Ursula Edgcumbe

Ursula Edgcumbe
Born1900
Sandy, Bedfordshire, England
Died1985 (aged 84–85)
EducationSlade School of Art
Known forSculpture and painting

Ursula Ulalia Edgcumbe (1900 – 8 February 1985) was a British sculptor and painter. As a sculptor she worked in stone, wood and bronze while, after switching to painting, many of her works depicted birds and groups of figures.[1]

Biography

Zennor War Memorial, Cornwall

Edgcumbe was born at Sandy in Bedfordshire where her father was the barrister and local politician Sir Robert Pearce-Edgcumbe (1851–1929).[2] As a teenager, Ursula Edgcumbe worked in the studio of the sculptor James Havard Thomas before enrolling at the Slade School of Art, where Thomas also taught.[3] Edgcumbe was at the Slade from 1916 until 1921 during which time she won the scholarship prize for sculpture in 1918.[3][1] She then worked as an architectural carver, often with the architect George L Kennedy.[4] An early commission was for the war memorial at Zennor in Cornwall.[5][6] Working in the local granite, Edgcumbe produced a frieze surmounted on a column designed by Kennedy.[2] Another early commission was for a fireplace frieze at Bilbury Court in Gloucestershire.[2]

Throughout her career, Edgcumbe exhibited with the London Group, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Women's International Art Club and was, in 1929, a founding member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Potters.[4][1] She had her first solo sculpture show at the Leger Galleries in April 1936 but abandoned sculpture for painting in 1940.[4] After the end of World War II, Edgcumbe concentrated on painting, mostly birds and industrial scenes, and had several solo exhibitions of her paintings at leading London galleries.[1][3] A memorial exhibition of her paintings and sculpture was held at the Gillian Jason Gallery in 1986.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Grant M. Waters (1975). Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950. Eastbourne Fine Art.
  2. ^ a b c d University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII (2011). "Ursula Ulalia Edgcumbe". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0-953260-95-X.
  4. ^ a b c Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-106-6.
  5. ^ "Ursula Edgcumbe". Cornwall Artists Index. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  6. ^ "War Memorials Register: Zennor". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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