Dundee Art Galleries and Museums
Elizabeth Mary Watt (1886–1954) was a Scottish painter and decorator of pottery. She specialised in portraits, especially of children, flowers and landscapes.[1] Her early decorated china is notable for its depictions of fairies, which also featured in her watercolour paintings.[2]
Elizabeth was born in Dundee, the daughter of a butcher who had a shop in the town. But following the collapse of the business in 1904 he emigrated to the USA, leaving his wife and five children to fend for themselves. The family moved to Glasgow, where Elizabeth found work designing fabrics. She enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in 1905 and trained as a teacher, which enabled her to find employment as an assistant art mistress at the Glasgow High School for Girls in 1910. But she felt unsuited to the life of a teacher and returned to the GSA,[2] before going on to become a freelance artist.[3]
In 1919 Elizabeth was elected a member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists, and exhibited there regularly, as well as at the Royal Glasgow Institute for the Fine Arts and the Royal Scottish Academy.[3]
Gallery
See also
- Fairy paintingGenre of art and illustration featuring small imaginary human-like creatures with magical powers, often with wings.