Georgina Moutray Kyle Explained

Honorific Suffix:HRUA
Birth Date:1865
Birth Place:Craigavad, County Down
Death Date:25 February 1950
Death Place:Belfast
Alma Mater:Belfast School of Art
Resting Place:Balmoral Cemetery, Belfast
Education:Académie Colarossi
Nationality:British
Known For:Landscapes
Style:Post-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.

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. She was also a member of the Ulster Academy of Arts,[9] where she was elected honorary Academician in 1930. She exhibited widely including at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Society of Artists, and the Paris Salon. The Belfast Museum and Art Gallery held a retrospective of her work comprising more than sixty paintings in 1945.[10] 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.

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, North Down Museum, Queen's University Belfast, and Belfast City Council.[15]

Notes and References

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