Loading AI tools
English artist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olive Constance Snell (3 April 1888[1] – 23 May 1962)[2] was an English artist, known for her portraiture.[3]
Snell was born in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, the daughter of Constance Louisa and Edward Snell of Monkokehampton, Devon, England.[4] She arrivied in England in 1912, already a competent painter.[5]
In the 1920s, she painted portraits for the front covers of several issues of The Sketch,[6][7][8] and The Bystander,[9] working mainly in crayon & watercolour.[9] During this period, she made two visits to the United States, making use of introductions made by Sir Joseph Duveen at the behest of Oswald Birley.[5] Her subjects included American celebrities such as Tallulah Bankhead and Amelia Earhart, and their British equivalents, such as Madeleine Carroll and Cathleen Nesbitt.[6] Her portrait of Agatha Christie was used on the cover of Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. She also painted Mrs. Walter Rosen (Lucie Bigelow Dodge), and other sitters.
During World War II, she turned to military subjects, including Battle of Britain pilots,[6] as an unofficial war artist attached to the Royal Air Force.[5] Her 1943 painting of pilots of 610 Squadron at RAF Westhampnett is now in the Goodwood collection on the same site.[6] Four of the eighteen pilots depicted were killed within months of its completion.[6] The War Artists' Advisory Committee issued her with a permit to sketch in public during wartime.[6]
She married Ebenezer John Lecky Pike, CBE, MC (1884–1965), an officer (later a colonel) in the Grenadier Guards, on 16 April 1913.[4][6] They had four children, the youngest of whom, David Ebenezer (born 9 June 1925), a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on 5 March 1945[4] and is buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.[10][11] Their eldest child, Helena Christian, married Lionel Brett, 4th Viscount Esher. The middle daughter Katherine Mary Penelope married Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland. A third daughter, Jane Rosemary (1923–1934), died in childhood.[4]
She exhibited at the Fine Art Society, Grosvenor Gallery, New English Art Club, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists.[9] Her works are in public collections, including the Imperial War Museums and Royal Air Force Museum.[3]
Her portrait was painted in 1922 by Oswald Birley.[12] As of 2017, the picture was in private ownership.[5] Birley subsequently painted Ebenezer Pike, and later married Pike's sister, Rhoda, after painting her also.[12] Another portrait was painted circa 1927 by Augustus John.[9] This work was sold by Boningtons in June 2018.[9] The Illustrated London News noted in 1927, that Snell "was lucky enough to have some lessons from that celebrated artist Augustus John, who was interested in her work".[9]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.