Jessie Alexandra Dick | |
Birth Date: | 13 July 1896 |
Birth Place: | Largs, Scotland |
Death Place: | Clarkston, Scotland |
Nationality: | British |
Known For: | Painting and teaching |
Jessie Alexandra Dick, known as J Alix Dick, (13 July 1896 – 16 August 1976) was a Scottish artist and teacher. She was known as a painter of portraits and still-life pieces in both oils and watercolours.
Dick was the youngest daughter in a family of eleven children. She was born in Largs where her father was the head gardener on the estate of Lord Kelvin.[1] She studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1915 to 1919 and joined the teaching staff of the School in 1921.[2] Holding a variety of posts, but mainly teaching painting and drawing, she remained on the staff of the School until her retirement in 1959.[3] [4] She was an active member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists and, in 1960, was elected an associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy.[2] [5] She was also a regular exhibitor with the Royal Watercolour Society, with the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.[6] Dick died in 1976 after a fall at the home in Clarkston she shared with one of her sisters.[1] For many years a large portrait of her, Self Portrait in the Studio, hung in the Glasgow School of Art but was destroyed in 2014 when fire engulfed the building.[7] After her death, several fine watercolours by Dick were saved by a neighbour when about to be thrown away.[4] The McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Greenock holds examples of her work.[6]
From 1922 until her retirement in 1959, Alix Dick taught at the GSA in various roles: