Agnes Clara Tatham Portrait of Elizabeth Thompson

An original 1930s oil painting, Agnes Clara Tatham, Portrait of Elizabeth Thompson.

A wonderful framed portrait in oil by Agnes Clara Tatham (1893–1972).

Tatham studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in Kensington, where she became a lifelong friend of the teacher Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1872–1945), the Royal Institute of Oil Painters' earliest female member. Tatham thereafter studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1915 to 1921, where she received several medals for painting.

Tatham's career began in the early 1920s; she exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1918 to 1961, the Paris Salon and the Royal Society of British Artists. With two contemporaries from the Byam Shaw School of Art, Alice Burton (1892–1973) and Elsie Gledstanes (1891–1982), she set up the 'Unique School for Children’s Art' in London.

The sitter here is Elizabeth Georgina Thompson née Kennedy (1891–1978), wife of the aircraft designer Norman Arthur Thompson, whose aircraft factory in Sussex was one of the first in the UK. His inventions included designs for flying boats, which were purchased by the Admiralty during the First World War and made an important contribution to maritime flying and to Britain’s war effort. Elizabeth was born in Dublin to an Irish ecclesiastical family. Her father was Rev Mervyn Le Ban Kennedy; her son, Bryan Eykyn Lomb Thompson, became medical superintendent at St Luke’s Hospital, Hiranpur, Bihar, India.

Agnes Clara Tatham's work was marked by a blend of traditional and modern influences. She excelled at portraiture, depicting female sitters in particular, but also painted allegorical subjects in a mystical, Symbolist style.

In the present painting, the restrained palette and sitter's plain background are characteristic of her portraiture. There is a sense of quiet, in which attention is drawn to the face; her portraits have a timeless emotional power whilst also embodying a consciousness of colour, pattern and form. In this way her portraiture can be considered in the context of the work of British Post-Impressionists, including the leading portrait artist Augustus John (1878–1961) and his sister Gwen John (1876–1939).

Oil on canvas (image size: 40 x 29.5cm.

Tatham's oil painting 'The Idol' sold at Sotheby's, London in 2003 for £21,600.

Presented in its original gilt frame (frame size: 50 x 40cm).

Framing label on reverse: Alden Art & Stationer's Shop, 14 Broad Street, Oxford.

Alden & Co were at 14 Broad Street from 1915 to 1947.