Ethel Wright (painter)
Ethel Wright became Ethel Bradley (1866 – 1939) was a British painter. She has paintings in UK national collections. Her most famous work is a portrait of Christabel Pankhurst.
Ethel Wright | |
---|---|
Born | 1866 |
Died | 1939 |
Nationality | United Kingdom |
Occupation | painter |
Known for | portraiture |
Spouse(s) | Mr Bradley |
Life
Wright was born in London and she studied at Académie Julian in Paris as advised by Solomon Joseph Solomon.[1] She achieved some success as a painter but she was identified as a great woman artist. She became a supporter of the suffragettes.[2] By 1898 she was exhibiting at the Oldham Gallery and she was "also known as Mrs Bradley".[1]
A portrait she made of Christabel Pankhurst was bought by the leading suffragette Una Duval after it was exhibited by the Women's Social and Political Union's art exhibition in 1909.[2] The Women's Exhibition hosted by the Women's Social and Political Union and funded by Clara Mordan was held at the Prince's Ice Rink in Knightsbridge in May 1909.[3][4] Wright would later paint Duval.
She continued to support the suffragettes and her paintings were still being exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1927.[5] Wright died in 1939.
Legacy
Her painting of Christabel Pankhurst was donated by Duval's descendant to the National Portrait Gallery in 2011.[6] It was exhibited in 2018 when it was noted that the gallery had previously only had pictures of suffragettes taken by the police as suspicious characters.[2]
References
- There is a portrait of her by Hayman Seleg Mendelssohn. She achieved a profile as a painter in the 1890s identified in the modernist Rhythm Group. She was known for painting peirrots and her paintings were frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy.<ref name=rosie>Broadley, Rosie (5 March 2015). "Suffragette Painter: discovering Ethel Wright". National Portrait Gallery (London). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- Brown, Mark (2014-07-24). "Portrait of an angry lady: suffragette Christabel Pankhurst goes on display". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- "Clara Mordan". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
- [Sheila Stowell, A Stage of their own: Feminist playwrights of the suffrage era (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), p. 53]
- "Dame Christabel Pankhurst - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-02.