Alice Buxton Winnicott

Alice Buxton Winnicott
Born Alice Buxton Taylor
1891
Died 1968
Nationality United Kingdom
Education Newnham College
Spouse(s) Donald Winnicott (1923-1949)

Alice Buxton Winnicott née Taylor (1891 – 1968) was an English painter and ceramist.

Life

Alice Buxton Taylor was born in 1891, in Claverdon, Warwickshire, the second of five accomplished children. Her father was John William Taylor (1851-1910) who was the professor of gynaecology at the University of Birmingham. Alice’s mother, Florence Maberly Buxton (1856-1934), a teacher before she had married, had educated all her children at home in their younger years. Alice went on to the King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham. In 1912 Alice went up to Cambridge, following her mother and older sister Mary into Newnham College (1912-1915), studying the Natural Sciences Tripos.

After her time at Cambridge, Taylor spent five years (1916-1920) at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, carrying out research into ceramics and optical glass, ‘where, for most of the time, I was the only woman research student’.[1] She references the work as being ‘in connection with the urgent needs of Government and Industry’ and refers to the work as ‘Refractorics’, testing materials under very high temperatures and casting optical glass pots under pressure.

In 1923 she married the newly qualified doctor, Donald Winnicott, on 7 July 1923 in St Mary's Church, Frensham. She was thirty one at the time and appears to have spent her time, on leaving the National Physical Laboratory and prior to meeting Donald, in the company of artists. Her entry in Artists in Britain since 1945. Vol 2 (Buckman, 2006) states that she studied and worked with important artists of the time as she studied in Richmond, Kingston, Wimbledon and Central School of Arts and Crafts . She was instrumental in the foundation of several art groups including the New Kingston Group of painters.

Alice's "severe psychological difficulties" are documented in a number of Winnicott's biographies, but the limitations of this description belie her achievements. Although Winnicott arranged for his wife to have psychoanalysis with Dr Clifford Scott, he also had long term psychoanalysis himself. Those who remember Alice, refer to her as 'other worldly' or 'fey' [2] Biographers of Donald Winnicott offer more detail of the difficulties created by the Winnicotts' psychoanalysis.[3] Her husband undertook psychoanalysis with James Strachey. Strachey discussed Winnicott's case, unethically with his wife, Alix Strachey who was also a Newnham alumna. Strachey reported that Winnicott's sex life was damaged by erectile problems and his fear of women's genitalia.[3] The problems of this becoming public information creates ethical problems for analysts who might want to discuss their case.[4]

During the Winnicott's early years of marriage prior to the second world war, Alice supported Winnicott in his work, whilst continuing her own career as a painter, sculptor and potter. They also had shared interests and friendships with notable people of the period, including Helen and Jim (H.S.) Ede, an Assistant Keeper at the Tate Gallery in the early 1930s. Letters show the affection between Alice and Donald and they retained a correspondence after their divorce.[5]

In the mid-1930s she bought the existing Upchurch pottery in Rainham, Kent, and there she manufactured her Claverdon tableware.[6] named after her birthplace and sold in Heals, on the Tottenham Court Road, London.[7]

Her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Cambridge Academy and in 1938 she showed her work in the South Wales Art Society 50th Anniversary Exhibition. Her bronze sculpture of T. E. Lawrence is in the National Library of Wales.[6]

The couple were divorced in 1949 and Donald Winnicott then remarried on 28 December 1951.[6]

In the final years of her life, Winnicott moved to New Quay in Cardiganshire, South Wales, to be with her younger sister. .[8] She had a small studio and continued her work as an artist until her death in 1968.

Legacy

Winnicott left a number of paintings in notable collections including Plymouth City Council and her alma mater. Her work will remain in copyright until 2038, but images of her paintings are available.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, A. (1959) Questionnaire to update Registrar of the Roll of biographical detail of alumni, Newnham College archive.
  2. ↑ Greer, J (2014) Learning from Linked Lives, unpublished thesis, University of Southampton
  3. 1 2 Brett Kahr (31 December 1996). D.W. Winnicott: A Biographical Portrait. Karnac Books. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-78049-954-3.
  4. ↑ ETHICAL DILEMMAS OF THE PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL BIOGRAPHER: the case of Donald Winnicott, Brett Kahr, Retrieved 20 February 2017
  5. ↑ WINNICOTT, A.B. (1956). Correspondence from Alice Buxton Winnicott to Donald Winnicott 1938-1956 [Manuscript]. Donald Woods Winnicott Collection. PP/DWW/B/D/5. Wellcome Library, London.
  6. 1 2 3 Clifford Yorke, ‘Winnicott, Donald Woods (1896–1971)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2015 accessed 20 Feb 2017
  7. ↑ Greer, J (2014)
  8. 1 2 Alice Buxton Winnicott, ArtUK, Retrieved 21 February 2017
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