Edith Grace Wheatley née Wolfe (26 June 1888 – 28 November 1970) was a British artist who had a long career as a painter of figures, flowers, birds and animals and as a sculptor.

Biography

Wheatley was born in London and attended the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

there from 1906 to 1908 and then studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. She spent some time in

Newlyn Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount ...

before moving back to London where she established her career as an artist. In 1910 the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

in Liverpool purchased her watercolour on ivory ''The Lady Clarissa'' and a similar drawing ''Seated Women'', from 1913, is in the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

collection. Wheatley became a regular exhibitor at the

Royal Academy 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 pur ...

showing there numerous times between 1914 and 1964. She also showed with the Royal Miniature Society and at 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 ...

of which she became an elected member in 1921. In 1912 she married the painter

John Laviers Wheatley John Laviers Wheatley (23 January 1892 – 17 November 1955) was a British painter, art teacher and museum director who also served as a war artist in both World War I and in World War II. Biography Wheatley was born in Abergavenny in Wale ...

and in 1925 the couple moved to South Africa. There Edith Grace Wheatley was the senior lecturer in Fine Art at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

while John Wheatley was a professor at the same institution and became director of the National Gallery of South Africa. Edith also completed several public commissions while in Cape Town. These included a sculpture for the city's new law courts plus wall and ceiling paintings for the entrance to the National Gallery. The couple remained in South Africa until 1937 when they returned to England and settled in Sheffield. During World War II Edith Grace Wheatley was commissioned to depict the war's impact on the local steel industry. To this end she greatly changed her painting style. The resulting large paintings, ''Forging six-pounder shell bodies, Kilnhurst steel works'' and ''The tyre mill, Kilnhurst steel works'', were shown at the Royal Academy in 1945 and 1946 respectively. Wheatley was elected an associate member of the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

in 1945 and was elected a full member in 1952.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Edith Grace 1888 births 1970 deaths 20th-century English sculptors 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Académie Colarossi alumni Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art English women painters Painters from London 20th-century women painters