Alicia Boyle facts for kids

Alicia Louisa Letitia Boyle (born August 1, 1908 – died January 11, 1997) was an Irish artist. She was known for her abstract paintings of the sea and landscapes. Her art often showed her deep connection to nature and her home country. She was also a member of important art groups like the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA).

Early Life and Learning

Alicia Boyle was born on August 1, 1908, in Bangkok, Thailand. Her father was an engineer. She had two brothers. When she was very young, she got sick with cholera.

Alicia grew up in Limavady in Northern Ireland. When she was ten, her family moved to London, England. She started painting at age five. Her parents really encouraged her to paint the beautiful places around Limavady. Her mother also taught her about famous writers like William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. They often went to the theatre and art shows together. After her mother passed away and her father remarried, Alicia decided to live on her own.

When she was seventeen, Alicia began studying art at Clapham Art Training School. She spent four years there. From 1929 to 1934, she went to the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting. Here, she learned how to draw, paint, and create large wall murals. Alicia was a very good student and won two scholarships.

Her Art Career

Alicia Boyle's early paintings were inspired by famous artists. These included Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Goya, and Katsushika Hokusai. After seeing Hokusai's work, she started drawing with a quill and ink. She became very interested in calligraphy, which is the art of beautiful handwriting. She even made her own quills, a practice she continued her whole life.

In 1932, one of her paintings, Lot's Wife, was shown at the Royal Academy of Arts. Two years later, she was asked to paint a mural for a hospital in London. This mural is no longer there.

In 1939, Alicia traveled to Mykonos in Greece to be an invited artist. Her paintings from this trip were shown in Athens. This helped her pay for a two-month painting trip to Italy. She returned to England just before World War II began. One important painting from this time was Machines of Learning (1938). It showed her thoughts on big world events.

Teaching and Exhibitions

In 1940, Alicia started teaching art part-time at Northampton High School for Girls. She also designed stage sets for plays. Later, she taught at Northampton Art College. She also lectured at other art schools.

Alicia began showing her art at the Leicester Galleries in London in 1944. For over 25 years, her work was part of their "Artists of Fame and Promise" exhibition. Her first solo art show was in London in 1945. This allowed her to teach less and focus more on her art.

As the 1940s ended, Alicia found new inspiration in her home country, Ireland. She visited Donegal and Connemara. She began to paint Irish people and scenes. A famous painting from this time was White Horse (1949). It was inspired by meeting people in Connemara. The Council For the Encouragement for Music and the Arts bought this painting in 1950.

Her paintings from this time told stories. They were inspired by the people and folk tales she heard on her travels. She painted farmers and weavers. Her art became well-known in Ulster. She was also inspired by writers like Marcel Proust and Seamus Heaney.

In 1949 and 1951, she had solo shows in London. In 1950, Alicia had her first solo exhibition in Ulster. The Belfast Municipal Gallery bought her painting Potato-Washers, Connemara on the first day of the show.

Later Career and Legacy

In 1958, Alicia Boyle was chosen to be a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. She showed many works with them. She also exhibited her paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art.

In 1962, she won the first "Open Painting Competition" held by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In 1971, she moved to Ireland permanently. She built an art studio in Bantry, County Cork, before settling in Dublin.

From the late 1960s, Alicia became very interested in the old stories of Sweeney, a cursed Celtic King. She created over thirty paintings about this theme. It became a big part of her work for the rest of her life. Between 1983 and 1989, she had many solo shows and major exhibitions looking back at her art. In 1995, her self-portrait was added to the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland.

Death and Legacy

Alicia Boyle passed away in Dublin, Ireland, on January 11, 1997. She left behind 125 sketchbooks and six oil paintings to the National Collections of Ireland. In 1988, she described her life's work simply: "It's been a journey through line and colour."

Her art can be found in many public collections. These include the Ulster Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, and the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland.