Gertrude Mary Powys
Gertrude Mary Powys | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 6, 1877 |
| Died | April 23, 1952 (aged 74) |
| Alma mater | Slade School of Fine Art; Académie de la Grande Chaumière |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Relatives | John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys, T. F. Powys (brothers); Philippa Powys (sister) |
Gertrude Mary Powys (6 October 1877[1] – 23 April 1952)[2][3] was a British artist, notable for her portraits of members of the literary Powys family, including John Cowper Powys and Llewelyn Powys.[4][5]
Early life
Gertrude Mary Powys was born in Brailsford, Derbyshire, in 1877,[6] the fourth child and eldest daughter of the eleven children of Mary Cowper Johnson (1849–1914) and the Reverend Charles Francis Powys (1843–1923).[7][3] Her siblings included the writers John Cowper Powys, Theodore Francis Powys, Llewelyn Powys, and Philippa Powys.[7] Another sister, Marian Powys-Grey, became a world authority on old lace.[5]
Gertrude was educated at home, and then studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Academie de La Grande Chaumière in Paris.[8][3][9] Between 1910–23 she lived at Montacute Vicarage, Somerset, with her father.[4] Following her father's death in 1923, she returned to artistic study in Paris, before settling with her sister Philippa at Chydyok in East Chaldon, Dorset.[3]
Painting
Gertude Mary Powys' first solo exhibition was held at the Cooling Galleries in London in 1937.[8] As well as portraits, it featured paintings and drawings of landscapes, her "Dorset scenes" being described as "strong in colour and sound in technique" by the Western Mail.[10]
Between 1931 and 1950, she was a regular exhibitor at the annual exhibition of the Sherborne Art Club, showing portraits and landscapes.[3] Works by Powys were also exhibited in Paris at the Salon de la Nationale.[3]
Gertrude was extremely close to her brother Llewelyn, and illustrated a number of his books, including Earth Memories (1934), Rats in the Sacristy (1937), and A Baker’s Dozen (1941).[4] Portraits by Gertrude of her brothers were also included in The Powys Brothers: a Study by Richard Heron Ward (1935).[11]
Gertrude Mary Powys spent many years living with and caring for her father, and it has been argued that her "artistic career was sacrificed for the family."[12][9] In The Life of Llewelyn Powys, Malcolm Elwin noted that:
John [Cowper Powys] recognized the debt owed by all the family when he dedicated Weymouth Sands ‘to Gertrude Mary Powys remembering her life with my father at Greenhill Terrace, Weymouth.’ Llewelyn witnessed all that this devotion meant in daily wastage of his gifted sister’s life, and fretted against the fate that denied her the time and training to develop fully her artistic talent.[13]
Llewellyn Powys described his sister as: "a most generous, noble, distinguished creature—quite unsurpassed by any other woman I have ever seen. I am always happy with her."[14] He dedicated Skin for Skin (1925) to his sister.[15] Another brother, Littleton, wrote in his autobiography of: "my sister Gertrude, round whom like the sun we different members of the family like the planets revolve".[16]
Death
Gertrude Mary Powys died in Weymouth, Dorset on 23 April 1952.[2]
An exhibition of her work was arranged in conjunction with the conference of The Powys Society in Bath in 1986.[4]
References
- ^ "1939 Register". Findmypast. 1939.
- ^ a b "England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019". Findmypast. 1952.
- ^ a b c d e f "Gertrude Powys (1877-1952)". The Old Shirburnian Society. 2020-05-25. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
- ^ a b c d "Gertrude Mary Powys". artuk.org. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
- ^ a b "John Cowper Powys". The Times. 19 June 1963. p. 19.
- ^ "Derbyshire Registrars Birth Index". Findmypast. 1877.
- ^ a b Foss, P. J. (2004-09-23). Powys, Llewelyn (1884–1939), writer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56994.
- ^ a b "The Powys Family". Western Mail. 12 February 1937. p. 8.
- ^ a b Peltier, Jacqueline (2010). "The Powys Women" (PDF).
- ^ Evans, Tim (27 February 1937). "Cooling Galleries". Western Mail. p. 11.
- ^ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1935). Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 1 Group 1: Books 1935: Vol 32 No 1-155. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
- ^ "Self Portrait". artuk.org. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
- ^ Elwin, Malcolm (1953). Life of Llewellyn Powys. Internet Archive. Macdonald.
- ^ Wilkinson, Louis; Gregory, Alyse, eds. (1943). The Letters of Llewelyn Powys. Internet Archive. London: John Lane and the Bodley Head.
- ^ Powys, Llewelyn (1925). Skin for Skin. Internet Archive. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
- ^ Powys, Littleton (1937). The Joy of It (1st ed.). London: Chapman & Hall.