Sybil Marjory Atteck (3 February 1911 − 15 April 1975)Keith Atteck
"A short story of Sybil Atteck (1911–1975)"
Trinidad & Tobago Association of Ottawa, 6 October 2019. was a pioneering

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

painter known for her work in

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, oils, ceramics, acrylics and mixed media. She is celebrated as Trinidad and Tobago's "first outstanding female painter", "first Great Woman Painter", and was the inspiration for, and a founding member, of the Trinidad Art Society, now known as The Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago, the oldest established art organization in the Caribbean."Women artists celebrate Atteck"
''

Trinidad and Tobago Guardian The ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'' (together with the ''Sunday Guardian'') is the oldest daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago. The paper is considered the newspaper of record for Trinidad and Tobago. History Its first edition was published ...

'', 11 April 2011.

Biography

Sybil Atteck was born on the 3rd of February, 1911 on her grandfather's cocoa estate at Tableland, Princes Town Region, South Trinidad. The Atteck family moved to

Rio Claro Rio Claro (Portuguese and Spanish for "clear river" or "clean river") may refer to: Cities *Rio Claro, Trinidad and Tobago, the largest town in southeastern Trinidad and Tobago *Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian municipality in the state of R ...

in 1913 to the family's new home near the Rio Claro Junction. Two miles east of Rio Claro the Atteck family owned a large cocoa estate that was the prime source of income for the family. The family were actively involved in artistic endeavors with the encouragement of their mother. The elder Atteck daughters were home schooled in Rio Claro. Atteck moved with her two elder sisters to

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

when she was 12 years old to attend formal school. There, she attended

Bishop Anstey High School Bishop Anstey High School (BAHS), also known as Bishop Anstey or St. Hilary's, is a government-assisted all-girls secondary school in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It was founded by the Anglican Bishop Arthur Henry Anstey and opened on Jan ...

, graduating in 1928,"Remembering Sybil Atteck"
''Trinidad & Tobago Guardian'', 7 January 2016. and became involved in numerous artistic pursuits, with the encouragement of her grandmother. In 1928 she joined the Botanical Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, where she began to produce scientific drawings of flowers. Some of these were exhibited by the Society of Trinidad Independents in 1930. In 1934, Atteck travelled to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to study at the

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...

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 ...

."Our Founders: Sybil Atteck – Artist and Sculptor"
The Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago. Upon her return to Trinidad she resumed her former position. Atteck travelled again to study, in 1943, when she attended the School of Fine Arts, Washington University, and again in 1948, when she entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. During the former sojourn she studied with

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920 ...

, whose ideas were to have a profound effect on her work. In

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

she studied the pottery of the

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

, a form that she found related to the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

art of the Caribbean with which she was familiar. Stylistically, Atteck remained an

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

for much of her career, which opened her to charges of being "un-Trinidadian". Nevertheless, she exerted a great deal of influence on her contemporaries; Carlisle Chang, Willi Chen, Leo Glasgow,

Althea McNish Althea McNish (1924–2020) was an artist from Trinidad who became the first Black British textile designer to earn an international reputation. Born in Trinidad, McNish moved to Britain in the 1950s. She was associated with the Caribbean Arti ...

and Nina Squires are among the artists influenced by her work. In 1943 Atteck was a founding member of the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago. Having begun treatment for cancer in 1969, Atteck died in 1975.

Legacy

In April 2011 the exhibition ''Women and Art — A Journey to the Past, Perspectives on the Future'' that opened at Trinidad's National Museum and Art Gallery, marking 100 years of

International Women’s Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

, was dedicated to Sybil Atteck on the centenary of her birth, and her painting ''Indian Festival'' was reproduced on the catalogue cover.Audley Sue Wing
"Homage to visual artist Sybil Atteck" (letter)
''

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday ''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago. ''Newsday'' is the newest of the three daily papers after the ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'' and the ''Trinidad and Tobago Express'' respectively. The newspaper was fo ...

'', 23 June 2011.

References

Online images

An online catalog of all of Sybil's known works is now available. {{DEFAULTSORT:Atteck, Sybil 1911 births 1975 deaths Trinidad and Tobago people of Chinese descent 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago painters People from Mayaro–Rio Claro 20th-century women artists Women watercolorists Trinidad and Tobago watercolourists Trinidad and Tobago women artists

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading

Online images