Lucy Kemp-Welsh was born in Bournemouth on June 20, 1869, the daughter of Edward Kemp-Welsh a successful solicitor. She started drawing as a child, particularly on rambles with her father in the New Forest, where she was fascinated by the wild ponies. At the age of fourteen she was already exhibiting her pictures locally. She attended the Bournemouth School of Art. In 1889 her father died, and in the same year she enrolled at the art school run by Hubert von Herkomer in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Herkomer became a major influence on the life and work of Lucy Kemp-Welsh, and she has left a vivid record of his severity and sarcasm towards students who displeased him. In defence of Herkomer it must be said that his encouragement of young artists whose work methods, and ethos he admired was unstinting, and of course Lucy Kemp-Welsh was in this category.

In 1895 the artist exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time, and in 1897 her picture “Colt hunting in the New Forest” was bought by the Chantrey Bequest for the collections of the Tate Gallery. By this time the vital, freely painted, often large scale, and deeply intuitive images of horses and countrylife painted by Lucy Kemp-Welsh were becoming famous, and an exhibition of her work was held in a Bond Street gallery in 1905. In 1907 she bought the Herkomer school at Bushey. She was a founder member of the Society of animal painters in 1914 with Alfred Munnings and Lionel Edwards, and served as the first President. Rather surprisingly the artist travelled with “Lord” John Sanger’s Circus in the nineteen twenties and early thirties. Exhibitions of her work were held in the Arlington Galleries in 1934 and 1938. She was the mentor of the artist Edward Seago, and they became close friends. In the 1950s the elderly, small, unmarried, and indomitable artist became increasingly reclusive.

Reading

Lucy Kemp-Welsh 1877 - 1958 : The Spirit of the Horse by Laura Wortley
published by the Antique Collectors Club

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