Gertrude des Clayes
Gertrude des Clayes (1879 – 23 August 1949) was a Scottish-born artist who lived in England and Quebec, Canada. Des Clayes was best known as a portrait painter.[1][2]
Gertrude des Clayes | |
|---|---|
 1929 self portrait | |
| Born | 1879 |
| Died | August 23, 1949 |
| Nationality | Canada |
| Occupation | painter |
Life
She was born in Aberdeen and studied at the Bushey School of Art and at the Académie Julian in Paris with Tony Robert-Fleury and Jules Lefebvre. She lived in London from 1906 to 1912 and received a medal from the French Salon in 1909. In 1911, she became a member of the National Portrait Society (founded in 1910[3]). Des Clayes moved to Montreal in 1912. In 1914, she was named to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. One of her portraits appeared in The Fine Arts in Canada (1925) by Newton MacTavish. She returned to England in 1936.[2]
Des Clayes created a portrait of railway entrepreneur Sir William Mackenzie's mother, Mary, using photographs taken of Mary's sisters and by studying Mary's daughters and granddaughters; no photographs were available of Mary Mackenzie herself who had died 27 years before des Clayes was born.[4]
Des Clayes died in London in 1949.[2]
Her sisters Berthe (1877-1967) and Alice (1890-1968) were also artists.[5]
Her work is included in the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec[6], National Gallery of Canada and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.[2]
References
- "Gertrude Des Clayes". National Gallery of Canada.
- "Des Clayes, Gertrude". Canadian Women Artists History Initiative.
- "Sir Gerald Kelly". National Portrait Gallery.
- Fleming, R B (2007). The Railway King of Canada: Sir William Mackenzie, 1849-1923. p. 182. ISBN 0774850787.
- "Berthe Des Clayes". Hambleton Galleries. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- "Gertrude Des Clayes". www.collections.mnbaq.org. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
