Lily Delissa Joseph, ''née'' Solomon, (24 June 1863 – 27 July 1940) was a British artist and social campaigner active in the English suffrage movement.

Biography

Joseph was born in Bermondsey in London into a wealthy, cultured Jewish family. Her elder brother was the artist

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 ...

, and

Flora Lion Flora Marguerite Lion (3 December 1878 – 15 May 1958) was an English portrait painter. Lion had a long and successful career and was known for her portraits of society figures, landscapes and murals. Early life Flora Lion was born in Lon ...

would be a cousin. Joseph attended the Ridley School of Art and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

in London. She painted portraits, interiors and urban landscapes in a style clearly influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

but often with a limited palette. Joseph was also an activist in both the women's suffrage movement and in support of Jewish charities. She was among the founders of the Ladies' Guild at the Hammersmith Synagogue in west London and also ran reading rooms in the Whitechapel area. After meeting

Isaac Rosenberg Isaac Rosenberg (25 November 1890 – 1 April 1918) was an English poet and artist. His ''Poems from the Trenches'' are recognized as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War. Early life Isaac Rosenberg was born ...

in 1911, she briefly employed him as a tutor for her children and later helped pay for his studies at 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 ...

. Joseph was arrested at least once during the women's suffrage campaign. When her 1912 exhibition at the Baille Gallery, ''Some London and Country Interiors'', was reviewed in the ''

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

'' a notice appeared on the same page apologising for her absence from the show's Private View reception on the grounds that "she was detained at Holloway Goal in connection with the Women's Suffrage Movement". Joseph was a keen cyclist, an early pilot and also a motorist, travelling to Palestine by car in the 1920s. In 1924, Joseph and her architect husband held a joint exhibition of drawings and paintings at the Suffolk Street Galleries. Throughout her life Joseph was 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 some twenty-five paintings between 1904 and 1938. She also exhibited with the Society of Women Artists, the New English Art Club and the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

. Joseph exhibited at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

receiving an ''Honourable Mention'' on one occasion and in 1929 winning a silver medal. In 1946 the

Ben Uri Gallery The Ben Uri Gallery & Museum is a registered museum and charity based at 108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road in St John's Wood, London, England. It features the work and lives of émigré artists in London, and describes itself as "The Art Museum ...

in London had a joint exhibition of works by Joseph and her brother Solomom and examples of her paintings were included in the ''Jewish Art of Great Britain 1845–1945'' exhibition held at the Belgrave Gallery in 1978. The Ben Uri Gallery holds her ''Self-Portrait with Candles'' which shows Joseph holding two Sabbath candles and with her head covered observing the Jewish Sabbath. 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 includes a 1937 London scene by Joseph, ''Roofs, High Holborn'', showing the view from her studio towards the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. Joseph lived at Birchington in Kent for a time. She died on 27 July 1940 and is buried at

Willesden Jewish Cemetery The Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, usually known as Willesden Jewish Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery at Beaconsfield Road, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent, England. It opened in 1873 on a site. It has been described as the "R ...

References

External links

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3 artworks by Lily Delissa Joseph
at th
Ben Uri
site {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Lily Delissa 1863 births 1940 deaths Place of death missing 19th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from London Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery English Jews English portrait painters English suffragists English women painters Jewish activists Jewish suffragists Jewish women painters Jewish painters People from Bermondsey People from Birchington-on-Sea Sibling artists