Dame Ethel Walker NEAC, RBA, ARA
Born 9 June 1867
Died 2 March 1951
Active: 1898 - 1950
Country of birth: Scotland
Country of death: England
Painter, sculptor
Born in Melville Street, Edinburgh. Raised in Yorkshire and Surrey. Daughter of an iron founder, Arthur Abney Walker (died in 1901). She studied first at Ridley School of Art, London, then Putney School of Art. Later she attended Westminster School of Art, and studied under Frederick Brown. On the latter's appointment as Slade Professor she followed him to the Slade School of Fine Art. She returned there in 1912 and 1916 to learn fresco and tempera painting and again in 1921 to study sculpture with James Havard Thomas. Walker exhibited at the NEAC for many years. Her reputation rested primarily on her paintings for which she was awarded a CBE in 1938 and DBE in 1943.
She died at at 20 Glazbury Road, Fulham, London.
Wealth at death: £1,542 0s. 3d.
Probate date: 21 August 1951
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Address 237 King's Road Chelsea London | View on map
1902 (Circa) - 1933 (Circa)
Address 127 Cheyne Walk Chelsea London SW10 | View on map
1934 (Circa) - 1951 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Yorkshire Artists' Exhibition, 1930
Multiple works
Exhibited at Laing Art Gallery and Museum, Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of the Northern Counties, 1935
'The Thinker'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1898 - 1950
Exhibited 30 times, primarily paintings, sculptures shown in 1930 and 1949 ('The Faun') according to Jarman (1987).
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1902 - 1948
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 7 times: 1902 (3 works), 1929 (2 works), 1933 (2 works), 1934 (2 works), 1936 (1 work), 1939 (1 work) and 1948 (2 works)
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
26 April 1940
Elected Senior A.R.A: 01 Jan 1943
Sources
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of the Northern Counties, 1935
1935
Cat. No. 420, p. 17
Catalogue of the Yorkshire Artists' Exhibition 1930
1930
Cat. No. 368, p. 14
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Alison Thomas, ‘Walker, Dame Ethel (1861–1951)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36689, accessed 26 Jan 2010]
Citing this record
'Dame Ethel Walker NEAC, RBA, ARA', 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=msib5_1213364164, accessed 18 Sep 2021]
