Ursula Tyrwhitt 1882 – 1966
Ursula Tyrwhitt
Painter, draughtswoman.
1882 – 1966
Education and Training
1893 Enrolled at the Slade, aged 21, older than her contemporaries having finally received her father’s approval.
Atelier Colarossi, Paris.
British Academy, Rome.
1911-12 Returned to the Slade.
Some Key Achievements and Interests
Exhibited extensively at the New English Art Club (NEAC) and Friday Club.
Member of the Alpine Club Gallery, Oxford Art Society.
1913 Elected Member of the NEAC.
Issues
Met opposition to her desire to study art from her family who sent her abroad and away from home in the hope she find a husband.
When her family learned of her relationship with Augustus John, who they considered an inappropriate partner, they withdrew her from the Slade.
Frustrated at being reliant on her father for financial support, she strove to earn an income from her art.
Witnessed her friends losing their independence and many ceasing to paint when married and bringing up families so resisted pressures on her to marry. After continued pressure from her family she eventually got married, aged forty, writing ‘My father has a fixed idea that unmarried women are certain to become suffragettes if not post impressionists so I’m going to marry a friend of his, a distant cousin next month.’ (quoted from Lydia Miller, Ambrose McEvoy A ‘painter of excellence’ shaped by artistic influences, PhD thesis, University of York, July 2021, 97.
Connection to Bloomsbury
Female Networks
Gwen John, Edna Clarke Hall, Ida Nettleship.
Works
Held in Tate Gallery and with British Council.
Further reading:
Thomas, Alison; Portraits of Women: Gwen John and Her Forgotten Contemporaries, Polity Press, Cambs 2017