Mary Gwendoline Salmond, also known as Gwen Salmond (1877–1958), was a 19th-century British artist. She was the daughter of Major General
William Salmond and wife of Sir
Matthew Smith.
Early life
Salmond was the daughter of Major General
William Salmond and Lady Emma Mary H. Hoyle Salmond. She became an artist against the "strictly bourgeois plans" of her parents. Her siblings were Emma, Gladys,
Geoffrey, and
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
.
[Irish Art Auction.]
Whytes. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
Education
Salmond studied at
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 ...
where her friends included
Gwen John
Gwendolen Mary John (22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939) was a Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her career. Her paintings, mainly portraits of anonymous female sitters, are rendered in a range of closely related tones. Although s ...
and
Ursula Tyrwhitt
Ursula Tyrwhitt (1872–1966) was an English painter and draughtsman.
Biography
Ursula Tyrwhitt was born in Nazeing, Essex and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1893 to 1894 and also in 1911 and 1912. She also studied in Paris at the A ...
.
Other students in the class of 1895, aside from Salmond and John, were
Ida Nettleship
Ida Margaret Nettleship (24 January 1877 – 14 March 1907) was an English artist who is best known as the first wife of artist Augustus John.
Biography
Nettleship was born in Hampstead, the eldest of the three daughters of animal painter J ...
and
Edna Waugh.
["Colourful Lives and Affairs of the Art: Portraits of Women."](_blank)
''Times Higher Education. 4 September 1995. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
She went to Paris in the winter of 1898-1899 with Nettleship and John to further their education. They studied at the
Académie Carmen
Académie Carmen, also known as Whistler's School, was a short-lived Parisian art school founded by James McNeill Whistler. It operated from 1898 to 1901.
History
The school opened in October 1898 in a large house and stable at No. 6 Passage St ...
, where
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
taught and Salmond paid John's fees. While there, the women made paintings of each other and self-portraits.
Gwen John painted Nettleship and Salmond in ''Interior with Figures,'' which has been said to be "symbolic of modern Parisian life." Brian Louis Pearce and Nettleship lived in a flat on Rue Froidveau.
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
, Gwen John's brother, said that these women were the "stars of his generation."
Marriage and children
Salmond met fellow artist
Matthew Smith in 1907 in
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...
and she became his "greatest mentor."
In 1912, she married Smith and they had two sons together, Mark (1915–1940) and Dermot (1916–1941). Their marriage was not happy; he left her permanently in 1922 but they never divorced, and he was always a strong supporter of her work. It was Salmond who raised the boys.
Smith left his wife and sons because he felt they were "stifling his career."
Both sons served in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and were killed during the war.
Career
Her works were exhibited at
Leicester Galleries
Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...
,
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 ...
and 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 ...
(NEAC).
Her considerable skills as a draughtswoman made her much in demand as a teacher of drawing. Salmond taught at the
Chelsea Art School, which was managed by her friends
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
and
William Orpen
Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, (27 November 1878 – 29 September 1931) was an Irish artist who worked mainly in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits for the well-to-do in ...
from the Slade, London County Council and Clapham Art School.
Chelsea Art School.
British and Irish Artists of the 20th Century. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
References
External links
Gwen Salmond
Collage, City of London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmond, Gwen
1877 births
1958 deaths
20th-century British painters
20th-century British women artists
Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
Académie Carmen alumni