Mary Beale (1633-1699) was an artistic trail blazer, the first woman painter in British art to establish a major professional portrait practice in oil paintings. In June she will be the subject of an illuminating exhibition at the Philip Mould Gallery featuring 25 of her works from public and private collections, many never seen before on public display.
The Philip Mould Gallery is an especially appropriate location, following the recent discovery that it sits on the very spot where Beale’s studio was located, a place of destination for swathes of society, including academics, professionals, the Church and aristocracy. The exhibition will span her entire career and include self-portraits, arrestingly informal images of family and friends, and professional commissions.
Fruit of Friendship will also shed light on Beale’s progressive studio practice and highlight its radical rethinking of conventional gender roles for the period. Beale’s husband Charles, dedicated himself to his wife’s career and supported her studio diligently by priming canvases, manufacturing pigments, and recording business in a series of notebooks and almanacs.
Newly discovered works include an early portrait of the artist’s husband, dressed theatrically in a fur hat, a rare example of a formal portrait of an identified child, and a portrait of Anne Sotheby, which will be displayed in the gallery for two weeks before it is exhibited in Tate Britian’s upcoming exhibition Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920. (all three pictured above)
Friendship played a crucial role in Beale’s artistic practice and the exhibition takes its title from her own words. In 1666, Beale wrote her Discourse on Friendship, which explicitly outlines her progressive ideas on equality between friends, regardless of gender. Beale pioneered a practice that was both supported by and reliant on her immediate circle; from friendship and trust established within the home between her husband and children, to the bonds she created throughout her wider circle of neighbours, friends, and fellow artists including the King’s painter, Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680). It is through Beale’s portraits that a woman of multiple identities emerges – artist, businessperson, mother, wife, and active friend.
The Philip Mould Gallery has had a long association with Beale’s works and sold Tate Britian their first example of the artist’s work in 1992 as well as supplying her works to other museums internationally.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a significant and richly illustrated catalogue, throwing important new light on her career and activities. Tabitha Barber, Tate curator and leading expert on Beale, has written an illuminating and plotted historiography of Mary Beale, setting her in the broader context of 17th century portraiture. Dr Helen Draper, who’s recent thesis on Beale has transformed our understanding of the artist, has contributed an updated biography. This resource will serve as an accessible guide to her works and their significance. A full list of exhibits with detailed research has been written in-house, including significant new research on Beale’s husband, Charles.
Philip Mould says: “As a result of the discovery of new works, the collaboration of some leading academics who have been looking into her life, and substantial new research done in house, we have surprised ourselves at how vivid a story has emerged. It is of a charismatic artist who, in collaboration with her family, brilliantly transcended the prejudices of the period to triumph in her profession.“
FOR MORE INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES
Tracy Jones, Brera PR – [email protected] / 01702 216658 / 07887 514984 / www.brera-london.com