Georgina Moutray Kyle
HRUA
Born1865
Craigavad, County Down
Died25 February 1950
Belfast
Resting placeBalmoral Cemetery, Belfast
NationalityBritish
EducationAcadémie Colarossi
Alma materBelfast School of Art
Known forLandscapes
StylePost-Impressionism

Georgina Moutray Kyle HRUA (1865 – 1950) was an Irish watercolour painter and pastel artist, and one of a select few Irish artists to have exhibited at the Paris Salon.

Biography

Kyle was born in Craigavad, County Down and educated at home.[1] She was the youngest daughter of the businessman George Wilson Kyle.[2] Her niece Frances Kyle became the first woman admitted to the bar in Ireland.[3] Kyle studied art at the Académie Colarossi in Paris beginning in 1883.[4] Kyle then continued her studies at the Belfast School of Art, where she was to win prizes in consecutive years.[5][6] She was financially independent and as such had no real need to sell her work, so often she would give paintings away.[7] She was seen as eccentric and was an active Unionist, on occasion travelling to press the Unionist cause in London.[7]

On her return to Ireland, Kyle joined the Belfast Ramblers' Sketching Club. She exhibited her work in the Belfast Art Society from 1894 to 1928 where she was an active member,[8] who became an honorary member in 1920.[9] She was also a member of the Ulster Academy of Arts,[10] where she was elected honorary Academician in 1930.[7] She exhibited widely including at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Society of Artists, and the Paris Salon.[2] The Belfast Museum and Art Gallery held a retrospective of her work comprising more than sixty paintings in 1945.[9] Kyle travelled extensively across Europe where she painted many market scenes and harbours, although still-life and flowers are also a feature. She spent many summers working in Ardglass.[11]

She died at home on 25 February 1950 following a lengthy period of ill-health.[12] In her last will and testament Kyle stipulated that she was not to be removed to a nursing home or hospital for treatment. She also requested that a surgeon remove one of her vital organs before burial and that she be interred beside her Mother. Her maid and friend Sarah Mallon was a beneficiary.[13] Kyle bequeathed eight paintings to the Belfast Municipal Gallery.[7]

The Naughton Gallery, Queen's University Belfast, held a retrospective of her work in 2004.[14] Her work can be found in the collections of the Ulster Museum, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts,[7] North Down Museum, Queen's University Belfast, and Belfast City Council.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Georgina Moutray Kyle RUA 1865 - 1950, Irish Artist". adams.ie.
  2. ^ a b Buckman, David (2006). Artists in Britain since 1945 (New and enl. ed.). Bristol: Art Dictionaries Ltd. p. 914. ISBN 978-0-9532609-5-9. OCLC 77011785.
  3. ^ "Frances Kyle | Inner Temple". 5 December 2019.
  4. ^ "The Dictionary of Ulster Biography". www.newulsterbiography.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Belfast Government School of Art". Northern Whig. 28 March 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  6. ^ "The Government School of Art Sketching Club". Belfast Telegraph. 23 January 1886. p. 4. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e Anglesea, Martyn (2000). Royal Ulster Academy of the Arts Diploma Collection. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Royal Ulster Academy. p. 132. ISBN 0-900903-54-6.
  8. ^ "Georgina Moutray Kyle". IMMA.
  9. ^ a b Snoddy, Theo (2002). Dictionary of Irish artists: 20th century (2nd ed.). Dublin: Merlin. p. 328. ISBN 1-903582-17-2. OCLC 50624017.
  10. ^ McClelland, Gillian; Hadden, Diana (2005). Pioneering Women: Riddel Hall and Queen's University Belfast. Ulster Historical Foundation. ISBN 978-1-903688-57-1.
  11. ^ Irish women artists: from the eighteenth century to the present day. Dublin: National Gallery of Ireland and the Douglas Hyde Gallery. 1987. p. 171.
  12. ^ "Miss G M Kyle". Irish Independent. 1 March 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Burial Request in Artist's Will". www.findmypast.co.uk. 8 November 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  14. ^ Wright, Christopher; Gordon, Catherine May (January 2006). British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11730-1.
  15. ^ "Kyle, Georgina Moutray, 1865–1950 | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 8 August 2021.

External links

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