Edna Lumb (1931–1992) was a British artist specialising in industrial technology depicted in oils and prints. She was based in her home town of Leeds, UK but travelled around the UK, Europe and West Africa for inspiration and subjects for her art.

Early life and education

Edna Isobel Lumb was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, UK, on 14 August 1931 and was the youngest of the six children in her family. She studied at

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Schoo ...

from 1948 until 1953. In 1951, financed by a travelling scholarship, she went to France and Spain. What she saw had an influence on her subsequent work.

Life and work

After being awarded her National Diploma in Design, she taught unenthusiastically in secondary schools until 1964 when she became a full-time artist. She travelled around the UK and Europe while living in a van. She also painted aid programmes in West Africa in 1969, 1976 and 1977. Her works were commissioned by companies including Laing Properties, Sir Alfred McAlpine and Company and organisations including the National Audit Office. In the late 1970s she was commissioned to produce on-site paintings during the conversion of the Covent Garden flower market building into

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...

. In later life she lived in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

. Her subjects were British urban and industrial life and her depictions of industrial equipment were particularly appreciated by the scientific community. She showed technical details but brought out the beauty and drama. This pioneered depiction of industrial landscapes, especially in Northern England. She worked in several media, including paint, prints and etchings. She died on 28 April 1992.

Exhibitions

Her first solo exhibition (''Components of Power'') was in 1973 which started at the

Bradford Industrial Museum Bradford Industrial Museum, established 1974 in Moorside Mills, Eccleshill, Bradford, United Kingdom, specializes in relics of local industry, especially printing and textile machinery, kept in working condition for regular demonstrations to the ...

and was then transferred to the

Science Museum in London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

. A retrospective of her work was shown in Bradford in 1991, shortly before her death. This was again shown in the Science Museum in London in 1992. Her exhibition ''Aspects of Dockland'' was held at the

Bluecoat Chambers Built in 1716–17 as a charity school, Bluecoat Chambers in School Lane is the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool, England. Following the Liverpool Blue Coat School's move to another site in 1906, the building was rented from 1907 ...

, Liverpool in 1975. In 2016 her work was shown at the Vernon Street Gallery in Leeds.

Edna Lumb Travel Prize

There is an annual Edna Lumb Travel Prize available to art students studying at Leeds Beckett University. Funding for the award originally came from Lumb's will.

Collections

Her works are held by Leeds Art Gallery, London Transport Museum, the Science Museum in London, Manchester City Art Galleries and Bradford Museums and galleries. Her archives are kept at Leeds Museums and Galleries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumb, Edna 1932 births 1992 deaths 20th-century English women artists Artists from Leeds Alumni of Leeds Arts University