SHE was a celebrated painter in her day, exhibited widely and admired in the early years of the 20th century by her famous peers.
However, since her death in 1921, the life and work of Mary Cameron, a Scottish painter greatly influenced by her many cultural trips to Europe, has been largely forgotten.
Now a major exhibition of her work in her home town of Edinburgh is hoping to re-assert her name as an important artist, and also shine a light on other women artists of her time.
The show at the City Arts Centre will exhibit more than forty artworks by Cameron, who was born in Portobello in 1865.
With only a few of her works in public collections, and many in private, the works have rarely been seen in public, and never before as a whole.
The curator of the show, Dr Helen Scott, said that unlike the frequently celebrated male painters of her time, such as Sir John Lavery and the ‘Glasgow Boys’, her work has fallen into obscurity because she was a woman, and also because relatively little of her output is in public hands.
She said of the show, which opens in November: “I will be great to bring Mary Cameron back to the public consciousness and also for writers and critics to be more aware of her work, and raise the broad awareness of the woman of her time who were working alongside her and also hopefully bring them back to prominence too, and the kind of attention that has been paid to their male contemporaries.”
Dr Scott added: “This is a really exciting opportunity to showcase a female Scottish artist whose work will be new to most people. During Mary Cameron’s lifetime she was fairly well-known. Today, however, her name is scarcely recognised, let alone celebrated.”
Cameron, who was based in Edinburgh for most of her life, died in 1921 and the exhibition will be the first dedicated show of her work since then.
The artist began her career painting portraits in Edinburgh, before she began study in Paris, and in 1900 she visited Madrid for the first time, and became increasingly inspired by the Spanish culture, people and scenery.
Cameron established studios in Madrid and Seville, and painted large depictions of Spanish rural landscapes and peasant life, as well as dramatic bullfight scenes.
She exhibited widely in her lifetime, and received praise from peers including Lavery and Alexander Roche, the Glasgow painter.
The curator hopes the show will also bring greater recognition to some of her female peers including Christina Paterson Ross, Margaret Dempster and Meg Wright.
Dr Scott added: “As a female painter practicing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cameron faced many obstacles in pursuing her ambition to become a professional artist. Women of her generation had far fewer training opportunities than their male peers, and they often encountered discrimination when exhibiting, selling and promoting their art.
“They had to work doubly hard to succeed as artists and gain recognition.
“Even when they managed to establish themselves, their posthumous legacies were often eclipsed by the reputations of their more famous male counterparts.
“Over the years, many of these women have slipped into obscurity and been virtually forgotten.
“Mary Cameron was one of those who helped to lay the foundations for greater gender equality in the Scottish art world, and I think it’s so important that we celebrate her contribution.”
The show will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue Mary Cameron: Life in Paint, written by Helen Scott and published by Sansom & Co.
Councillor Donald Wilson, Edinburgh’s Convener of Culture and Communities said:”It’s incredible to think this is the first exhibition dedicated to her since her passing in 1921.
“Life in Paint will take visitors through her creative journey from starting out in Portobello to international travel.
“Not only will it be an opportunity to celebrate her work, it is also a chance for people to learn about the artist herself and the important role she played in Scottish history and the positive strides she made for women.”
Cameron was the daughter of Mary, née Small, and her husband, Duncan Cameron, owner of a successful stationery company.
She attended the Board of Manufactures Academy in the early 1880s, and began exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy annual exhibitions in 1886.
In Paris she was taught by three academic painters: Jean-André Rixens, Gustave Claude Étienne Courtois and the military painter and muralist, Lucien-Pierre Sergent.
However, she showed no desire to paint domestic interiors and still-lifes, opting instead for battle-pieces, perhaps led by the example of Lady Butler.
These, it is believed, have all disappeared. She also worked as a courtroom artist, reporting for The Oban Times in 1893.
A keen horsewoman, she attended the Royal Dick Veterinary College in Edinburgh studying equine anatomy.
However, a career serving the Lothian gentry with horse portraits apparently did not appealto Cameron and in 1900 she went to Madrid.
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