Leila Elizabeth Josephine Worsley (nee Reynolds 12 April 1896–8 January 1994) was a British artist, who throughout her career worked in a variety of media and who is best known for the artworks she produced during the Second World War, depicting events in Britain.

Biography

Faithfull was born on 12 April 1896 at

Woolton Woolton (; ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located southeast of the city and is bordered by Allerton, Gateacre, Halewood, and Hunt's Cross. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,921. Overview Originally a standalone ...

, a suburb of Liverpool where her father, Sir James Reynolds, had business interests. She married George Faithfull in 1919, and after his death she married, in 1943, the writer and critic Cuthbert Worsley. Faithfull studied at the

Slade School of Fine 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 ...

throughout 1923 and 1924, before going to Paris to study at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acad� ...

. In 1933 she exhibited at the

Salon des Artistes Francais 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 ...

in Paris. At the start of World War Two, Faithfull applied to work for the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

, WAAC. Although not given a full-time commission by WAAC, she was given facilities and permits to work. She used these to produce paintings depicting evacuee children and, later, scenes of American servicemen playing baseball in a London park, and these pieces were purchased by WAAC. During the war, Faithfull also worked for a time as a surgical artist at the new plastic surgery unit at the

Queen Victoria Hospital The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH), located in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-fam ...

in East Grinstead under Sir

Archibald McIndoe Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe (4 May 1900 – 11 April 1960) was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who worked for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He improved the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew. Early life Archi ...

. At the end of the war, Faithfull produced a triptych depicting the crowds gathered around Buckingham Palace, celebrating on

VE-Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. After the war, Faithfull built a reputation as a portrait painter and exhibited widely with works shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Society of British Artists 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 ...

. Both

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

and Sir Edward Marsh acquired examples of her work for their private collections. In her later years she begin working in metal, creating figures of dancers and horses. Faithfull died at St. Angela's Convent in

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton D ...

where she had lived for several years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faithfull, Leila 1896 births 1994 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from Liverpool British war artists English women painters Medical illustrators Modern painters World War II artists