Art Training, 1896-1907
Kathleen’s self-portrait, oil, c 1900 aged 20
Kathleen’s art education and training took place in phases across Ipswich, London and Europe
Ipswich School of Science and Art [1] (1896-1901), 17-22 years old
Kathleen studied art at Ipswich School of Science and Art, which was one of the UK-wide institutions that implemented the state-run syllabus of the South Kensington System [2]. She was both studying art and training for an art teaching certificate. The Department of Science and Art at South Kensington School of Art examined her work, and between 1897 and 1901, she obtained first and second-class results, prizes, and an art teaching certificate [3]. It is apparent that Kathleen took a mixture of day, evening, and holiday classes, as her attendance and results overlap with her time as a student at the Slade School of Fine Art (see below). She made her first sale in February 1899, when she was at art school in Ipswich (ref. sales records).
Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London [4] (1899-1902), 20-23 years old
Kathleen was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art, which was the dominant art school in Britain at the time and offered women in England art education on equal terms with men, giving them the opportunity to win prestigious annual prizes and certificates. During the academic year of 1899-1900 Kathleen received a certificate in Antique Drawing. In the following year, 1900-1901, she was awarded certificates in Painting from Life, and in Figure Drawing (ref. University of London Calendars, 1899-1902). A few life drawing sketches remain.
One of Kathleen’s life drawings c 1900
Kathleen studied under Frederick Brown, Henry Tonks, and P. Wilson Steer, who dominated teaching at the Slade from 1892 to 1930. She also studied watercolour under Alfred William Rich (1856-1921) and Walter Russell (1867-1949).
Since Kathleen was also training in Ipswich, she either took the train to London regularly [5] or stayed with aunts in Camberwell. In 1902, she started exhibiting her works at various locations in Ipswich.
By 1908 Kathleen had received two testimonials (one from a Slade tutor) attesting to her art teaching skills. Therefore, between 1902-1908, Kathleen must have spent time teaching art, possibly at the Ipswich School of Art, or the Chelsea School of Art [6] (where ex-Slade colleagues gave lectures and demonstrations), or to private pupils in Little Blakenham Suffolk where she lived.
Continuing Studies in Europe, 25 and 27 years old
In 1904, Kathleen and Ellen Sylvia Packard [7] (a friend and fellow artist from Ipswich School of Art, and the Slade School) independently travelled by boat and train, as single young women (25 years old), on a studying and painting trip to France and Italy.
Watercolour ‘Florence from Piazzale Michelangolo’, 1904
Kathleen stated that she studied art in Florence [8] – but rather than at a particular institution, it was more likely in the manner of the ‘Grand Tour’ where artists undertook a cultural journey across Europe to study the work of classical masters, sculptures, and ruins [9].
Watercolour ‘Boats on the Zattere, Venice’, 1904
Kathleen painted 27 landscapes, and together with Sylvia, held a joint exhibition titled ‘Sketches from Florence and Venice’ at the Watercolour Room, Art Gallery, High Street, Ipswich. Local newspapers hailed the exhibition as a resounding success (ref. exhibition catalogue, and newspaper article).
Watercolour ‘Street in Chioggia, Venice’, 1904
In 1906, Kathleen joined a workshop run by Slade contemporaries Augustus John and William Orpen (founders of the Chelsea Art School) for the old students of the Slade. She then travelled, again with Sylvia Packard, to Belgium, Holland, and Germany where she produced landscapes and some portraits as she travelled down the Rhine (painting in Cologne, Bonn, Coblenz, and Frankfurt) [10]. In November 1907, Kathleen and Sylvia had a second exhibition at the Watercolour Room in Ipswich [11], containing the 35 paintings from this trip.
Oil ‘Fruit Market, Bruges’, c 1907
“Mrs Kathleen Temple-Bird’s ‘Fruit Market, Bruges’ gives a mellow and restful impression of a sunny day in this old-world Belgian city.”
Kathleen’s tutors in watercolours at the Slade School of Fine Art (Alfred Rich and Walter Russell), employed the English watercolour tradition of painting quickly en plein air, using looser and more spontaneous brush techniques that produced an Impressionistic quality, and a natural approach to painting which capture the emotions that a subject provokes rather than accurately reproducing a scene [12]. These artistic skills, attributes and loose brushwork are evident in the pieces Kathleen produced, and her habit of painting en plein air led to her production of quick portrait studies and small landscapes.
Small oil ‘Beach, Schevenigen Holland’, 1907
Watercolour ‘La Jeune Hollandaise’, 1907
Small oil ‘Bridge over Moselle at Coblenz’, 1907
References
Ipswich School of Art opened on 10 January 1859. It forged close working with the School of Science and from 1871 changed its name to the Ipswich School of Science and Art. Art classes were offered during the day and in the evening. The syllabus was administered and examined by the South Kensington System [13]. It continued to have an independent existence until 1997, when the University of Suffolk absorbed it. https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=4637
The South Kensington System provided a state-run syllabus for Science and Art delivered in institutions across the UK. Students’ work was sent to be examined by the Department of Science and Art at the South Kensington School of Art (now the V&A) which was part of the National Art Training School (that became the Royal College of Art in 1896). The work submitted was also used to gain Teaching Certificates in various aspects of drawing and painting from the Department of Science and Art.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Art_Department
https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/mapping/public/view/organization.php?id=msib4_1222355292
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol38/pp74-96
Ipswich School of Science and Art: Examination results, Aug 1897: Drawing in Light and Shade, Elementary, First Class, Drawing in Light and Shade, Advanced, First Class, Freehand Drawing, Elementary, First Class: Kathleen Temple, Model Drawing, Elementary, Second Class: Kathleen Temple. Examination results, Aug 1898: Freehand, Advanced, First Class, Modelling from Antique, First Class, Painting from Still Life, Second Class, Drawing from Antique, Second Class Aug 1899: Two works accepted for ACT certificates (Art & Craft Teaching certificates). Annual prizes, Feb 1900: Drawing from the Antique, 1st prize, Drawing from Human Figure from Life, 3rd prize, Model Drawing, Advanced. Annual prizes, March 1901: Paintings Heads in Oil or Watercolours, 1st prize. Drawing from the Life, Full figure, 2nd prize.
The Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London was founded in 1871. This signalled a fundamental change of attitudes concerning the training of women as artists. From the outset, the Slade offered women an education on equal terms with men. Studying from life models, was a central focus of teaching and by the turn of the century, women students, outnumbered men by three to one. Access to life drawing had been regarded as the last barrier to equal opportunity. Now, they could study from life, some critics argued it was up to women to prove they could be successful artists. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/
In the 1890s, regular passenger trains were run daily by Great Eastern Railway from Ipswich to Liverpool Street in London: https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-06/Timetables-list-0618.pdf
Chelsea Art School, 1903-1907, was a teaching studio at 4-5 Rossetti Studios, Flood Street, Chelsea set up by Slade alumni William Orpen and Augustus John as a joint venture. The school admitted both male and female students, but the sexes separated for Life classes. John was able to co-opt ex-Slade colleagues for lectures and demonstrations:
https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=6437
Ellen Sylvia Packard: https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=485
Kathleen Temple-Bird’s entries in ‘Who’s Who in Art,’ i) Third Edition, 1934, and ii) Sixth Edition, 1952, Art Trade Press, London.
‘What was the Grand Tour,’ Royal Museums Greenwich website: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-was-grand-tour
Henri Vitérac, journalist and art critic, “Artists recently seen in exhibitions/galleries, including …. the Royal Academy of Art, and …… ,”La Revue Moderne,” - illustrated Arts and Life, published in Paris, No 16, 30 August 1930.
Suffolk Artists website is a ‘free to use' site researched, compiled, and hosted by Tony Copsey, that promotes Suffolk associated artists, many of whom are unknown or unappreciated, and has some 5,000 entries. Kathleen has her own webpage: https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=729
Alfred William Rich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_William_Rich
