Ethel Pye

Born 1882 (Circa)
Died 1960 (Presumed)

Active: 1909 - 1949

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor

Ethel was the sister of Sybil Pye (1879-1958), bookbinder and an aunt of David Pye (1914-93) wood sculptor and writer. Ethel and Sybil were the daughters of William Arthur Pye and sisters to David Randall Pye, a distinguished scientist.

Ethel and Sybil belonged to a literary circle that included Rupert Brooke and Virginia Woolf (they are mentioned several times in Brook's letters and other papers, and Virginia Woolf's diary for 1920-24 records a meeting with Ethel).

Pye's career as an artist is poorly documented. However in 1932 she showed 'Sleepwalker', wood carving, in the Women's International Art Club exhibition at the Art Club, Suffolk Street (other sculptors included Winifred Leveritt and Dora Clarke). Then in 1949 she exhibited carvings at the Kensington Art Gallery from 31st March to 26th April with watercolours and temperas by Henry Winslow and H. Stirling Winslow (catalogue in the National Art Library).

Sybil and Ethel were evidently generous in their support of younger artists because the sculptor Freda Skinner, said she received financial support from the sisters (and also Arthur Rackham and Louis Fry) which enabled her to train as an artist.

This record includes information submitted by Elizabeth Pye.

Citing this record

'Ethel Pye', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1204137762, accessed 05 Jun 2023]