Kate Perugini 1839 - 1929 - Pascal Theatre Company

Kate Perugini 1839 – 1929

(also known a Catherine, Katey, Kate Collins née Dickens – paintings also signed KP)

Artist.

29 October 1839 – 9 May 1929

Kate Perugini, study in chalk by Charles Edward Perugini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Education

Home schooled by governesses and tutors.

1853 Attended Ladies’ College/Bedford College, Bloomsbury.

Some Key Achievements and Interests

Modelled for artists including Millais and her second husband, Charles Edward Perugini.

*The Black Brunswicker* 1860 John Everett Millais (Kate as model), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Painted, mostly genre paintings and portraits, exhibiting successfully around England and overseas.

c1870 Agnes Pheobe Burra by Kate Perugini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1877 Started exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy. Also exhibited at the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters and the Society of Lady Artists.

1882 Portrait of Mary Angela Dickens by her aunt, Kate Perugini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1886 Became a member of the Society of Lady Artists (1899 the Society of Women Artists).

1893 Exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Published collections of Charles Dickens writing.

1912 Elected President of the International Dickens Fellowship.

Issues

Wanted to be judged on her own merit and not as the daughter of Charles Dickens. Though her art was well received at the time, as a woman artist her reputation was overshadowed by that of male artists.

Was very upset by her father being unfaithful to her mother and separating from her.

Her strong personality and liberal views opened her to criticism of being outspoken and inappropriate behaviour.

Nursed her first husband, Charles (Charlie) Collins, who suffered and died (in 1873) from cancer while she studied. It is believed that this relationship was never consummated. They lived on very limited means at that time.

Lost the son she bore with her second husband when he was less than a year old.

Connection to Bloomsbury

Born at 48 Doughty Street, Bloomsbury.

Ladies’ College.

Female networks

Anny Thackeray Ritchie, Gladys Storey and many in her artistic and social circles.

Works included:

1870 Agnes Phoebe Burra.

1879 A Little Woman.

1882 Mary Angela Dickens.

1887 Molly’s Ball Gown.

1891 The Flower Merchant.