Elizabeth Forbes (artist)
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Elizabeth Adela Forbes (née Armstrong; 29 December 1859 – 16 March 1912) was a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
painter who was primarily active in the UK. She often featured children in her paintings and ''School Is Out'' (painted in Newlyn) is one of her most popular works. She was friends with the artists
James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
and
Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
, both of whom influenced her work. Her etchings in particular are said to show the influence of Whistler. After studying and working in continental Europe, Forbes settled 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 Moun ...
, England, where she raised her son and established a school with her husband, Stanhope Forbes. She had her works exhibited in notable shows and won medals for her works. Her paintings are in collections of museums in Canada, United States and England.


Personal life

Born in
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...
, Elizabeth Armstrong was the youngest child of William Armstrong, an employee of the
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
. Born in her father's old age, she was educated privately in Canada and then allowed to further her artistic studies in England with her mother as chaperone.''Elizabeth Adela Stanhope Forbes''.
National Museum of Women in the Arts. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
Her father died two months later, after which she and her mother lived with an uncle in
Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...
. They lived next door to
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
, but she never met him. In 1889 she married
Newlyn School The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminis ...
painter Stanhope Forbes. Their son, Alec, was born in 1893. In 1904 she and her husband settled at Higher Faugan, a house which they designed and had built for themselves. File:Elizabeth-Forbes-in-studio.jpg, Elizabeth Forbes in her Studio, about 1890 File:Stanhope Alexander Forbes by Elizabeth Adèla Forbes (née Armstrong).jpg, Elizabeth Adèla Forbes, ''Stanhope Alexander Forbes'', before 1912 File:Elizabeth Forbes The Half Holiday.jpg, Elizabeth Forbes, ''The Half Holiday, Alec home from school'' In 1909 she pursued cures and restorative periods for cancer in France and London, but died in 1912. In an obituary she was dubbed "the Queen of Newlyn" for her contributions to the art colony. Her husband remarried following her death.


Education

As a young girl,''Elizabeth Armstrong Forbes.''
Canadian Woman Artists History Initiative. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
Elizabeth Armstrong, later Forbes, traveled with her mother to England and studied at the South Kensington Art School (now the Royal College of Art). She then returned to Canada, during which time her father died. From 1877 to 1880 she studied at the Art Students League of New York with
William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...
, who recommended that she next study in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. Following his advice, Armstrong went to Germany and studied with J. Frank Currier and
Frank Duveneck Frank Duveneck (né Decker; October 9, 1848 – January 3, 1919) was an American figure and portrait painter. Early life Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernhard Decker. Decker died in a cholera epidemic whe ...
in the early 1880s.


Career


Early career and further education

In 1882 she explored
plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
painting at the
artists' colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of Artist, artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior exi ...
at
Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (, Breton: 'River Bridge') is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 2,821. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called ''Pontavenistes'' in French ...
in
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
. She also taught etching there. While in Brittany she sent paintings to London for sale at the Royal Institute and all of the items that she sent were sold on the opening day of the show. The following year she was in London where she worked as a print maker and joined the Society of Painter Etchers. In the summer of 1884 she studied near Haarlem in
Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...
, the Netherlands with William Merritt Chase.Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller.
North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary
'. Routledge; 19 December 2013. . p. 189.
She worked in oil, watercolour and pastels and made etchings of children, landscapes and fishing scenes. Her works were exhibited in London at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Academy. Some of her etchings, influenced by
James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
and
Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
, were collected by her Pont-Aven mentor, Mortimer Menpes. File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - RingaRingoRoses 1880.jpg, ''Ring a Ring O'Roses,'' 1880, oil on canvas File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - Breton Girl Louise.jpg, ''Breton Girl, Louise'', 1880s, watercolour File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - Louise Breton Girl.jpg, ''Louise, Breton Girl'', 1880s, watercolour


Cornwall

In the autumn of 1885, Armstrong and her mother moved to
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 Moun ...
, Cornwall. She established a studio in Newlyn, sharing the building with a fisherman who stored and repaired nets in the space. She won a medal at the Paris International Exhibition in 1891 and a gold medal for an oil painting at the
World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in Chicago in 1893. Between 1893 and 1899 she participated in more than 63 exhibitions in London. After Newlyn, Armstrong lived in St. Ives, where she met Stanhope Forbes, whom she married in 1889. Going against societal roles for married women, Elizabeth Forbes continued to be an active and successful artist after marriage. Further, in 1899 she and her husband Stanhope Forbes opened the Newlyn Art School. They also were instrumental in the creation and ongoing success of the new Passmore Edwards Art Gallery at Newlyn, also known as the Newlyn Art Gallery (NAG). Her works of art, many of them of children, including her son Alec, were influenced by French realism. She was a successful artist, more successful than some of her male counterparts and had a national reputation, most commonly associated with the Newlyn School, or Forbes School. Forbes held an exhibition called ''Children and Child Lore'' in London at the
Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...
in 1900. The main character based upon her friend Thomas Cooper Gotch, Forbes wrote and illustrated ''King Arthur's Wood'', a children's book for her son that was published in 1904. She founded ''The Paper Chase'', edited by her friend F. Tennyson Jesse in 1908 and wrote poetry. In 1910 at the
Royal British Colonial Society of Artists The Royal British Colonial Society of Artists (RBC) was founded in 1887 as the Royal Anglo Australian Society of Artists and received its royal charter under its later name in 1907. Its members were artists from Britain (notably members of the Ne ...
Exhibition, Forbes won the merit award. Following her death her works were shown in 1990 to 1991 in the "Four Centuries of Women’s Art: The National Museum of Women in the Arts" exhibition and a retrospective of her works held at the Penlee House Gallery and Museum in 2000 entitled "Singing from the Walls: The life and work of Elizabeth Forbes."


Works

A partial list of her works includes:''Elizabeth Forbes.''
Penlee House. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
Mrs. Lionel Birch.
Stanhope A. Forbes, A. R. A., and Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, A. R. W. S.
'. Cassell and Company, Limited; 1906. pp. 36.
* ''A Dream Princess'', 1897, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro * ''An Old Dame of Pont Aven,'' drypoint etching, example at Penlee Museum and the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
* ''A Newlyn Maid,'' oil on canvas, Penlee Museum * ''Boys with a Barrow,'' drypoint etching, example at Penlee Museum * ''Girl Peeling Onions,'' drypoint etching, example at Penlee Museum and the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
* ''Girl Peeling Onions,'' oil on canvas, Penlee Museum * ''Portrait of Cicely Jesse,'' charcoal, Penlee Museum * ''Portrait of the Artist,'' drypoint etching, example at Penlee Museum * ''School is Out'', 1889, oil on canvas, Penlee Museum * ''The Cornish Pasty,'' drypoint etching, example at Penlee Museum * ''The Critics'', 1886 or 1887 * ''The Minuet,'' oil on canvas, Penlee Museum * ''The Pied Piper,'' mixed media on paper, Penlee Museum * ''Zandvoort Fishergirl'', 1884, oil on canvas, Penlee Museum. On loan from Newlyn Art Gallery. ''School is Out'' and ''Zandvoort Fishergirl'' were two of her best known paintings. Her works are exhibited at
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...
,
National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...
in Washington, D.C.,
Royal Cornwall Museum The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral collection of Philip Rashleigh (1729-1811), Philip Rashleigh). The county's artistic her ...
,
Penlee House Penlee House is a museum and art gallery located in the town of Penzance in Cornwall, and is home to a great many paintings by members of the Newlyn School, including many by Stanhope Forbes, Norman Garstin, Walter Langley and Lamorna Birch ...
,
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, West Cornwall Art Archive and in museums in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
and
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
.''Elizabeth Adela Forbes.''
Cornwall Artists. Retrieved 14 October 2012.


Gallery

File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - Medieval Woodland Scene.jpg, ''Medieval Woodland Scene,'' 1885 File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - The Edge Of The Wood.jpg, ''The Edge of the Wood,'' 1894, oil on canvas File:Forbes Volendam.jpg, ''Volendam, Holland, from the Zuidende,'' perhaps 1895, oil on wood, Tate Gallery File:Elizabeth Forbes - Blackberry Gathering - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Blackberry Gathering'', 1912, oil on canvas File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - April.jpg, ''April'', oil on canvas File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - By The Brook.jpg, ''By the Brook,'' oil on canvas File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - In The Lane.jpg, ''In The Lane,'' oil on canvas File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - The Open Book.jpg, ''The Open Book,'' watercolour with bodycolour over pencil


References


Further reading

* Carrington, Fitz Roy; Campbell Dodgson.
The Print Collector's Quarterly
'. Catalogue of Dry Points by Elizabeth Adela Forbes ed. 1922. p. 90–100. * Cook, Judith, Melissa Hardie. ''Singing from the walls: the life and art of Elizabeth Forbes'' (Bristol: Sansom, 2000) reprints Sabin and adds 5 more prints along with 59 book illustrations. * Fox, Caroline. ''Stanhope Forbes and the Newlyn School'', David & Charles, 1993 * Sabin, Arthur K. ''The Dry-Points of Elizabeth Adela Forbes, formerly E. A. Armstrong (1859–1912)'' The Print Collector’s Quarterly 1922 Feb Vol 9, No. 1, p75 with a Catalogue of 41 Dry-Points.


External links


''Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes''

Sabin catalogue of 41 prints
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Elizabeth 1859 births 1912 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Art 19th-century Canadian painters 20th-century Canadian painters Artists from Ontario People from Kingston, Ontario British women painters St Ives artists Newlyn School of Artists Art Students League of New York alumni 20th-century American women artists 19th-century American women artists Canadian women painters