Rosemary Ellen Rutherford (1 September 1912—20 June 1972) was a British artist notable for her paintings and stained glass designs.

Biography

Rutherford was born at

Kings Norton Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, England. Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council ward within the Government of Birmingham, England. The district lies 6.5 miles south-southwes ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and spent part of her childhood in Broomfield near

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

where her father, who was originally from

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, was a church rector. Rutherford subsequently 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 ...

in London and then took a teaching post in Colchester. During World War II, Rutherford was a volunteer with the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

undertaking a variety of duties, including driving a mobile canteen to military sites. She also worked as a nurse with a

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

, VAD, unit attached to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She received a drawing permit from 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 ...

to record the work of her fellow VAD nurses and their patients. After the war, Rutherford spent some time helping

Cedric Morris Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Baronet (11 December 1889 – 8 February 1982) was a British artist, art teacher and plantsman. He was born in Swansea in South Wales, but worked mainly in East Anglia. As an artist he is best known for his portra ...

and

Arthur Lett-Haines Arthur Lett-Haines (1894 – 25 February 1978Deaths, ''The Times'', 2 March 1978), known as Lett Haines, was a British painter and sculptor who experimented in many different media, though he generally characterised himself as "an English surr ...

in running the

East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing The East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing was an art learning environment established by Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines in East Anglia in 1937. It was run on very idiosyncratic lines based upon the ''"free rein"'' approach that was the ...

. She established a studio at Walsham le Willows, where her brother was the local vicar, and designed a number of stained glass windows for churches in Essex and Suffolk while continuing to paint still-life and figure pictures. She exhibited paintings 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 ...

on at least two occasions, in 1937 and 1947, with 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 ...

and was elected a member of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

in 1970. Rutherford died at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

in London in 1972 and a memorial exhibition was held at The Minories gallery in Colchester the same year. Several British public collections hold examples of her work including the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

, the

Ingram Collection of Modern British Art The Ingram Collection of Modern British Art is one of the largest and most significant publicly accessible collections of Modern British art in the UK, available to all through a programme of loans and exhibitions. The collection was created by me ...

and the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherford, Rosemary 1912 births 1972 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British women in World War II English stained glass artists and manufacturers English women painters People from Kings Norton World War II artists 20th-century women painters