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Leo Walmsley by Dame Ethel Walker (1861 – 1951)

Leo Walmsley by Dame Ethel Walker (1861 – 1951)

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​Dame Ethel Walker, a Scottish painter and occasional sculptor.  Though born in Edinburgh she studied art mainly in London, including at the Slade School of Art where she took painting classes with Post Impressionist artist, Walter Sickert. Her large body of works encompassed a range of genres, including flowers, seascapes, landscapes and mythical subjects

She is best known for her portraits of the female form, paying particular attention to the detail of her model’s expression and temperament. Her impressionistic paintings capture the human spirit, emphasising the mood of the moment.

In 1900 she became the first woman member of the New English Art Club, where she built a reputation as one of the outstanding British women artists of her period. She was later elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

In 1925 Ethel Walker was one of the founder members of the Fylingdales Group of Artists, a group of professional painters who exhibited together and still stage an annual exhibition at the Pannett Art Gallery. The first meeting of this group was held in Robin Hoods Bay.

It was through this connection that she met the writer Leo Walmsley, son of painter and fellow founder member of the Fylingdales Group, Ulric Walmsley.

Click on “Past Exhibitions” to see art works previously featured here.

If you have any further information, stories or anecdotes about the artist, or any of the members of the Staithes Art Group, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us by email: Pannett.gallery@whitbytowncouncil.gov.uk