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Lot Essay
Lucy Kemp-Welch is known for her outstanding plein-air depictions of horses. The present work characterises her broad painterly style.
Born at Bournemouth, Kemp-Welch took her first art lessons from two New Forest artists, Arthur Batt and Arthur H. Davies. She attended Bournemouth College of Art and in 1889 was accepted at Herkomer's School of Art at Bushey. In 1907 she purchased this School of Art and became its Principal, but she preferred to paint and ride rather than teach and closed the school in 1926.
Kemp-Welch exhibited her first work at the Royal Academy in 1895 and a year later she won much critical acclaim, 'Miss Kemp-Welch has developed a talent such as is uncommon in men and quite rare in women in animal painting' commented Bazaar, 1st May 1896, and a few months later the Dublin Herald remarked, 'She is even now regarded as one of the best painters of horses the century has ever seen.' She held her first one-woman exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1905 and was a prolific exhibitor at many of the major venues including the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of British Artists, of which she became a member, and the Paris Salon. She was also President of the Society of Animal Painters. Two of her paintings were acquired for the Tate Gallery under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest, entitled Colt hunting in the New Forest in 1897 and Forward - the guns in 1917.
Born at Bournemouth, Kemp-Welch took her first art lessons from two New Forest artists, Arthur Batt and Arthur H. Davies. She attended Bournemouth College of Art and in 1889 was accepted at Herkomer's School of Art at Bushey. In 1907 she purchased this School of Art and became its Principal, but she preferred to paint and ride rather than teach and closed the school in 1926.
Kemp-Welch exhibited her first work at the Royal Academy in 1895 and a year later she won much critical acclaim, 'Miss Kemp-Welch has developed a talent such as is uncommon in men and quite rare in women in animal painting' commented Bazaar, 1st May 1896, and a few months later the Dublin Herald remarked, 'She is even now regarded as one of the best painters of horses the century has ever seen.' She held her first one-woman exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1905 and was a prolific exhibitor at many of the major venues including the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of British Artists, of which she became a member, and the Paris Salon. She was also President of the Society of Animal Painters. Two of her paintings were acquired for the Tate Gallery under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest, entitled Colt hunting in the New Forest in 1897 and Forward - the guns in 1917.