Lilian Holt
{{Short description|British artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
| name =
| image = Lilian_Painting_David_(Painting_Lilian),_1929.jpg
| alt = Portrait of Lilian Holt by David Bomberg, 1929
| caption = David Bomberg, Lilian Painting David (Painting Lilian), 1929, Tate Gallery.
| birth_date = 1898
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = 1983
| education = Putney Art School
Regent Street Polytechnic
| known_for = Landscape painter
| notable_works = Tajo, Ronda (1956)
| movement = Borough Group
}}
Lilian Thirza Charlotte Holt{{citation|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Art/021M-C0466X0280XX-0001V0|title=Davis-Rees, Dinora (1 of 13), National Life Stories: Artists' Lives|work=The British Library}} (1898–1983) was a British artist, also known by her married name, Bomberg. She was a founding member of the Borough Group. Her dedication to her partner and family limited her career and opportunities as an artist.{{Cite journal|author=Deanna Petherbridge|author-link=Deanna Petherbridge|first=Deanna|date=1992|title=Ten Decades|journal=Women's Art Magazine|volume=46|pages=16–17|via=Art & Architecture Source}}
Biography
The daughter of Oliver Oswald Holt,The Dictionary of National Biography 1951-1960, ed. E. T. Williams, Helen M. Palmer, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 122 a civil servant,Rubies & Rebels: Jewish Female Identity in Contemporary British Art, Monica Bohm-Duchen, Vera Grodzinski, Lund Humphries, 1996, p. 39 Holt studied at Putney Art School and took evening classes at Regent Street Polytechnic.{{cite book|last1=Foster|first1=Alicia|title=Tate women artists|date=2004|publisher=Tate|location=London|isbn=9781854373113|page=118}}{{cite book|editor= W.M Schwab |publisher= Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd / Ben Uri Art Society|year=1987|title=Jewish Artists The Ben Uri Collection |isbn=0-85331-537-X}} In 1914, she started work with the Post Office in London as a telephonist,The London Gazette, 2 October 1914, p. 7839. and served in the Women's Land Army during World War I. Her first marriage, to London art dealer Jacob Mendelson, and the birth of her daughter Dinora Mendelson (1924–2010)Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection, Walter M. Schwab, Julia Weiner, Ben Uri Art Society, 1994, p. 139 (herself an artist, married at one time to Leslie Marr)Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 148th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, Debrett's Ltd, 2011, p. 678Tate Women Artists, Alicia Foster, Harry N. Abrams, 2004, p. 118 limited her opportunities to paint during the 1920s but she studied the work of Walter Sickert, Jacob Epstein, Jacob Kramer, and David Bomberg during this time. She married Bomberg after visiting him in Spain in 1929. Holt did not resume painting until 1945, focusing instead on supporting Bomberg's career. While Bomberg was teaching at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, Holt was a founding member of the Borough Group, a collective of painters influenced by Bomberg, and participated in group exhibitions.{{Cite web|url=https://theresa-kneppers-jf2w.squarespace.com/blog/2017/10/6/leslie-marr-on-the-formation-of-the-borough-group|title=Leslie Marr on the formation of the Borough Group|last=Marr|first=Leslie|website=Borough Road Collection Archive}}{{Cite web|url=https://theresa-kneppers-jf2w.squarespace.com/blog/2017/10/6/lillian-bomberg-on-the-founding-of-the-borough-group|title=Lillian [sic] Bomberg on the Founding of the Borough Group|last=Bomberg|first=Lilian|website=Borough Road Collection Archive}} Holt and Bomberg moved to Ronda in Spain from 1954 to 1957, before returning to England due to Bomberg's failing health.{{Cite news|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/holt-tajo-ronda-t03088|title='Tajo, Ronda', Lilian Holt, 1956 {{!}} Tate|last=Tate|work=Tate|access-date=2018-03-15|language=en-GB}}{{Cite book|title=Benezit Dictionary of Artists|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011}} After Bomberg's death, Holt focused on her own work, traveling to, often remote areas of, Mexico, Basutoland, Andalusia, Yugoslavia, Morocco, Turkey, and Iceland to paint, as well as continuing to promote Bomberg's legacy.
Exhibitions and collections
Exhibitions of Holt's work include Paintings and Drawings by David Bomberg (1890-1957) and Lilian Holt (1971) at the Reading Museum and Art Gallery and her first solo exhibition, Lilian Holt: Paintings and Drawings (1980) at the Ben Uri Gallery, when she was in her seventies. Posthumous exhibitions include the 1992 group exhibition Ten Decades: Careers of Ten Women Artists Born 1897-1906 at the Norwich Gallery and the 1985 solo exhibition A Tribute to Lilian Bomberg at Fischer Fine Art in London. In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.{{cite web |title=Action, Gesture, Paint |url=https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/action-gesture-paint-women-and-global-abstraction-1940-70/ |website=Whitechapel Gallery |access-date=19 April 2023 |language=en}}
Holt's painting Tajo, Ronda (1956) is in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery. She is also the subject of several paintings by Bomberg, including Lilian (1932) and Lilian Painting David (Painting Lilian) (1929).{{Cite news|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bomberg-lilian-t00318|title='Lilian', David Bomberg, 1932 {{!}} Tate|last=Tate|work=Tate|access-date=2018-03-15|language=en-GB}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bomberg-lilian-painting-david-painting-lilian-t03338|title='Lilian Painting David (Painting Lilian)', David Bomberg, 1929 {{!}} Tate|last=Tate|work=Tate|access-date=2018-03-15|language=en-GB}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Art UK bio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Lilian}}
Category:20th-century English painters
Category:20th-century English women artists
Category:English women painters