Mary Elizabeth Stormont (''nee'' Sapsworth; 2 January 1871 – 11 October 1962) was a British painter.

Life

Mary Elizabeth Sapsworth was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England on 2 January 1871. She was the daughter of George Sapsworth, leather merchant, and Elizabeth Deur, and elder sister to Katherine Emma Maltwood. She married Howard Gull Stormont, an artist, in 1898, against the wishes of her parents. The couple eloped to Rye. They lived in Ypres Studio,

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

, East Sussex and they became the focus in Rye for visiting artists. In the 1920s she was a founder member of the Rye Art Club (under the patronage of author

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

). The Rye Society of Artists continues the ethos and traditions of the founder members to this day. She exhibited throughout her life, showing regularly at many locations, notably the Royal Academy, the Bruton Galleries (London),

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

(Liverpool), Royal Institute and the Ridley Art Club (

Grafton Galleries The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905. Roger Fry' ...

). She first exhibited at the

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

in 1899 with an oil painting, ''A wayside inn''. In the following year she exhibited both an oil painting and a watercolour. She continued to exhibit in at least 17 Royal Academy Exhibitions, her last being in 1940. She was especially sought after for her flower paintings but also painted interiors and landscapes. As well as a painter, Stormont was an accomplished photographer. She chose women on the land and beaches around Rye as her subjects. After her husband died in 1935England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 Stormont continued to live in Ypres Studio. In 1957 she founded the

Rye Art Gallery is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederat ...

Trust to promote interest in art through lessons, lectures and exhibitions. She died in

Battle, Sussex Battle is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the local government district of Rother District, Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the sout ...

on 11 October 1962 and was buried in Rye. On her death she bequeathed Ypres Studio, approximately 100 art works, and money to the Rye Gallery Trust. The Ypres Studio became The Rye Art Gallery and opened in 1965. The works she donated form the core of its permanent collection, which is housed in The Stormont Studio of the Rye Art Gallery. The permanent collection includes works by artists associated with Rye, such as

Edward Burra Edward John Burra CBE (29 March 1905 – 22 October 1976) was an English painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, best known for his depictions of the urban underworld, black culture and the Harlem scene of the 1930s. Biography Early life Burra w ...

and Paul Nash, and also a portrait of her painted by

George James Coates George James Coates (8 August 1869 – 27 July 1930) was an Australian painter, primarily dealing with portraits. He worked as an official war artist to the Australian government in 1919, and from then on specialised in war subjects until his ...

References

External links

*
Works by Mary Elizabeth Stormont
at the Rye Art Gallery
Rye Art Gallery
at Artist Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Stormont, Mary 1962 deaths 1871 births 20th-century English painters English women painters 20th-century English women