Catherine Dawson Giles (1878-1955) was a British modernist watercolour painter.

Biography

Catherine Dawson Giles was born on July 31, 1878, in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

in south-east London. She attended

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

in 1900 and later the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. She studied with the American painter

Max Bohm Max Bohm (1868 – September 19, 1923) was an American artist who spent much of his time in Europe. Biography Bohm was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and travelled in Europe. Between 1895-1904 he made h ...

in Etaples, France, as part of the

Etaples art colony The Étaples art colony consisted of artists working in the Étaples area of northern France at the turn of the 20th century. The colony had its heyday between 1880–1914, after which it was disrupted by World War I. Although broadly international ...

. In 1904 she met the English painter and illustrator

Jessica Dismorr Jessica Stewart Dismorr (3 March 1885 – 29 August 1939) was an English painter and illustrator. Dismorr participated in almost all of the avant-garde groups active in London between 1912 and 1937 and was one of the few English painters of the ...

, a fellow student at Etaples, with whom she became lifelong friends. Dismorr, a member of the

Vorticist Vorticism was a London-based Modernism, modernist art movement formed in 1914 by the writer and artist Wyndham Lewis. The movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public by means of the publication of the Vorticist mani ...

movement, shared her home in the 1930s and painted her portrait. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Giles served as a

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

nurse. She traveled throughout Europe and Northern Africa during the 1920s and 30’s on painting trips and also painted many scenes of Etaples. Giles exhibited with the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

in the 1920s and had a one-woman show of watercolours and gouaches at the Claridge Galleries. A

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, Giles joined the Guild of Catholic Artists in 1929 and participated in their exhibitions alongside

Glyn Philpot Glyn Warren Philpot (5 October 188416 December 1937) was a British painter and sculptor, best known for his portraits of contemporary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon and Vladimir Rosing. Early life Philpot was born in Clapham, London, but ...

and

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

in the 1930s. The art of Dismorr and Giles was shown in a joint exhibition at the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

, London, in 2000. Notable works by Giles include ''Village roofs, South of France'' a pencil and watercolour from 1930.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Catherine Dawson 1878 births 1955 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Artists from London English watercolourists English women painters People from Lewisham Women watercolorists