Margaret Elizabeth Kitto | |
Birth Date: | 28 July 1873 |
Birth Place: | London, England, United Kingdom |
Death Place: | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
Known For: | Painting, teaching |
Margaret Elizabeth Kitto (July 28, 1873 – August 9, 1925) was an English-born Canadian artist and educator.
The daughter of Francis Bowyer Kitto and Lavinia Mary Tilly,[1] she was born in London and came to Victoria with her family in 1891. In 1922, she opened the Deco Art Studio with Lillian Sweeney, also an artist; they produced and sold various arts and crafts. Kitto taught at the Sacred Heart Convent School and the Western Art Studio; she later taught evening classes for the local school board. Her pupils included Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher, who was Emily Carr's friend and biographer. She was a member of the Island Arts and Crafts Society, serving on the executive board from 1911 to 1917 and was vice-president in 1925. With Josephine Crease, she led sketching parties for the Society.[2] [3]
Her efforts led to the establishment of an art gallery in Victoria's Crystal Garden in 1925.[3]
She mainly worked in watercolour, painting local scenes. Her work is included in the collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the British Columbia Provincial Archives.[2] Her work was included in a 2016 exhibition Water+Pigment+Paper at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.[4]
She died in Victoria in 1925.[2]