ANNIE LOUISA SWYNNERTON and SUSAN ISABEL DACRE (1844-1933)

Note: Page in process of being revised/rewritten (17^th-18^th Feb). Come back on 19^th for the finished version.

This website showcases the works of the artists Annie Louisa Swynnerton (née Robinson; 17 Feb 1844 – 24 Oct 1933) and Susan Isabel Dacre (17 Feb 1844 – 20 Feb 1933), with additional notes on others in their artistic circles.

CLICK HERE FOR ANNIE LOUISA SWYNNERTON’S PICTURES

CLICK HERE FOR SUSAN ISABEL DACRE’S PICTURES

Of the two, Annie Louisa Swynnerton (left above) is the most well known today, being remembered as the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy of Arts and for her sometimes challenging ‘symbolist’ works. Susan Isabel Dacre (who went by her middle name in life) is almost forgotton today. In the earlier part of their careers she was the most prominant, being declared an artist of extraordinary genius at times. For more on Isabel and her works, click HERE.

Having met at Manchester School of Art and both graduating in 1873, Annie and Isabel travelled and studied on the continent for a short time. Back home they founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters in 1879 as a way of getting round restrictions placed on their practice by the male-dominated art scene of the era. They were also friends with and committed supporters of the Pankhursts and other Manchester-based campaigners for women’s votes (although never involved in any militant ‘suffragette’ activity).

Annie and Isabel were born in a time when access to professional training, gallery representation and membership of art institutions was generally denied to women. They were also disadvantaged by not having easy access to the financial support necessary and were expected to paint a restricted range of subjects, such as flora, portraits or domestic scenes.

“… women had to create specific training opportunities for themselves, find artists associations which allowed them to increase their public visibility, and fight for their acceptance in a male-dominated institutionalized exhibition scene.” (Nike Seidl (2020) DoME.)

Annie’s ability and creativity challenged the conventions of the time. Not only was her work technically equal to that of her male contemporaries, but she depicted women as independent, assertive and confident individuals, at a time when they were typically portrayed in a passive manner and dependent on men to determine their fates and fortunes. Isabel’s art was more conventional portraits and landscape, but her level of skill was quite extraordinary.

Annie married the Manx born, Rome-trained sculptor Joseph Swynnerton in 1883, and they spent their married years living in the artistic community of Rome. Joseph died aged only 62 in 1910, after which Annie returned to England. Isabel never married, moving to London in her later years and ceased exhibiting at the Royal Academy after 1894, apart from a single work in 1929. Annie, however, had multiple works accepted from the early 1900s onwards.

However, while Annie’s technical skill was praised, British galleries consistently rejected her works for permanent display – it just didn’t fit the conventional view of what female artists should be painting or how women should be depicted in art in general. She was being recognized in other countries, with works accepted into permanent collections in the United States, Canada, Ireland, France, South Africa and Australia, and at times she was being exhibited alongside incresingly radical styles of art – post-Impressionism and after, although she maintained a firm, ‘representational‘ manner in her own work.

Annie finally achieved official recognition in 1922, at the age of 78, she became the first woman to be admitted to the Royal Academy of Arts, after much lobbying by famous artists of the day, Such as John Singer Sargent and Edward Burne-Jones. (Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser had been founding members of the Academy in 1768, but were never fully involved in the daily affairs of the institution or elected as such – Annie was the first woman admitted on equal terms to men). She was initially classed a full member, but when it was realised she was beyond the normal cut-off age for admission, 75, she was given the title ‘Senior Associate’ instead and listed above all other ‘Associates’ in exhibition catalogues.

Isabel died 20 Feb 1933 and Annie a few months later on 24 Oct. Having only a small number of paintings in public galleries, along with the continued tendency of institutions and academics to ignore female artists into the early twentieth century, recognition of Annie’s and Isabel’s achievements rapidly diminished after their deaths.

Annie is known to have produced many paintings in her lifetime. Hundreds of works were found in her studios in London and Rome after her death. Most of these quickly disappeared, sometimes being sold as bundles of lots at auction. She has been termed a ‘symbolist‘, ‘Impressionist‘ or even ‘Pre-Raphaelite‘, but Annie’s work doesn’t neatly fit into any particular category. Influences can be seen and she was at times exhibited alongside some of the most avant-garde artists of her time, but she very much followed her own classically-trained, representational path.

The one sizeable public collection of Annie’s and Isabel’s paintings today is at Manchester Art Gallery – sixteen and seventeen works respectively – largely thanks to generous bequests made in the 1920s and ’30s. There are twenty-one works by Annie in other British galleries and six overseas. For Isabel there are six works in other British galleries and a single drawing in a collection in France.

Images of other, otherwise ‘untraced’ works can been found in old auction catalogues, newspapers and other publications. Pieces occasionally appear at auction, typically once or twice a year. A handful of pieces are known from private or vendor collections which have been loaned to galleries for exhibitions or about which the owners have kindly contacted this web site. The total number of works by Annie for which there are images on this site is now over one-hundred-and-fifty and for Isabel just over fifty [Feb 2026].

[Note: ‘banner’ images at the top of this page are from past, not current, exhibitions at various galleries. Photo of A. L. Swynnerton from an unattributed source; thanks to Mike Stewart for the photo of S. I. Dacre.]

CAN YOU HELP? It would be wonderful to rediscover some of the lost works of Annie and Isabel.

If you own or know of any works by Annie Louisa Swynnerton (née Robinson) or Susan Isabel Dacre, or have any information or observations of interest, I welcome emails at:

swynnerton.blog@gmail.com

My sole interest is to display images of the works of Annie and Isabel and shed a little extra light on the artistic scene of the period. All communications are treated in strictest confidence. No personal information regarding ownership or location of privately-owned works is ever displayed on this web site.

CAN YOU HELP? It would be wonderful to rediscover some of the lost works of Annie and Isabel.

swynnerton.blog@gmail.com

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