Lucy Kemp-Welch is , as many of you will know, one of our favourite artists and it is a delight to be able to start to record a very significant collection of her work that recently came into our possession. Every once and a while something comes along and you feel obliged to do everything possible to do it justice and give it the place that it belongs . We have acquired a very special album of original works by Lucy Kemp-Welch and her sister Edith and this blog is the first of a number that will hopefully highlight its historical importance.
As can be seen from the above image, the collection is housed in a leather bound album, the front page is dated September 2nd 1894 and dedicated from both Lucy and Edith . The collection of oils , watercolours , gouache and drawings were given as a gift to their favourite younger cousin called Risdon Kemp-Welch , who they had looked after in Weston super-Mare while aunts Janet and Caroline went on ‘an expedition’. They remained fond of Risdon throughout their lives and he named his own daughter Lucy. This collection remained in the extended Kemp-Welch family and has never previously been seen by anyone outside.
In 1891 both Edith and Lucy Kemp-Welch applied, and were accepted, to study at Herkomer’s school of art in Bushy in Hertfordshire, but due to illness and the death of their mother, Lucy did not start until February 1892. It was two years later that Lucy came to the notice of Hubert Herkomer when she began to paint what would become her first submission to the R.A.summer exhibition ,where at the time it was met with great acclaim. This work was ‘Gypsy horse drovers’ and it will be subject of a forthcoming blog dedicated to it, because this collection we have here contains no less than 3 oil studies , a gouache and the watercolour study setting out the scene that was to become that enormous exhibition oil. The finished work is now within the Russell-Cotes Gallery in Bournemouth and they also have the oil sketch that Lucy completed plein air , but the existence of the works within the family collection was previously unknown . This is a very exciting find as the collection covers a period from 1893 through the academic year of 1984 and then into the summer of that year when it is clear that Lucy and Edith returned to the New Forest and spent that time sketching . It is also clear that we have the preliminary work for a number of important oils that were to be produced that year and the following one.
So, with this in mind we have decided to work in conjunction with Nicholas Burnett ACR and his team at Museum Conservation Services Ltd , the Imperial War Museum , Duxford who are now in the process of photographically recording the album, and conserving any work as necessary. Once this work has been completed we hope to add a digital version of the album to our website to share its content with those that are interested . Additionally a number of the pieces will be available to purchase .
The image above has been shared with the consent of Nicholas Burnett who can be seen here conducting his preliminary examination of the collection. We are delighted to have this collection and will update our blog pages as the work progresses.