up by her 1916 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society entry (the only one she had) which was Old Houses in Florence which was for sale for £1 1s. If you haven't had a good look through an Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society catalogue before, I can recommend them as they are a fascinating look at this group of artists and you can find a lot on Archive.org. There was a rather scathing review of the Society of Women Artists of the same year - they said they were being kind as good (male) art was at a premium what with the war going on, but visitors to the exhibition had to have patience in order to 'sift the gold from the dross' (ouch). However, as the Lady's Pictorial stated, it's worth the effort as there are some modestly priced pieces that are good as birthday or wedding presents, which is quite the backhanded compliment. Janet's Harvest in Sussex (a British subject!) was commended for being 'sunny'.

Gotherd (no date, possibly 1906)

A year later, Janet showed The Blind Beggar from 1911 at the Winter Exhibition of Graphic Art in aid of the Red Cross and St John's Ambulance Society. She also appeared at the Women's International Art Club exhibition in aid of British Prisoners of War, with The Pig Market (which still made the critics laugh) and Fountainebleau. Towards the end of the decade, post war, Janet showed Under the Chestnut Tree at the RA, described in the Gentlewoman as a group of children in dappled shade.  She also showed Chalk Pit on the Arun at the Society of Women Artists exhibition, another piece of what the Gentlewoman called her plein air art.

1920 brough Janet's last appearance at the RA with Snowdrops, a pretty portrait of a child with flowers. She also had The Mixed Posy at the Lyceum Club exhibition which I wonder is around the same subject. I can't seem to locate her or her older sister on the 1921 census (it is the census I struggle with most) so they might well be travelling as both were single ladies with some money (when Rosamond died in 1932, she left £16,579 to her surviving sibling, so she was well off). There are a few years of silence in the newspapers, but in 1925 her woodcut of The Procession appeared in the Little Gallery exhibition and Janet was seen as the leading English proponent in the woodcut art.

The Procession (thank you Bridgeman)

In 1926, Janet appeared in the Society of Women Artists exhibition in March with Waiting Ox Cart noted by The Queen as an interesting piece and it would be her last in her lifetime. The next time she was mentioned was after she died on 27th July that year. She died in Kemerton, a village in Gloucestershire where Rosamond lived (and died six years later), aged 63. She was buried near her parents and brothers in Walton graveyard. The funeral was held in Walton, with both vicars of Walton and Kemerton presiding over a large gathering testifying to 'their great esteem and love for "Miss Janet"' as she was known in the villages. The obituary in the Burton Observer reported her woodcuts, for which she had become a British pioneer, had been shown in Japan and America. She had learned on her deathbed that two more of her pictures had been accepted into the Paris Salon which had given her great pleasure. The piece ended saddened by the loss of someone so talented and loveable.

The Snow Storm (no date)

I'll end this post with a question - where did Janet go? The pictures that are on ArtUK are mostly left by her brother when he died. These were possibly the impetus for Cheltenham having a retrospective for Janet in 1991 where much was made of the fact that no-one respected women artists so that is why she was forgotten, but I think that isn't exactly true. Obviously, we see from the way women artists are spoken about, their art is seen as not quite as good as mens, but that does not explain why modern curators and art historians don't reevaluate this. We all have eyes and apparently no prejudice now (work with me here) and so surely Janet should become part of the conversation. I think her status as a pioneer is probably not helping her as she is a person on her own in terms of woodcuts. Arts and Crafts have not had their renaissance yet, unlike the Pre-Raphaelites, so maybe that is also why she has not become part of the conversation. I also suspect that she did not do art for money - possibly therefore she didn't sell many and those she did remain with her purchasers' families. I tackled Janet on a whim because she was in the Women's Exhibtion at Earl's Court and I liked her woodcuts, but otherwise I'm not sure I would have picked her out to write about and that might be her problem. When the Arts and Crafts renaissance comes (and it will, if I have anything to do with it) then I think Janet will become a part of the narrative. Until then, she will have to wait.

The Other Pyke-Nott Girl

 You might well remember back in 2023 I wrote about Mrs Byam Shaw, otherwise known as the artist Caroline Evelyn Eunice Pyke-Nott (better known as Evelyn). At the time, I mentioned her sister, Isabel and I always meant to return to her. Well, three years later, here we are.  Meet Isabel Codrington...

Isabel Codrington (Mrs Paul Konody) (1909) Philip de László

Yes, she dispensed with the Pyke-Nott business, hence many people don't link her to the Byam Shaw circle, but as Byam Shaw is a bit of an obsession of mine, I am delighted to rope her in. Plus her art is amazing. Let's start at the beginning.

As I said in this post about sister Evelyn, the Pyke-Nott/Nott-Pyke family were from Swimbridge in Devon. Isabel was the youngest of the five (surviving) siblings, born 27th January 1873, three years younger than Evelyn (and 2 years younger than Edmund, her nearest sibling). There is also a final sibling, Adrian Stephen, who was born and died in short order in 1882. Seeing as the eldest Pyke-Nott child was well into his teens at this point, it must have been a distressing time in the family when the final baby died. Like her sister, Isabel attended Hasting and St Leonard's School of Art, plus a year at St John's Wood Art School before finally attending the Royal Academy Schools. Isabel was only 15 years old at the RA which is impressive. In 1893 she achieved 2 medals, coming first in both painting a draped figure (a category only open to female students) and  for a painting of a head from life, described in the Lady's Pictorial as 'a very bold and strong, if somewhat hard, profile study.' It seems that the Lady's Pictorial was a good friend for Isabel, mentioning her student work regularly in the 1890s, alongside that of her sister, so sometimes it can be a little confusing which 'Miss Pyke-Nott' is being mentioned. Evelyn started RA exhibiting earlier (obviously) but in 1896, both Pyke-Nott girls were there.  What I found interesting is that Evelyn's address is 4 St Edmund's Terrace, Regent's Park and Isabel's address is 4 St Edmund's Terrace, Primrose Hill - what a coincidence that they both live in street's named St Edmund's Terrace! I might be reading into it but possibly it was the first sign that Isabel needed a little individuality...

The Bath (1920s)

Isabel's picture in 1896 was A Vintage (mentioned in the LP, obvs) which was described in the Daily Telegraph in glowing terms - 'There are few, if any, prettier or more harmoniously balanced designs to be seen this year at Burlington House than Miss Isabel Pyke-Nott's "A Vintage" done in that fan shape which provides so many pleasing puzzles for the designer to overcome.' In 1897, the Pyke-Nott siblings were in full force at the RA, with not two but three members of the household present! Isabel had two paintings on show - firstly "I curled and combed his comely head, He look so grand when he was dead" which was based on the Tennyson poem 'The Sisters,' quoting a woman talking of her murder of an unfaithful lover. The World  felt this piece was full of promise but that the head on the girl's knee was too big and the paper remarked that in general they disliked when paintings had only quotes for titles as it was a bit pretentious and made it hard to talk about them (as the title took up too much of the column). Her second painting was Iduna and the Eagle, from the Norse myth of the goddess Iduna being kidnapped by Thiazi disguised as an eagle...

Iduna and the Eagle (1897)

Her work at this point is very Frampton-esque, very third generation Pre-Raphaelite-Adjacent, Neo-Pre-Raphaelite, post-Burne-Jones, powder-soft loveliness. I have to add that her siblings that year were very family focused with Evelyn showing a portrait of Isabel and James exhibiting a portrait of their mother. The Evening Mail noticed that Evelyn's picture was of her sister-artist and there was a lot of love for the Pyke-Nott family all round. This was reflected in Byam Shaw's painting of his beloved Evelyn in the guise of the Queen of Hearts, with sister Isabel in the background proffering a plate of jam tarts....

The Queen of Hearts (1896) Byam Shaw

By 1898, Byam Shaw had made his mark and his more formal portrait of Evelyn was being mentioned quite a lot. Ladies Field had a very suave photo of him attached to an article about his painting technique. Despite Isabel's two paintings at the RA that year, Reverie and Circe, her soon to be brother-in-law got all the mentions, not least because the press were not quite sure what to make of his portrait of Evelyn.

That was not going to improve in 1899. The Lady's Pictorial had a column on the Byam Shaw wedding complete with the above little vignette. Thanks to this article, we know Isabel was wearing a white muslin over silk dress with pink sash and white Trelawny hat (no, I don't know either) with ostrich feathers, and pink roses under the brim. Interestingly, Isabel didn't have any pictures at the RA that year (her sister had two which were pleasingly mentioned in some of the marriage articles). At the turn of the century, Isabel was back, but her address was Porlock in Somerset where her brother James and mother (I won't say parents, for reasons that will become apparent) had moved to. She was still there in 1901 when she married Paul Konody...

Paul George Konody (1920) William Roberts

Budapest-born Konody was a journalist (as had been his father before him) and had been naturalised in 1894, aged 22 after moving in 1889.  Among his interests was art history, with a specific interest in the Renaissance (he has his own Wikipedia page) so it was art that drew the couple together. Their wedding was the biggest thing to hit Porlock in many a year, reported in great detail in the West Somerset Free Press (everyone's favourite newspaper, obviously). The groom, the editor of the Artist magazine, made his arrival at a few minutes to midday, while Isabel arrived, accompanied by the choir singing 'The voice that breathed o'er Eden.' She wore a dress of crepe de chine over white silk, with her veil held in place by a 'wreath of orange blossoms.' She carried lilies, white roses and orange blossoms, and her jewellery was modelled by 'G M Borglum' - John Gutzon Mothe Borglum was the sculptor responsible for Mount Rushmore, but for a short period between 1896 and 1902 he had a studio in West Kensington, not far from where the Konodys would move after their marriage. Their honeymoon was spent in Florence, of course.

The Green Bowl (undated)

I have a couple of questions - Isabel was given away by her brother, even though her father was alive until the 1920s and living in Devon (not Porlock).  There is also an entirely other family he suddenly inherits after the death of his wife in 1914, but he might be pretending to be in the family already in the 1911 census where he (possibly) appears as John Ellis (the woman he goes on to marry in 1918 is Lucy Ellis) who has another family of children Arthur, Edith and Mabel. What a pickle, but hold that thought as the apple did not fall far from that tree.

Anyway, Isabel doesn't appear at the RA again until 1903 (as Miss Pyke-Nott, of 17 Wellesley Mansions, West Kensington) but in the meantime she is busy enough, thank you very much, with the arrival of Pauline Evelyn Melisande Konody, born 27 September 1902. Isabel's painting of 1903's RA was Melisande which, as it depicts a mysterious woman embroiled in a love triangle, I thought an odd subject for a post-honeymoon painting (hold that thought) but I'm guessing it was connected with her daughter - possibly she felt inspired so much by the 1893 Symbolist play, she both named her baby and did a painting.

In 1904, at the Groupil Gallery, 5 Regent Street, Isabel exhibited a series of miniature landscapes on ivory of the Italian Lakes, described as delicate and dainty in their execution and colouring. In a similar Italian theme, she exhibited Main Street, Isola di Pescatori, Maggiore at the Royal Society of Miniature Painters exhibition in 1906. Another miniature to arrive in 1906 was a second daughter, Margaret Elvira Louise in March of that year. By the time she reappeared at the Royal Academy in 1908, the family were living at 20 Hornton Court in West Kensington, with Isabel listed as 'Nott, I.C.P. (Miss)' in the RA catalogue. Her picture that year was A Garden near Pallanza, still reflecting her love of Italy.

Evening (1920s)

The 1911 census shows the family in their charming West Kensington home with two servants, Emma Thomas (a nurse for the children) and May Hancock, their cook. Paul is listed as an art critic and Isabel has no occupation, which drives me insane.  However, around a year later, the couple got divorced.

In the divorce papers from April 1912 (you know how much I love divorce papers), Paul Konody, the petitioner, stated that his wife was now living at Whistler's Wood in Surrey (apparently so named because Whitler used a gazebo there as a studio, however also spelt 'Wistler's Wood' so who knows?) and all through January, she had been shacked up in the Hyde Park Hotel with a man called Gustavus Mayer.

Gustavus Mayer was an art dealer from Hoboken, New Jersey, but had also lived in Switzerland, Germany, Russia and Austria. By 1911, he was living with his sister Helen at St James Street, Picadilly. Like with her husband, it's presumable that Isabel met Gustavus through art, he might even have bought some of her work in his role as a partner in the famous Bond Street dealers Colnaghi & Co. Paul Konody divorced Isabel and retained full custody of their daughters. Isabel and Gustavus settled in Whistler's Wood and married with absolutely no fanfare or orange blossom in 1913. What I would very much like to know is if she saw Pauline and Margaret regularly, if at all, until they were adults. The girls were sent to boarding school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Tunbridge Wells, founded in 1915, where they appear on the census in 1921, but I'll come back to them later...

Back to the art! Isabel reappeared at the Royal Academy in 1914 with A Duke of Old Italy, giving her address as 34 Bruton Place, Berkeley Square, her London address that she used as a studio to store and lend paintings from. She was still Miss Isabel Pyke-Nott, so that raised a question - I was wondering when Isabel Pyke-Nott, or Mrs Paul Konody, or Mrs Gustavus Mayer became Isabel Codrington. After a few quiet-ish years, Isabel Codrington made her debut at the Royal Academy in 1918 with The Haunted Room. There is no mention (that I could find) of her work in the newspapers that year, but in 1919, her painting The Tavern was frequently mentioned in the reports of both the RA and anywhere else she exhibited it. When it appeared at Liverpool (the autumn exhibition, arguably equal in importance to the RA's May show) the Liverpool Daily Post was full of praise for this 'capable work' from 'an artist little known as yet' - she had pulled off a reinvention. Not only that, I noticed that the praise for The Tavern was more than anything Miss Pyke-Nott had achieved, so Isabel stepped into her Codrington Era and never looked back.

Cantine Franco-Britannique, Vitry-le-Francais (1919)

The new decade brought Isabel a lot of coverage.  To start with, her painting of Cantine Franco-Britannique, Vitry-le-Francais was acquired by the Imperial War Museum after it appeared in their 1920 exhibition of war paintings. At the RA in 1920 she exhibited The Fruit Sellers, much admired by The Gentlewoman who described it thus - 'A far more subtle bit of drama and an even finer bit of handling is Miss Isabel Codrington's "Fruit Sellers" [which they illustrated on the following page]; this is quite the most dramatic rendering of expression and character in the exhibition,' and they went on to describe it as 'a real achievement of paint and passion.' The Surrey Advertiser found it a little sombre but felt it fully justified its place on the line (as we know, the line is the best place to be placed in the gallery as you are not going to be 'skied' or dangled out of view of the viewer.)

The Tavern (1921)

By the 1921 census, Byam Shaw had died (I'm still not over it) and so Evelyn Byam Shaw was staying with Isabel and her new husband, as was brother James, all looked after by four servants. Isabel's 1921 RA piece, A Southern Still Life, drew a lot of attention (according to the Surrey Advertiser who were keen to report on all Surrey-related oils at the RA). It was a still life with figures, a format that she excelled in, as we will see, this time featuring a bottle and pan on a table, with two figures playing drafts in the background. She also had a painting chosen by the Canadian National Exhibition for the Toronto Art Gallery, The Tavern, which is apparently similar to how the Chantry Bequest bought paintings for the Tate, although I can't seem to locate it in any of the on-line catalogues of Canadian collections. 

In 1922, Isabel's still life was making waves at the Grosvenor summer show. The Daily Express wrote a fascinating article in support of their Daily Express Women's Exhibition at Olympia, which I feel a whole post could be written about, but suffice to say, Isabel was there. The Daily Express rightfully (cough) say that up until 1910-ish, women didn't do art (apart from Rosa Bonheur and Lady Butler, obvs) and those that had a go were rightly derided. However, nowadays, ladies seem to have developed the strength in their little lady hands to hold a paintbrush and so hurrah all round. It was naturally noted that women can't be as good as someone like Sargent, however they have a good go at it. The fact that one of the selectors of these paintings was Laura Knight, one of Britain's best painters, seems to have missed the Express in terms of irony, but she was joined by William Orpen and, interestingly, Paul Konody. That must have been an awkward preview night...

1923 saw Isabel's painting The Witch's House feature in Tatler. She also presented this painting to the art gallery in Hull (now called the Ferens Art Gallery) while it was hanging in an exhibition there...

Still Life, Vegetables (1923)

She again appeared in the Daily Express Lady Pictures Exhibition, which I gather was part of a much larger event at Olympia including fashion and make-up and all other things for women. I haven't ever really thought about the shift in market to women after all the men got shot in the previous decade, but I suppose this is the beginning of the 'pink pound' and the idea that women could be massive consumers to be taken seriously (even if you are being a bit patronising about their art at the same time). At the Grosvenor Gallery this year, Isabel showed The Blouse Shop...

The Blouse Shop (1923)

I don't know what it is about Isabel's work that makes it so instantly familiar, but this is a highlight. We know what is being said, what is going on, the dynamic between these three women. The colours are glorious and the glints of light are lovely, but there is something very modern about the scene.  Not only is it a picture of women going about their lives without men, but also three very un-idealised women.  Although you can see the big step Isabel had taken away from her Neo-Pre-Raph roots, I would merrily argue that this is not that big a step from something like Millais' Christ in the House of his Parents (1849-50) where the very 'common-ness' (for want of a better word) of his models caused a panic. Here, the women are recognisably three ordinary women but it is, of course, artifice, the invention of an artist's mind. 

She was back at the RA in 1924 with The Old Land Worker, described by the Sutton and Epson Advertiser as 'a relentless piece of realism' which I'm guessing wasn't meant in an entirely complementary way. 1925 brought a piece about her art, with illustrations, to The Studio, and another exhibition in Hull displayed one of her more controversial paintings. I wish I could find an image of Birds of Prey as it sounds extraordinary and raised a few eyebrows in the newspapers, especially as it had been a woman who painted it - a youth is being robbed by a man while a woman looks on smoking a cigarette. Tatler announced her work to be 'as essentially masculine in its sincerity and determination as the work of Brangwen and Epstein; but it is profoundly classic in style.'

The Kitchen (1927)

It is interesting how her honesty is seen to be masculine, but her focus is more often than not on feminine spaces, but I'll come to that. 1926 brought An Old Man Reading to the Royal Academy, described by The Sphere as 'a little gem of light manipulation.' She also had a portrait of Mrs Sarah Bonwick at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. A year later, Isabel had a solo show at the Fine Art Society in April, with her exquisite painting the Kitchen appearing at the Royal Academy in May. The Aberdeen Press found the painting to be filled with humour and ability and the Birmingham Daily Post described it as 'a gay study,' which puzzles me slightly as I've always felt the piece to be melancholic.  Mind you, the Birmingham review describes the scene as a table containing a cabbage, a couple of biscuit tins, a box of matches and some bottles. Luckily, I know who owns The Kitchen now - it's the Russell-Cotes, so I conferred with Mr Walker and the archive.  The painting was received directly from Isabel herself in the 1930s after she had exhibited some of her works in their exhibition. She wrote that the collection at the RC made her uncomfortable because it was old fashioned (excuse me? Bold words from a former Neo-Pre-Raph, madam) but that the curator was making in-roads to add appropriate modern pieces (hence why the RC has an exceptional 20th century collection as well). The piece she gave them was indeed the 1927 painting above that had been at the Royal Academy, so I'm not sure what the Birmingham reviewer was looking at. Possibly this one?

The Caller (1922)

We have our cabbage and box of matches but no biscuit tins, but do you see what I was saying earlier about her being the absolute master of still-life-foreground, people-background paintings? Also feminine spaces, especially interiors. Gorgeous. Anyway, The Kitchen had a name change in 1932 when Isabel started calling it The Window and it is also known as At the Kitchen Window and is currently on show at a gorgeous exhibition at the Russell-Cotes on interiors, so you can go and have a look yourself at its loveliness. Anyway, onwards!

Caroline (1927)

Tatler also featured her portrait Caroline in a full colour page spread, and I was instantly reminded of the 1970s Brotherhood of Ruralists, it is so timeless. 

The Old Tramp (1928)

In 1928, Oldham Art Gallery purchased The Old Tramp from Isabel, which the Evening News reported was the 10th painting purchased by a public collection - seeing as ArtUK only has 8 listed, I wonder what happened to the other two. The Old Tramp had been previously exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Isabel also had two paintings at the Royal Academy, The Lumber Room and The Match Seller. This increased interest in her work led inevitably to an interview with the artist herself. While researching this post, I noticed that there was an accepted narrative about Isabel that was never challenged - that she married, had children, gave up painting until her children were grown, took up painting again - which simply isn't true and I wondered where it came from. Now I know - I will condense it thus:

Isabel told the Western Morning News, 16th May 1928: I was raised in Devon, but we have since sold the family home (true) Joined the RA at 15 (true) married and gave up painting for 18 years (ummm...) began painting again once her children were grown (well, technically but also no...) I felt I could only start painting again if I had a studio so my husband built me one (would that be second husband?) which was in 1918. I had forgotten how to paint entirely (had you though?) and had to learn all over again but miraculously it worked and now I am super famous (well, okay, I'll give you the last bit). 

The piece then goes on to say that Isabel specifically picked working-class people to model for her because they are interesting, but they can't afford to buy her portraits of them.  If she painted rich people instead, who could afford to 'boom' the artist (whatever that means), she would 'rank in the forefront of English portrait painting.'

Isabel controlled her narrative and I can understand why as being the accused party in a divorce and losing the custody of your daughters would not make you sympathetic in the 1920s public eye, so she omits details and shapes how the other parts sit and by the end of the 1920s, Isabel Codrington (the brand) was doing great business. Not only that, in 1928 Pauline Konody, 'daughter of a famous mother' (as the Western Morning News wrote) had her own exhibition at Claridges Gallery in London.

Summer Mist (undated) Pauline Konody

Pauline made her RA debut in 1926 with Beech Trees and In the Beech Wood, but had already been the subject of a Royal Academy painting when Anna Airy exhibited a portrait Pauline Konody, daughter of P G Konody Esq in the 1916 exhibition. I couldn't find that one, but I did find  one by Laura Knight.

Pauline (undated) Laura Knight

Isabel's paintings in the 1929 RA were A Vagrant and Zillah Lee, Hawker. I wonder what it was that drew Isabel back to these figures - the contrast with the normally smooth-faced privileged types that normally featured in portraits (herself and daughter included)? The amount of character and experience in their faces and the challenge of capturing that on canvas? Anyway, in the same year, Pauline had The Kingfisher and Chrysanthemums at the RA and gave her address as Wistler's Wood, obviously now living with her mum. I have to admit, I did not know how Isabel's relationship with her daughters went after she left, but I was pleased to see that they were together, Pauline in her 20s, Isabel in her late 50s.

 The Beggars are Coming to Town (1930)

Isabel's subject for the 1930 RA was the nursery rhyme 'Hark, hark the dogs to bark, the beggars are coming to town. Some in rags, some in jags, some in velvet gowns.' The Sunday Express called it a 'fearless acceptance of the pathos of poverty.' The Daily Express used the picture to make a rather unpleasant modern political point - the beggars these days are increasing in number because of the Labour government, elected the year before, who preferred foreign workers who charge less, putting good, honest English men out of work. Hmm, nothing changes. The Mitcham Advertiser expanded on the subject, saying the central figure, in his faded finery, reaches out his hands helplessly (I'm guessing he is blind) and all around are 'types of deformity and moral dross' - how the poor are poor because of how immoral they are (demonstrating how easily we slip into that sort of objectionable view when times get tough). The woman in the velvet gown causes some consternation - is she beautiful because beauty exists even in squaller? Is she beautiful because immorality can wear a beautiful face? Is she beautiful because everything else is so ugly? Needless to say, this painting seemed to touch a nerve of something unpleasant in the nation's psyche.

Morning (1932)

1931 saw The Blouse Shop at an exhibition in Wales and appearing as a picture in the Herald of Wales. Isabel also appeared at the Southport Spring Exhibition, listed under the 'younger women painters' in a review in the Liverpool Daily Post - at almost 60, I'm sure she was delighted to read that (as I am delighted to write it). 1932 saw Isabel's (arguably) best known work, Morning, appear with little fanfare in the spring exhibition in Bradford. The realism of the loaf of bread was mentioned in the Yorkshire Post review, but little else was said and the painting was given by Isabel to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter in 1934. I find it both lovely but also disquieting because it reminds me of two other paintings.  I'm obviously reminded of Dod Procter's 1926 Morning, which actually has sleepiness in common with another of Isabel's paintings, Drowsy Summer Days (1935)

Morning (1926) Dod Procter

Drowsy Summer Days (1935)

Beautiful canvases all, and the 1935 work appeared in the Royal Academy as Isabel's last outing there. However, Morning also reminds me of this...

The Camden Town Murder (c.1908) Walter Sickert

Bear with me. something about the arm of the woman, hanging out of the bed, looks a little less than natural. Her green pallor, the sliced up food, the knife and the tear in the tablecloth all make me very uncomfortable. I was reminded of the murder of Dolly Henry which possibly would have been still talked about in Isabel's art circle. Like some of her other works, there is definitely a disquieting undertone to her painting, which is genius if intentional, or really, really interesting if unconscious.

 

1934 saw Isabel, now in her 60s, exhibiting some etchings - I have seen people write that after 1930 she concentrated on etchings, which isn't entirely true as she was still producing and exhibiting her paintings although etchings were now in her rotation. At the RA she showed At the Window, which was the kitchen window painting again under a different title. Well done Isabel for double-dipping! She also had an etching of The Coming Storm in the same exhibition. 1935 saw not only Drowsy Summer Days but also a very popular flower exhibition, and a rather hilarious newspaper article - The Western Morning News ran an expose of Miss Codrington and how they had discovered that she was actually Miss Pyke-Nott! With a picture (above)! It also said that her brother and sister were also famous in the artistic world - her brother Richard (I think you mean James, who had a couple of RA hits in the 1930s) and sister, Mrs Glen Byam Shaw (I think you mean mother to Glen Byam Shaw). Interestingly, the article is based on an interview, so either the journalist wasn't listening or Isabel was giving another version of events. Anyway, she said 'Ever since I was very small, in fact as far back as I can remember, painting has been my great amusement in life.' She talked about the influence of fairytales and folklore from Devon on her work. She completely misses out her first marriage and daughters and talks about her career (which I expect most male artists would have done too, so I can't blame her). 

After that point, the newspaper articles tail off. The 1939 register sees her alone in Bath in a boarding house, possibly on holiday as a retired person living on own means, with Gustavus still at home in Wistler's Wood. She died on 24th September 1943 in a house called 'Canberra' in Minehead (it still exists and I wonder if it was a private nursing home), 70 years old. In her short will she left everything to her daughters.

Last Rays (no date)

There is no doubt in my mind as I finish this post that Isabel Codrington is one of the best and most interesting artists of the early twentieth century. She embraced Neo-Pre-Raphaelitism and Realism, but more than that, her subjects speak to us in a very modern way. The working-class subjects, the fear of poverty but still looking straight at it, the spaces between things and people, and the women alone or in groups negotiating life after the war. Her father's desertion of the family is unhappily repeated in her own adultery, and she even gave her daughter the middle name 'Melisande' the unhappy, love-triangle heroine. Both Isabel's daughters, Pauline and Margaret, lived long lives, Pauline married to a Birmingham policeman, Margaret dying at the grand old age of 94.  

If you own any Isabel paintings, please get in touch with me at stonellwalker@googlemail.com as I'd love to see if we could arrange a retrospective. Just think what an amazing, complicated and modern exhibition that would be...