Ethel Wright later Ethel Bradley (1866 – 1939) was a British portrait painter. Wright has several paintings in British national collections and her most famous work is a portrait of Suffragette

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from exil ...

, which currently resides at the National Portrait Gallery.

Work

Wright was born in London, England and later studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France with the support and on the advice of renowned portraitist

Solomon Joseph Solomon Solomon Joseph Solomon (16 September 1860 – 27 July 1927) was a British painter, a founding member of the New English Art Club and member of the Royal Academy. Solomon's family was Jewish, and his sister, Lily Delissa Joseph (née ...

. By the late 19th Century she was regularly exhibiting as a society portraitist at The Royal Academy and achieved a profile as a painter in the 1890s identified in the modernist Rhythm Group. She was also known for painting

Pierrot Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''Pi ...

Suffragette Portraits

Having achieved some recognition as a society portraitist, Wright became increasingly political as did her portraits. Wright became a supporter of the suffragettes. In 1909 Wright painted her most famous portrait, that of

. Her full length portrait of Christabel Pankhurst was exhibited at "The Women's Exhibition", hosted by the

WSPU The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

, funded by Clara Mordan and held at the Prince's Ice Rink in Knightsbridge in May 1909. heila Stowell, ''A Stage of their own: Feminist playwrights of the suffrage era'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), p. 53/ref> Suffragette and marriage reformer, Una Duval, bought the painting and it remained in the family until being bequeathed by a descendent of the Duvals to the National Portrait Gallery in 2011, it was first exhibited by them in 2018. In 1912, Wright also painted a full length portrait of Una Dugdale dressed in bright jade with a background of fierce fighting cocks, entitled "The Music Room". This painting was first shown in London’s Stafford Gallery in the same year and was exhibited as recently as 2020 in Pallant House Gallery,

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

. Ethel Wright was also responsible for the portrait which was featured on Una Duval's marriage reform pamphlet "Love, Honour and not Obey". She continued to support the suffragettes until 1927 and the

Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This act expanded on the Representation of the People Act 1918 which had given some women the vote in Parliamentary elections for the ...

gave women electoral equality with men.

Legacy

Her painting of Christabel Pankhurst was donated by Una Duval's descendant to the National Portrait Gallery in 2011. It was exhibited in 2018 when it was noted that the gallery had previously only had pictures of suffragettes taken by the police as suspicious characters. She achieved success as a painter but she was identified as a great ''woman'' artist.

Personal life

By 1898 she was exhibiting at the Oldham Gallery and "also known as Mrs Bradley" having become married, Wright died in 1939.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Ethel 1866 births 1939 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists Académie Julian alumni British portrait painters English women painters Painters from London