Irene Stella Rolph Langdale (1880 – April 14, 1976) was an English and Canadian artist. She was commonly referred to as Stella Langdale. She sketched worked in

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

but also used oils, watercolour, pastels and etching techniques especially aquatint in her work. She also produced sculptures. Her preferred subject matter was landscapes from North Africa, Italy and France, as well as imaginary images often with musical inspiration. She exhibited at the major British galleries including 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 ...

, the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, and the

Paris Salon 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 ...

. She was also a member of such organizations as the

Senefelder Club The Senefelder Club is an organization formed in London in 1909 to promote the craft of art reproduction by the process of lithography. The club was named in honor of Aloys Senefelder, who in 1796 invented the lithographic process. The process ...

, the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, and she was a founding member of The Print Society. Irene Stella Rolph Langdale (1880 – April 14, 1976) was an English and Canadian artist. She was commonly referred to as Stella Langdale.

Early life

Stella Langdale was born in

Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to ...

, Middlesex. The daughter of Marmaduke Albert Langdale and Emma Jane Rolf, she was the youngest of their four children. Born Irene Stella Rolph Langdale, Langdale seems to have rarely if ever used her full name, with the exception of her artist's signature or stamp. Langdale's father, Marmaduke Albert Langdale, was painter who regularly exhibited 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 ...

, Her father regularly painted landscapes featuring the Thames. Her mother was Thomas J. Rolf of Brandon in Suffolk.

Education

Langdale began her art education at the

Brighton School of Art Founded as the Brighton School of Art in 1859, the University of Brighton School of Art and Media is an organisational part of the University of Brighton, with courses in the creative arts, visual communication, media, craft and fashion and textil ...

and then pursued further studies at the Glasgow School of Art where she studied from 1907 to 1910 under the new director of the school, Francis Henry Newbery. She would attend the Glasgow School of Art fo 1907 to 1910. At the Glasgow School of Art, Langdale was trained in the distinctive multidisciplinary Glasgow School of Art Style. As a student of Glasgow School of Art Style, Langdale was trained in a wide variety of mediums including watercolor painting, oil paints, charcoal and

oil pastels An oil pastel is a painting and drawing medium formed into a stick which consists of pigment mixed with a binder mixture of non-drying oil and wax. They differ from other pastel sticks which are made with a gum or methyl cellulose binder, and ...

, etching, and sculpture. The Glasgow School of Art also provided Langdale with a formal education in anatomy, composition, design, construction, and both painting and drawing technique. After school, Langdale would go on to specialize in charcoal, lithography, and oil painting. The Glasgow School of Art Style was an amalgamation of several different artistic styles from different corners of the globe that were popular at the time that Langdale was a student:

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

, Realistic Impressionism, and Scottish Romanticism. These phantasmic styles and their emphasis on

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

from marginalized cultures would evolve into defining characteristics of Langdale's work. Langdale would go on research and write extensively about Celtic and other global mythologies.

Career

As Langdale's style developed, her work began to align most strongly with the

Symbolist Movement Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

. She sketched using

and used oils, watercolour,

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

s and etching techniques especially aquatint in her work. She also produced sculptures. Inspired by mythology and music, Langdale blended these elements to create an etherial tone, which she combined with the contemporary

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style to create her signature styles. Her preferred subject matters were landscapes from North Africa, Italy and France, as well as imaginary images often with musical inspiration. Captivated by the still-standing edifices to ancient religions, Langdale spent a large part of her professional life traveling between England, Greece, North Africa, and Italy, seeking inspiration in these landscapes and cultures. She exhibited at the major British galleries and the

. She also exhibited with the

, the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, the

and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. She worked as a book illustrator for almost 25 years with publishers John Lane and Dodd, Mead & Co. Works that she illustrated include: * ''Symphonie Symbolique'' (1919) by

Edmund John Edmund John (27 November 1883 – 28 February 1917) was a British poet of the Uranian poetry school. His verses were modeled on the Symbolist poetry of Algernon Charles Swinburne and other earlier poets. Much of his work was condemned by critic ...

* '' The Dream of Gerontius'' (1916) by John Henry Newman * ''Christ in Hades'' (1917) by

Stephen Phillips Stephen Phillips (28 July 1864 – 9 December 1915) was an English poet and dramatist, who enjoyed considerable popularity early in his career. Biography He was born at Somertown near Oxford, the son of the Rev. Stephen Phillips, precentor o ...

* ''

The Hound of Heaven "The Hound of Heaven" is a 182-line poem written by English poet Francis Thompson (1859–1907). The poem became famous and was the source of much of Thompson's posthumous reputation. The poem was first printed in 1890, in the periodical ''Merry E ...

'' (1922) by Francis Thompson Langdale came to Victoria in 1940. In 1946, she held an exhibit of works from British Columbia and a few from Europe at the Little Centre in Victoria, a precursor to the

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) is an art museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Situated in Rockland, Victoria, the museum occupies a building complex; made up of the Spencer Mansion, and the Exhibition Galleries. The ...

. She suffered from

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

and moved to Santa Barbara, California around 1950. Langdale died in Santa Barbara at the age of 95.

References

External links

*
Marmaduke Albert Langdale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langdale, Stella 1880 births 1976 deaths English women artists Canadian women artists English illustrators British emigrants to Canada