ELIZABETH VIOLET BLACKADDER

Elizabeth Violet Blackadder Biography

 

 

Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, RSA, RA, RGI, RWEA, RWS, DBE (b. 1931)

On graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1954, Blackadder was awarded the Carnegie Traveling scholarship by the Royal Scottish Academy. She subsequently won two further scholarships allowing her to spend her formative years in Southern Europe, particularly Italy. Her early works were landscapes, influence by these trips to Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia.

In 1956 Blackadder married the Scottish painter John Houston. She lectured at Edinburgh College of Art while regularly exhibiting her work, internationally. Blackadder has received many awards, including the Guthrie Award, Royal Scottish Academy (1962) and the Pimms Award for Work on Paper (Royal Academy, 1983). She was joint-winner of the Royal Academy's Watercolour Foundation Award in 1988. She was the first female artist to be elected to both the RA and RSA. She has also received Honorary Doctorates from four Scottish universities. In 2001 she was appointed Her Majesty's Painter and Limner in Scotland.

Since the 1960's she has been renowned for her delicate and yet vibrant still lives, often with flowers. The simplified composition with neutral background is inspired by Japanese art and the use of gold leaf may be indebted to Blackadder's interest in Byzantine mosaics.

Blackadder's work is included in the collections of the Tate Gallery as well as the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, among others. Her paintings were also reproduced in a series of Royal Mail stamps.

Recent solo exhibitions

2004 Browse and Darby, London
2002 Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
2000 Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
1999 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
1998 The Scottish Gallery, Aitken Dott, Edinburgh
Mercury Gallery, London
Glasgow Print Studio
1996 Mercury Gallery, London
1994 The Scottish Gallery, Aitken Dott, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition
1993 Glasgow Print Studio
Mercury Gallery, London
1992 DLI Museum, Durham
1991 Mercury Gallery, London
1990 Abbot Hall, Kendal

Public collections

Argyll County Council
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
Contemporary Art Society
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Dundee Museum and Art Gallery
Dunfermline, Carnegie Trust
Edinburgh City Art Gallery
Eastbourne, Tower Art Gallery
Fife County Council
Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery
Government Art Collection
Greater London Council
Heriot Watt University
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Huddersfield Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
Middlesbrough Art Galery
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA
National Portrait Gallery, London
Nottingham County Council
Paisley Art Gallery
Perth Museum and Art Gallery
Reading Museum and Art Gallery
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Scottish Arts Council
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery
Tate Gallery, London
University of Cambridge, Kettle's Yard
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow, Hunterian Art Gallery
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
West Riding County Museum
Wustun Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, USA