Margaret May Giles (20 May 1868 – 31 March 1949) was a British painter, sculptor, and medallist. She was a member of the Society of Medallists and exhibited at their first exhibition in 1898 which was held at the Dutch Gallery in London, where her piece "Two Medals" was favorably critiqued.

Biography

Giles was born 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 Do ...

, the daughter of Richard William Giles, a barrister, and Frances Elizabeth Giles. Her older sister was the painter Frances Giles. Margaret was educated at Kensington High School and in Brussels and Heidelberg. She spent eight years at the

National Art Training School 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 ...

, NATS, in London. Among her contemporaries at NATS, which became 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 1896, were a number of other female sculptors including

Ruby Levick Ruby Winifred Levick (11 September 1871 – 31 March 1940) was a Welsh sculptor and medallist who had many of her works exhibited at the Royal Academy. Biography Levick was born in Llandaff, Glamorgan, the daughter of George Levick, a civil en ...

Esther Moore Esther Mary Moore (6 November 1857–1934) was a British artist known for her sculptures, metalwork and jewellery. Biography Moore was born in Burnley in Lancashire, one of the eight children of Mary Margerison and Henry Moore, who was a master ...

, Florence Steele,

Lilian Simpson M. Lilian Simpson (c.1871–1897) was a British sculptor. Biography During the 1890s, Simpson was a student at the National Art Training School, NATS, in London where she was taught by the sculptor Édouard Lantéri. Among her contemporaries at ...

and Lucy Gwendolen Williams. During the 1890s Giles won a number of national art prizes with her model ''Hero'' winning the Art Union of London's statuette competition in 1895. Giles 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 ...

in London, with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and with the

Royal West of England Academy The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...

in Bristol, of which she was a member. At the Royal Academy she showed a number of sculptures, reliefs and medals, including one for hospital nurses and another for the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

. Between 1884 and 1912 Giles also exhibited works at the

Royal 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 ...

, 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 ...

and with the Ridley Art Club. She married engineer Bernard Maxwell Jenkin in 1898.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Margaret 1868 births 1949 deaths 19th-century English sculptors 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English sculptors 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Bristol British medallists English women sculptors People from Clifton, Bristol Sibling artists