Mabel Mary Spanton (1 December 1874 — ca. 1940) was a British
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
who primarily worked in
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
.''Who's Who in Art'' (Third Edition, 1934)
Life and work
Mabel Mary Spanton was born in
Hanley, Staffordshire
Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke ...
on 1 December 1874, the daughter of Dr. William Dunnet Spanton, F.R.C.S. She studied art at Hanley School of Art under J. S. Cartlidge, and also in
Newlyn
Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End''
Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
under
Stanhope Forbes
Stanhope Alexander Forbes (18 November 1857 – 2 March 1947) was a British artist and a founding member of the influential Newlyn school of painters. He was often called 'the father of the Newlyn School'.
Spanton was elected as a member of the prestigious
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...
in 1927. She travelled and painted extensively across the Continent including the
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
in 1925, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium in 1928, and in England and Scotland in 1938.National Art Library Catalogue During the early 1920s Spanton lived in both
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
and Bexhill, Sussex before spending the majority of her later years abroad.''The Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940'' (Antique Collectors Club, 1980)
Exhibitions
She exhibited extensively including in London 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 ...
; London Salon;
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 ...
;
Society of Women Artists
The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...
;
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
; Women's International Art Club; Dudley Gallery and New Dudley Gallery; Goupil Gallery; Walker Gallery. Elsewhere her work was exhibited at the
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art.
The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...
;
Royal Hibernian Academy
The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...
;
Royal Cambrian Academy
The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art (RCA) is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members.
240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy
Early history
During the 19th century there were numerous attempts ...
; Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours;
Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...
; Abbey Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent; Royal Society of Artists Birmingham; Walker Art Gallery Liverpool; and at Bristol, Derby, Oldham, Hull, Newlyn, Southport, and Aberdeen.