Mildred Anne Butler
Mildred Anne Butler was born in Kilkenny. She began her artistic training in the late 1880s with the watercolorist Paul Jacob Naftel (1817-1891) and then Westminster School of Art under William Frank Calderon (1865-1943) who specialised in animal painting. She spent time in Paris and became associated with the Newlyn school and spent the summers of 1894 and 1895 in Newlyn, Cornwall, attaching herself particularly to Garstin (1847-1926). At this time Newlyn was a centre for artists interested in plein air subjects, many of whom had studied in Paris. The influence of this time was enduring on her artistic career.
She travelled throughout Europe until the outbreak of war. Her pictures are mainly in the mode of watercolour and oil and her plein air subjects were found in the local landscape of her home in Dublin which offered pasture, countryside and gardens. Butlers work was acclaimed in her lifetime and her habit of painting in the open air, extraordinary at the time, instilled her work with freshness, realism and expression, all commended by her contemporary critics.
Among her numerous achievements she was patronised by Queen Mary of Teck and Louis IV, Grand Duck of Hesse. She became a member of the Royal Academy in 1893 and three years later her painting Morning Bath was exhibited at the RA and later became the first work to be acquired by a female artist by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest. It was later presented to Tate Britain. She was granted a full member of Royal Watercolour Society in 1937. She was one of the first academicians elected by the Ulster Academy of Art in 1930. She was a member of the Society of Lady Artists.
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She travelled throughout Europe until the outbreak of war. Her pictures are mainly in the mode of watercolour and oil and her plein air subjects were found in the local landscape of her home in Dublin which offered pasture, countryside and gardens. Butlers work was acclaimed in her lifetime and her habit of painting in the open air, extraordinary at the time, instilled her work with freshness, realism and expression, all commended by her contemporary critics.
Among her numerous achievements she was patronised by Queen Mary of Teck and Louis IV, Grand Duck of Hesse. She became a member of the Royal Academy in 1893 and three years later her painting Morning Bath was exhibited at the RA and later became the first work to be acquired by a female artist by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest. It was later presented to Tate Britain. She was granted a full member of Royal Watercolour Society in 1937. She was one of the first academicians elected by the Ulster Academy of Art in 1930. She was a member of the Society of Lady Artists.
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