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When elected to the most exclusive society in British art, the Royal Academy (RA), it was a male-only club. It was 1922 and Annie Swynnerton was the first woman to join since the Academy's foundation 154 years earlier.Explore the trailblazing work of Annie Swynnerton as a painter and campaigner for women's rights at our annual joint lecture with Isle of Man Victorian Society at this illustrated talk by Rebecca Milner, Curator: Fine Art, Manchester Art Gallery.
This talk explores the work of Manchester born Victorian painter Annie Swynnerton, a pioneering artist who challenged convention in art and life. She was elected the first female Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1922. This was late recognition for an artist with an international reputation, however this ground-breaking accolade ensured that her work entered public collections. Rebecca Milner will discuss paintings from across Swynnerton’s career, including works in Manchester Art Gallery’s collection, and look at her inventive and independent approach to landscape, portraiture and allegorical subjects.
She will also explore Swynnerton’s extraordinary life, lived between Manchester, London and Italy and her connections to the Isle of Man through her Manx born husband, sculptor and stone mason Joseph Swynnerton.
Although she left Manchester after her initial training at the Manchester School of Art, she maintained her connections and came back throughout her career. She painted portraits of fellow Manchester artist Susan Dacre with whom she co-founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters and the Reverend William Gaskell, husband of novelist Elizabeth.
Rebecca Milner co-curated the exhibition Annie Swynnerton: Painting Light and Hope held at Manchester Art Gallery in 2018. She also co-authored the accompanying catalogue.
Image: The Sense of Sight 1895.
Image credit: Walker Art Gallery
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Manx Museum, Kingswood Grove, IM1 3LY Douglas, Isle Of Man, Isle of Man, 14, Kingswood Grove, Douglas, IM1 3LX, Isle of Man, Man, Isle Of
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