Women Artists: From Victorian England to Contemporary Rochester
From the Victorian Arthurian Revival in England to contemporary America, women artists have treated the legends in a variety of media. Represented here are some of them: book illustrations, an original watercolor painting, a depiction of an embroidered panel, a monoprint, and a stained glass window.
Noel Laura Nisbet self portrait.
Jessie Marion King.
Mary Coupe.
Tristan and Isolde Drink the Love Potion.
British painter and illustrator Noel Laura Nisbet (British, 1887-1956) was considered to be a decorative artist. The daughter of painter Hume Nisbet and wife of artist Harry Bush, Nisbet studied at the Royal College of Art, where she won three gold medals as well as the Princess of Wales’ Scholarship, established in 1863 to reward the most distinguished female art student in the United Kingdom. She exhibited widely including at the Royal Academy, the Walker Art Gallery, and elsewhere both nationally and internationally. She also illustrated a number of books including several Russian fairy tales. In her watercolor Tristan and Isolt Drink the Love Potion, Nisbet captures the lovers’ ecstasy and passion.
The Defence of Guinevere and Other Poems.
The High History of the Holy Graal.
Scottish illustrator Jessie M. King (1875-1949) worked in numerous media, from books (which she wrote or illustrated) to jewelry design. The illustrations from The High History of the Holy Graal (1903) and The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1904) show a decorative dreaminess as well as the Art Nouveau-inspired organic lines for which she was renowned. The embroidered panel, “How Four Queens Found Sir Lancelot in the Wood, was designed by King and worked by Mme. E. Prioleau.
How Four Queens Found Sir Lancelot in the Wood (image of embroidery panel), designed by Jessie M. King.
New York artist Mary Coupe (b. 1951) works in various media, including watercolor, prints, collage, and quilting. In her monoprint Guinevere, she reimagines the legendary queen in a distinctly modern and compelling way that captures her inner conflict. A master gardener, Coupe often introduces natural elements—trees, leaves, flowers—into her work.
Barbara Tepa Lupack.
Lancelot Dreams of Camelot (1986).
Lancelot Dreams of Camelot (1986), a stained glass window panel by Barbara Tepa Lupack, captures Lancelot’s longing to return to Camelot, which appears to him as an ethereal vision. The window, a gift from Lupack, hangs in the Robbins Library at the University of Rochester.