Majel Davidson
{{short description|British artist}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
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| name = Majel Davidson
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| birth_name = Margaret Elizabeth Jemima Davidson
| birth_date = 1885
| birth_place = Cults, Aberdeen
| death_date = {{death year and age|1969|1885}}
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| nationality = British
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| alma_mater = Gray's School of Art
| known_for = Painting, pottery
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Margaret Elizabeth Jemima Davidson, known as Majel Davidson, (1885-1969) was a Scottish artist known for her painting and pottery work.
Biography
Davidson was born at Cults in Aberdeen and attended Aberdeen High School before studying painting and pottery at Gray's School of Art from 1904 to 1907.{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=2006|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L |isbn=0-953260-95-X}} A scholarship award allowed her to study in Paris throughout 1908 and 1909 with the artist Charles Guérin.{{cite book|author=Peter J.M. McEwan|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1994|title=The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture|isbn=1-85149-134-1}} and in Rome in 1910.{{cite web|url=http://womenshistoryscotland.org/2020/01/27/out-gallivanting-reopened-aberdeen-art-gallery-majel-davidson-and-gushetneuk-pottery/|title=Majel Davidson and Gushetneuk pottery|work=womenhistoryscotland.org|access-date=21 February 2020}} Davidson exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1912. During World War One she served as a volunteer ambulance driver, earning the Military Medal for her work.
In 1923 Davidson moved to Toronto and for a time was associated with the circle of artists known as the Group of Seven, which led to her paintings becoming increasing impressionist and bolder in their use of colour. When Davidson returned to Scotland she took a role with the International Council of Women and in her artistic career chose to concentrate on producing pottery and had a kiln built at the family home in Cults.{{cite book|author=Paul Harris & Julian Halsby|publisher=Canongate|year=1990|title=The Dictionary of Scottish Painters 1600 to the Present|isbn=1-84195-150-1}} Named Gushetneuk Pottery, after the Doric dialect word for an odd corner of a field, several pieces are on display at the Aberdeen Art Gallery, including a fine art deco rosebowl.
In the 1950s Davidson moved to the female community, known as the Powis Family, or The Powis House Ladies, at Powis House near Stirling and resumed painting.{{cite web|url=http://www.blairlogie-scotland.org/uploads/1/1/8/0/11805839/people_in_logie_-_powis_house__jan_2015.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221095622/http://www.blairlogie-scotland.org/uploads/1/1/8/0/11805839/people_in_logie_-_powis_house__jan_2015.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=21 February 2020|title=People in Logie Powis House|work=blairlogie-scotland.org|date= |access-date=21 February 2020}} Davidson exhibited several times with the Aberdeen Artists Society and in 1989 the Portland Gallery held a joint show of her work alongside that of Alexander Graham Munro. In 2004, the Macrobert Art Centre held an exhibition of her work.
Further reading
- Majel Davidson 1885-1969, an Artist's Life and Influences, 1984, (13 pages), published by the MacRobert Art Centre Gallery, University of Stirling.
References
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Category:20th-century Scottish painters
Category:20th-century Scottish women painters
Category:Alumni of Gray's School of Art
Category:Artists from Aberdeen