Stella Steyn

Steyn was born in Dublin in 1907 to William Steyn (a dentist) and Bertha Jaffe, who met and married in Limerick, having moved to Ireland from Akmenė, Lithuania. She was Jewish.Ray Rivlin.

[https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/jewish-ireland-ray-rivlin/1111680203 Jewish Ireland: A Social History]

Steyn studied at Alexandra College and in 1924 the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, she was taught by Patrick Tuohy who introduced her to the Cézanne style of art.{{Cite web |last=O'Hanlon |first=Oliver |date=6 April 2022 |title=From Ranelagh to the Bauhaus – Oliver O’Hanlon on Irish artist Stella Steyn |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/from-ranelagh-to-the-bauhaus-oliver-o-hanlon-on-irish-artist-stella-steyn-1.4846344 |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=The Irish Times |language=en}} Much of Steyn's early work was inspired by Harry Clarke and Aubrey Beardsley.{{Cite book |last=Snoddy |first=Theo |title=Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century |publisher=Merlin Publishing |year=2002 |isbn=1-903582-17-2 |edition=2 |location=Dublin |pages=633–5 |language=en}}

In 1926, aged 18, in the company of her mother and fellow artist Hilda Roberts, she went to Paris to study at the Académie Scandinave and at La Grande Chaumière.{{Cite web |title=Stella Steyn 1907 - 1987, Irish Artist. |url=https://www.adams.ie/irish-artist-directory/stella-styne-art-sold-at-auction |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=adams.ie |language=en-gb}} She worked in the Arts Quarter (Montaparnasse) and called Paris “the most stimulating place for the artist who really wants to work”.

While in Paris she met Samuel Beckett, as well as James Joyce. She became friends with Joyce's daughter, Lucia{{Cite web |last=Goldstone |first=Katrine |date=October 2009 |title=Steyn, Stella {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/steyn-stella-a8317 |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}} and was asked to illustrate Joyce's Finnegans Wake.{{Cite web|title=Stella Steyn 1907–1987, Irish Artist.|url=https://www.adams.ie/irish-artist-directory/stella-styne-art-sold-at-auction|access-date=2021-01-05|website=adams.ie|language=en-gb}}{{Cite web|title=Stella Steyn at Gormley's Art Auctions|url=https://www.gormleysartauctions.com/artist/stella-steyn/410|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.gormleysartauctions.com}}{{Cite web|date=2011-10-23|title=ARTS : EXHIBITIONS : Star of Joyce's firmament|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-exhibitions-star-of-joyce-s-firmament-1327661.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-exhibitions-star-of-joyce-s-firmament-1327661.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-05|website=The Independent|language=en}} She did not understand the piece, but it was explained to her by Joyce{{Cite web |last=Foster |first=Alicia |date=26 October 2020 |title=Stella Steyn: the Irish artist who went beyond the Bauhaus {{!}} Art UK |url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/stella-steyn-the-irish-artist-who-went-beyond-the-bauhaus |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=artuk.org |language=en}} and was specifically asked to respond to its musicality.

In 1928, Steyn's first individual art show was held in St Stephen's Green at the Dublin Painter's Gallery.{{Cite news |date=3 December 1927 |title=Miss Stella Steyn Picture Exhibition |pages=4 |work=The Irish Times |url=}} She exhibited a variety of forms, including etchings, watercolours and pencil drawings. That same year Steyn entered into Sur La Glace, she did not win but was awarded a silver medal at the Tailteann Games. She also competed in the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics.{{cite web|last = Gjerde|first = Arild|author2=Jeroen Heijmans |author3=Bill Mallon |author4=Hilary Evans |title = Stella Steyn Bio, Stats, and Results|work = Olympics|publisher = Sports Reference.com|date = October 2017|url = https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/st/stella-steyn-1.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200418115158/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/st/stella-steyn-1.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = 2020-04-18|accessdate = 2017-11-17}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920811 |title=Stella Steyn |work=Olympedia |accessdate=26 July 2020}}

Between 1927 and 1930 she had 19 works displayed in the Royal Hibernian Academy, four of which were of the female figure. In 1929 she had an exhibition in Manhattan and embarked on a tour of France and Germany visiting Avignon, Toulon and Marseilles. She felt her work was underappreciated in Ireland and returned to continue her study at La Grande Chaumiere and then Académie Scandinave.

She enrolled at the Bauhaus in Germany in 1931,Stella Steyn, (1907–1987) Whytes Catalogue. becoming the first known Irish artist to study at the Bauhaus. She was taught by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Joseph Albers. She began to feel disillusioned by the methods while there, but continued her study until 1932 when she moved to Kunstgewerbeschule, Stuttgart.

In 1938, she married David Ross,{{Cite web|title=Collections Online {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG47405|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.britishmuseum.org}} a professor of French at the University of London, whom she had met in Germany in 1933. They lived in England, where Ross worked as an academic in a number of universities.{{Cite web|title=Irish Art Original Stella Steyn Sketch Framed + Letter of Provenance {{!}} #464072759|url=https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/irish-art-original-stella-steyn-464072759|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Worthpoint|language=en}} Steyn stayed mostly out of the public sphere after this rarely displaying her work.{{Cite news |last=Gorman |first=Sophie |date=24 May 2008 |title=Rediscovering the Wild Beast of Dublin's Art World |pages=22 |work=Irish Independent}} However, In 1947 Ladies in a Vase was completed and in 1952 she featured in the Carnegie institute Exhibition Pittsburgh.

Little known in Ireland for many years, a retrospective exhibition of her work held at Dublin's Gorry Gallery in 1995, and The Molesworth Gallery in 2001, renewed critical interest in her work.{{cite web| url = https://imma.ie/| title = IMMA {{!}} Irish Museum of Modern Art}}

One of her paintings, Still Life - Flowers, was displayed in the British Prime Minister's residence during the ministry of Gordon Brown, chosen by his wife, Sarah Brown.{{cite web |author=Chris Hastings|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3091649/Prime-Minister-Gordon-Browns-Downing-Street-art-collection-chosen-by-his-wife.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929044351/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3091649/Prime-Minister-Gordon-Browns-Downing-Street-art-collection-chosen-by-his-wife.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 September 2008 |title= Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street art collection chosen by his wife|date= 27 September 2008|accessdate=5 August 2015|work=The Telegraph}} Her work can be seen at the Tatha Gallery in Fife, Scotland.{{cite web |url=http://www.tathagallery.com/artist/stella-steyn/ |title=Stella Steyn {{!}} TATHA GALLERY |website=www.tathagallery.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912205717/http://www.tathagallery.com/artist/stella-steyn/ |archive-date=2014-09-12}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Art UK bio}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Stella}}

Category:1907 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:Bauhaus alumni

Category:Alumni of the National College of Art and Design

Category:20th-century Irish painters

Category:Irish people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:Lithuanian emigrants to Ireland

Category:People educated at Alexandra College

Category:Painters from Dublin (city)

Category:Olympic competitors in art competitions

Category:20th-century Irish Jews

Category:20th-century Irish women painters