Sophia Rosamond Praeger 1867 – 1954
Sculptor, illustrator, poet, writer.
17 April 1867 – 16 April 1954*
Education
Sullivan Upper School.
1882 Belfast School of Art.
Royal College of Art.
1888 Enrolled at the Slade School of Art to study Fine Art and Fine Art Anatomy. Awarded silver medal for drawing.
Further study in Paris.
Some Achievements and Interests
Was committed to female emancipation from an early age.
Championed women artists belonging to art societies and committees eg: Ramblers Sketching Club, Guild of Irish Art-Workers.
Wrote and illustrated children’s books.
Exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, the Royal Academy, London and The Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast.
1907 Completed a memorial to T Hamilton for Queens University.
1914 Built St Brigid’s Studio, Belfast establishing a successful practice.
1920 Exhibited The Philosopher at the Royal Academy receiving great acclaim.
1927 Became Honorary Academician of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
1938 Received an honorary MA from Queen’s University Belfast.
Completed a memorial for Edward Carson in St Anne’s Cathedral.
1939 Awarded the MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).
1941 Elected President of the Royal Ulster Academy which she had been a member of at different times since 1892 and Vice-President 1902-3.
Dedicated her studio ‘for the benefit of the children of Holywood,’ also leaving money to the children’s welfare charity NSPCC and the animal charity NSPCA.
Issues
Needed to work to earn a living.
Considered an important artist in her time, she became marginalized after her death.
Connection to Bloomsbury
The Slade School of Art.
Female Networks
Slade contemporaries and women in art, naturist and women’s emancipation networks.
Including Ellen Rope, Wilhelmina Geddes
Some Works:
1901 The Fairy Fountain.
1906 The Waif.
1913 & 1920 The Philosopher; sculpture.
1921 Fionnuala the Daughter of Lir.
1923 These Little Ones.
1942 Johnny The Jig.
Further reading:
‘Sophia Rosamond Praeger HRHA’, Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib3_1204633850, accessed 21 Nov 2023]
http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/1433
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosamond_Praeger
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/praeger-sophia-rosamond-18671954
https://www.belfastentries.com/people/rosamond-praeger/
*dates differ on different sites