Doris Blair

Doris Violet Blair, later Doris Bourguignon (born 1915) was a British 20th century artist who worked in a range of media. She is possibly best known for her depictions of life in Northern Ireland during World War II.

Doris Violet Blair
Born1915
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Known forPainting

Biography

Blair was born in Belfast and studied at the Belfast College of Art and at the Royal College of Art.[1] During World War II she worked for the Ministry of Information in the Postal Censorship department.[2] Blair also painted scenes of bomb damage in Belfast and portraits of some of the British and American troops stationed there. Furthermore, she submitted a proposal to the War Artists' Advisory Committee to record the activities of women who had entered the industrial workforce for the war effort. The WAAC Committee didn't act on that proposal but later in the conflict did purchase a number of watercolours from Blair depicting women officers.[2]

After the war, Blair had a solo exhibition of her work in 1948 at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery.[3] Leaving Belfast she studied in New York under the architect Wallace Harrison and then in Paris with Fernand Léger and André Lhote.[3] By 1975, Blair was living in Belgium and, working in a largely abstract style, she had a solo show in Brussels. During the 1990s, Blair settled in London and continued to paint, mostly working in acrylics.[3] In 1982 the Ulster Museum acquired a collection of her watercolours from World War II.[4]

References
  1. "Doris Violet Bourguignon". British & Irish Artists of the 20th Century. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  2. Imperial War Museum. "Correspondence with artists, Doris Blair". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  3. David Buckman (1998). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 95326 095 X.
  4. "The Doris V. Blair Collection of Second World War watercolours". National Museums NI. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
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