Details

Name

Katharine Cameron

Brief Biography

1874 - 1965, Scottish

Occupation

Artist, Illustrator

Description

Katharine (Kate) Cameron was born in Hillhead, Glasgow, in 1874. She was the sister of Sir D.Y. Cameron and one of seven children of a country minister and his artistic wife. She studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1890 - 93 under Fra' Newbery and later at Colarossi's in Paris with Gustave Courtois. A flower and landscape painter in watercolour, oil and gouache, she was also a book illustrator and accomplished etcher. Between 1904 and 1910 she illustrated a number of children's fairy tales and legends, but her real love was flower painting. Her earlier flower pieces from the 1890s and early 1900s were rich in colour and wet in technique but she developed a more delicate style with careful drawing and restrained colour, influenced by painters like Crawhall and Edwin Alexander. In 1928 she married Arthur Kay, the art collector and connoisseur.
She was a prominent member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists and exhibited widely both at home, at the RA from 1912-1963 and over 180 works at both the RSA 1894-1965 and the RGI 1891-1965 and internationally. Her works are represented in the V&A, London, Glasgow Art Gallery, City Art Gallery, Edinburgh and a collection of 30 etchings is held by the Library of Congress, Washington DC.