Elizabeth Blackadder facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Elizabeth Blackadder
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Blackadder in 2012
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Elizabeth Violet Blackadder
24 September 1931 Falkirk, Scotland
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| Died | 23 August 2021 (aged 89) Edinburgh, Scotland
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| Education | Edinburgh College of Art |
| Known for | Painting; printmaking |
Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder (born September 24, 1931 – died August 23, 2021) was a famous Scottish artist. She was known for her beautiful paintings and prints. She made history as the first woman to be chosen for both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.
Elizabeth taught art at Edinburgh College of Art from 1962 until she retired in 1986. She used many different art materials. These included oil paints, watercolors, and printmaking. In her still life paintings, she was very careful about how objects were placed. She also painted people and landscapes. Later in her career, she mostly painted her cats and flowers with amazing detail. Her art is shown in big galleries. You can see it at the Tate Gallery in London. It's also at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her artwork even appeared on Royal Mail stamps!
In 2012, Elizabeth Blackadder was asked to paint the official Christmas card for Alex Salmond. He was the First Minister of Scotland at the time.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Elizabeth Blackadder was born in Falkirk, Scotland. She was the third child in her family. Her mother, Violet, made sure Elizabeth had good chances for education. She wanted to help Elizabeth avoid the difficulties she had faced.
Elizabeth spent a lot of her childhood by herself. She loved to read many books. As a teenager, she started collecting local flowers very carefully. She would press them and label them with their full Latin names. This interest in plants later showed up in her detailed paintings of flowers.
Art Education and Studies
Elizabeth went to Falkirk High School. She later gave one of her paintings to the school for its 100th birthday in 1986. She really enjoyed her art classes there. She also liked studying plants and drawing them for her science lessons. She spent most of her last year of high school in the art room.
In September 1949, she moved to Edinburgh. She started a Fine Art degree and finished with top honors in 1954. At university, Elizabeth studied early Byzantine art. One of her biggest influences was her teacher, William Gillies, who was a very active painter. During her studies, she met another Scottish artist, John Houston. He later became her husband.
For her final year of art school, Elizabeth studied at Edinburgh College of Art. She researched William MacTaggart for her main project. In 1954, she graduated with a first-class degree. She also won two important scholarships. These allowed her to travel and continue her art studies.
Artistic Career and Travels
In 1954, Elizabeth used her scholarship money to travel. She spent three months exploring Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy. There, she focused on classical and Byzantine art. In 1962, her painting White Still Life, Easter won an award for the best work by a young artist.
During the 1960s, she became very interested in still life paintings. She also continued to paint landscapes from her travels in France, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland. She became well-known for her paintings of flowers, like Flowers on an Indian Cloth. After visiting France, she was inspired by the artist Henri Matisse. This made her use lighter and brighter colors in her paintings.
In the 1980s, Elizabeth visited Japan several times. Many of her paintings from this period show the influence of these trips. She first went in 1985 and returned the next year. Her interest in Eastern art styles and subjects led to a series of bright oil and watercolor paintings. She wanted to avoid the busy feel of Tokyo. So, she visited the Zen gardens of Kyoto. Her work often shows the ideas of Zen, which value empty space. Elizabeth also traveled to the United States. Things she collected from her travels often appeared in her artwork.
In 1985, Elizabeth started working at the Glasgow Print Studio. She was invited to create prints there. She worked with expert printmakers until about 2014. She mainly made etchings and screenprints. She also created some lithographs and woodcuts. Her favorite subjects were cats and flowers. She also included images from her trips to Europe and Japan.
Awards and Recognition
Elizabeth Blackadder was the first woman to be a member of both the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1982, she received the OBE award for her contributions to art. This award was upgraded to a DBE in 2003. This meant she became a Dame.
In 2001, she was given the special title of Her Majesty's Painter and Limner in Scotland. This is a very old and respected position.
Besides an honorary degree from Heriot-Watt University in 1989, Elizabeth also received honorary doctorates from at least three other universities.
Family Life
In 1956, Elizabeth married the painter John Houston. They lived in a large house in Edinburgh. Elizabeth continued to live there until her death in 2021. John Houston passed away in 2008.
Later Years and Passing
Elizabeth Blackadder passed away on August 23, 2021, at the age of 89.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
- 57 Gallery, Edinburgh, 1959
- The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, 1961
- Mercury Gallery, London, 1965
- The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 1966
- Thames Gallery, Eton, 1966
- Mercury Gallery, London, 1967
- Reading Art Gallery and Museum, 1968
- Lane Art Gallery, Bradford, 1968
- New Paintings, Mercury Gallery, London, 1969
- Vaccarino Gallery, Florence, 1970
- Scottish Arts Council Retrospective Touring Exhibition; Edinburgh, Sheffield, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Cardiff, London, 1981–82
- Theo Waddington Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 1982
- New Paintings, Mercury Gallery, London, 1988
- Elizabeth Blackadder, Aberystwth Arts Centre, 1989
- New Oils and Watercolours, Mercury Gallery, London, 1991
- New Work, Oils and Watercolours, Mercury Gallery, London, 1993
- New Oils and Watercolours, Mercury Gallery, London, 1996
- Elizabeth Blackadder, Mercury Gallery, London, 1999
- Paintings, Prints and Watercolours 1955-2000, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 2000
Selected Group Exhibitions
- Contemporary Scottish Painting, Toronto, Canada, 1961
- Fourteen Scottish Painters, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1963-1964
- Three Centuries of Scottish Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1968
- The Edinburgh School, Edinburgh College of Art, 1971
- Edinburgh Ten 30, Scottish Arts Council Exhibition touring Wales, 1975
- British Paintings 1952-1977, Royal Academy, London, 1977
- Painters in Parallel, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh College of Art, 1978
- Scottish Paintings and Tapestries, Offenburg, West Germany, 1979
- The British Art Show, Arts Council of Great Britain touring exhibition, 1980
- Master Weavers, Dovecot Studios' Tapestries, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, 1980
- Six Scottish Painters, Graham Gallery, New York, 1982
- Portraits on Paper, Scottish Arts Council, 1984
- One of a Kind, Glasgow Print Studio, 1985
- Still-Life, Harris Museum, Preston, 1985
- Scottish Landscapes, National Gallery of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 1986
- The Flower Show, Stoke-on-Trent Art Gallery, touring show, 1986
- Flowers of Scotland, Fine Art Society, Glasgow
- Scottish Art Since 1900, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
- Images of Paradise, Rainforest Fund, 1988
- Within These Shores, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1989
- Scottish Monotypes, Glasgow, Print Studio
- Salute to Turner, National Trust, London, 1990
- Brush to Paper, 3 Centuries of British Watercolours, Aberdeen Art Gallery touring exhibition, 1991
- Writing on the Wall, Tate Gallery, London, 1993
- The Line of Tradition, National Gallery of Scotland, 1993
- Celebration, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, 1999
- Liberation and Tradition, Scottish Art 1963-1975, Aberdeen Art Gallery, McManus Gallery, Dundee, 1999
See also
In Spanish: Elizabeth Blackadder para niños
