Jump to content

Anna Airy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anna Airy
Born(1882-06-06)6 June 1882
Greenwich,London, England
Died23 October 1964(1964-10-23)(aged 82)
Greenwich, London, England
EducationSlade School of Fine Art
Known forPainting, Pastel, Etching
SpouseGeoffrey Buckingham Pocock

Anna Airy(6 June 1882 – 23 October 1964) was an English oil painter, pastel artist andetcher.She was one of the first women officially commissioned as awar artist[1]and was recognised as one of the leading women artists of her generation.[2]

Early life

[edit]

Airy was born inGreenwich,London, the daughter of an engineer, Wilfrid Airy, and AnnanéeListing, and the granddaughter of theAstronomer RoyalGeorge Biddell Airy.[3][4]Airy trained at theSlade School of Fine Artin London from 1899 to 1903, where she studied alongsideWilliam OrpenandAugustus John,and underFred Brown,Henry TonksandPhilip Wilson Steer.Airy won prizes at the Slade School for portrait, figure, and other subjects including the Slade School Scholarship in 1902. She also won the Melville Nettleship Prize in 1900, 1901 and 1902.[5][6]

Work

[edit]
interior view from an elevated position showing the shop-floor of an aircraft assembly factory. The aircraft are seen in various stages of assembly to the left and right of the image. In the centre are lines of workbenches and a range of different factory personnel
An Aircraft Assembly Shop, Hendon
interior view of a gasworks showing the retort process. Several women dressed in dark overalls stand at work on the floor of the gasworks. The focal point is the clouds of grey smoke and yellow flames emitted from the wall on the left of the painting
Women Working in a Gas Retort House - South Metropolitan Gas Company, London

DuringWorld War I,Airy was given commissions in a number of factories and painted her canvases on site in often difficult and, sometimes, dangerous conditions.[1]For example, while working at great speed to paintA Shell Forge at a National Projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, Londonin an extremely hot environment, "the ground became so hot that her shoes were burnt off her feet".[7]This painting was featured in an exhibition at theImperial War Museum's 2011–2012 exhibitionWomen War Artists.[8]

In June 1918 the Munitions Committee of the Imperial War Museum, IWM. commissioned her to create four paintings representing typical scenes in four munitions factories:[9]These included,

  • National Projectile Factory at Hackney;[7]
  • National Filling Factory at Chilwell, Nottingham, W G Armstrong Whitworth's at Nottingham;
  • Aircraft Manufacturing Co. at Hendon;[10]
  • South Metropolitan Gas Co.

The Chilwell commission was replaced by a request for a painting of work at the Singer factory in Glasgow.[11]Airy was also commissioned by the Women's Work Section of the IWM during the war. In 1917 she was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund; and in 1940 by the Ministry of Munitions.[5]Her work was also part of the art competitions at the1928 Summer Olympicsand the1932 Summer Olympics.[12]

Airy was married to the artistGeoffrey Buckingham Pocockand for many years the couple lived atHaverstock HillinHampsteadbefore moving toPlayfordnearIpswich.[6]

Exhibitions

[edit]

Airy's work was exhibited at theRoyal Academyin 1905 and in each subsequent year there until 1956, her first one-woman exhibition having been held at the Carfax Gallery in 1908. Airy also exhibited at exhibitions at the Paris Salon and in Italy, Canada and in the United States. She has been represented in theBritish Museum;theVictoria and Albert Museum;and the Imperial War Museum. Her work also appeared in theArt Gallery of New South Wales,Sydney as well as inAuckland,New Zealand;VancouverandOttawain Canada; and in the Corporation Art Galleries ofLiverpool,Leeds,Huddersfield,Birkenhead,Blackpool,Rochdale,Ipswich,Doncaster,Lincoln,Harrogate,PaisleyandNewport.[5]A painting by Airy,The Golden Plum Tree,shown at a 1916 exhibition of works by female artists was acquired byQueen Mary.[13]Her etchingForerunners of Fruit(c.1925) is in the collection of theArt Gallery of New South Wales.[14]

Publications

[edit]

Airy is the author of:

  • The Art of Pastel(1930) London: Winsor & Newton[15]
  • Making a Start in Art(1951) Studio Publications London, New York[16]

Memberships

[edit]

Airy was a member of several artistic societies.[17]She was elected as a member ofThe Pastel Societyin 1906. She also joined theRoyal Society of Painters and Etchersin 1908 when the society elected her. She was also an elected member of theRoyal Institute of Oil Painters(1909),Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours(1918), and Member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (1952).She was elected as the President of the Ipswich Art Society in 1945.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abArifa Akbar (8 April 2011)."Women at war: The female British artists who were written out of history".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 7 May 2022.Retrieved2 September2013.
  2. ^Tolson, Roger."Art and Daily Life in World War Two".BBC History.Retrieved16 June2012.
  3. ^Goward, K. J. (2006)."Founding of Orwell Park Observatory".Institute of Astronomy. Archived fromthe originalon 15 November 2007.Retrieved16 December2007.
  4. ^"Anna Airy".Thompson's Gallery.Archived fromthe originalon 19 July 2012.
  5. ^abcWho Was Who, 'AIRY, Anna' A & C Black, 1920–2008(online ed.). Oxford University Press. December 2007.Retrieved16 June2012.
  6. ^abRichard Green (1995).Modern British Paintings (Exhibition Catalogue).Richard Green Gallery.
  7. ^ab"A Shell Forge at a National Projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, London, 1918".Imperial War Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 8 November 2021.Retrieved17 April2013.
  8. ^"Women War Artists".Imperial War Museum.2011. Archived fromthe originalon 7 March 2014.Retrieved17 April2013.
  9. ^"Miss Anna Airy".Imperial War Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 28 July 2018.Retrieved17 April2013.
  10. ^"An Aircraft Assembly Shop, Hendon".Imperial War Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 8 November 2021.Retrieved17 April2013.
  11. ^"6 Stunning First World War Artworks by Women War Artists".Imperial War Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 17 July 2022.Retrieved1 April2017.
  12. ^"Anna Airy".Olympedia.Retrieved27 July2020.
  13. ^Lucy Meretto Peterson (2018).The Women Who Inspired London Art, The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century.Pen & Sword Books.ISBN978-1-5267-2525-7.
  14. ^"Collection: Anna Airy".Art Gallery NSW.Archived fromthe originalon 6 March 2012.
  15. ^"Airy, Anna." Chambers Biographical Dictionary. London: Chambers Harrap, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 25 March 2010
  16. ^abFrances Spalding(1990).20th Century Painters and Sculptors.Antique Collectors' Club.ISBN1-85149-106-6.
  17. ^Sara Gray (2009).The Dictionary of British Women Artists.The Lutterworth Press.ISBN97807-18830847.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnna Airy.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anna_Airy&oldid=1236531110"