Audierne, Brittany

Aileen Mary Elliott, RSMA NS (1896 – 1966)

Oil on canvas. Signed.

12½” x 14¾” (31.8 cm x 37.5 cm)

Exhibited: The Society of Marine Artists. Original exhibition labels verso.

The work of Aileen Mary Elliott, which seldom appears on the market, reveals her remarkable versatility as an etcher and a painter in both oils and watercolours. Her pictures are testament to her passion for the sea, ships and sailing and she was equally at home painting by the shore, on the bank of a river estuary, on the harbourside or in the heart of a busy industrial setting. She was a familiar figure, with her palette and easel, in the working environment of docks, boat building and repair yards, recording the everyday bustle of ships being loaded or undergoing refit. Aileen Mary Elliott was born in Southampton and brought up at Lee-on-the-Solent. She lived in London before her marriage in 1931, when she moved to Wokingham in Berkshire. She trained at Regent Street Polytechnic and The Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and exhibited at the principal galleries, including The Royal Academy, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Society of Women Artists, The Royal Society of British Artists, The Paris Salon and in America. She was a member of The National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers and a founder member of The Society of Marine Artists in 1939. There are examples of her work in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Outside her career as an artist, Aileen Mary Elliott served in the British Red Cross during World War II. She was appointed Assistant County Director for Berkshire in 1958 and on her retirement in 1964 she was awarded a life membership certificate and medal.