Annie’s paintings have been the subject of special exhibitions on five occasions:
- July 1923 – Manchester Art Gallery – ‘Paintings by Mrs. Swynnerton, A.R.A.‘
- 1924 – Manchester Art Gallery – ‘Portraits by Mrs Swynnerton.‘
- March 1956 – The Alpine Club, London – ‘Paintings by Mancini, McEvoy, A. L. Swynnerton‘ – fifteen paintings.
- 2018-2019 – Manchester Art Gallery – ‘Painting Light and Hope‘ – 29 paintings (one withdrawn part-way through exhibition) and one drawing.
- November 2022 – Tate Britain, London – ‘Spotlights – Annie Swynnerton‘ – nine paintings.
PAINTINGS BY MRS. SWYNNERTON, A.R.A. Manchester Art Gallery, July 1923.
Images: Manchester Art Gallery.
Full details HERE.
PORTRAITS BY MRS. SWYNNERTON. Manchester Art Gallery, 1924.
No further information.
PAINTINGS BY MANCINI, McEVOY, A. L. SWYNNERTON. The Alpine Club, London. March, 1956.
This exhibition was held at The Alpine Club, 74 South Audley St., Mayfair, London W1.
The Alpine Club was a venue for hire, often by art dealers. Mr R. E. A. Wilson was such a dealer and acquainted with the three artists involved in the 1920s. After his death, works by some of these people remained in his widow’s possession.
Catalogue scans: Art Gallery of New South Wales.*
The catalogue has a copy of the ‘1931 photograph,’ showing the full extent of the otherwise unknown canvas. Transcription with notes:
PAINTINGS BY ANNIE L. SWYNNERTON, A.R.A. (1844 – 1933)
22. ELIZABETH FEEDING THE PEACOCK; 17 ins. by 11 ins.
23. THE LATE MRS. CHARLES HUNTER; unfinished; 42 ins. by 40 ins. Lent by Sylvia, Lady Grant Lawson.
24. THE STRIPED PINAFORE; 19 ins. by 15½ ins. Exhibited at the Exhibition of British Painting at the National Gallery, 1940. Signed, Annie L. Robinson.
25. LISTENING TO MUSIC [PORTRAIT OF LOUISE GARRETT]; 32 ins. by 32 ins. A ‘Portrait of Miss Louisa Garrett Anderson, C.B.E., seated at a table reading a book,’ 31 x 32 inches, is listed in the posthumous studio sale catalogue.
26. W.H.W. AND PONY AT HILL HALL [1910]; 24 ins. by 30 ins. Lent by Miss Williamson.
27. HEAD OF W.H.W. [1910]; 24 ins. by 27 ins.
28. THE RESTIVE HORSE [ISLE OF MAN]; 18 ins. by 20 ins.
29. THE FIG TREE AND LAKE; 19 ins. by 27 ins. Not ‘The Barren Figtree,’ which is 500 x 290 mm, but interesting to see that another picture of the same subject existed.
30. HEAD OF E.M.W. [1907]; 21 ins. by 18 ins. Lent by Miss Williamson … a study for the painting in the Tate Gallery. The study of the head of Elizabeth Williamson donated to the Tate in 2013 is a smaller work, 14 x 12½ inches.
31. THE WHITE DRESS; 72 ins. by 40 ins. Signed, before the artist’s marriage, Annie L. Robinson.
32. STUDY FOR “VENUS RISING FROM THE SEA”; 20 ins. by 21 ins. Two studies for “Venus Rising from the Sea” are listed in the posthumous studio sale catalogue, lots 126 and 128.
33. TRYING ON HER MOTHER’S HAT; 14½ ins. by 8 ins. Lent by Mrs. Hugh Thomas.
34. THE PORTRAIT OF MRS. A. M. WARREN AS A CHILD [1872]; 29 ins. by 24 ins. Lent by Mrs. Warren.
35. THE PINK FROCK; 21 ins. by 26 ins. Lent by Miss Craies. Assumed to be Portrait of Agathonike Sabina Craies.
36. STUDY FOR A PAINTING; 20 ins. by 18 ins.
37. A CHILD IN A BLUE FROCK; 17½ ins. diam.
38. A LITTLE GIRL, SEATED ON THE GROUND; 24 ins. by 26 ins. Lent by Miss Turner.
40. THE WHITE PINAFORE; 24 ins. by 26 ins. Lent by Miss Turner.
41. PETER ON GREY DAWN; 96 ins. by 60 ins. Lent by Sylvia, Lady Grant Lawson.
ANNIE SWYNNERTON: PAINTING LIGHT AND HOPE. Manchester Art Gallery, 26 Feb 2018 to 6 Jan 2019.
This exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery ran from 26 February 2018 to 6 January 2019 with 28 paintings on continuous display, several of them on loan from private collections.
The works on continuous display, in clockwise order around the exhibition space, were:
- An Italian Mother and Child
- Jebsa
- Susan Isabel Dacre
- The Reverend William Gaskell
- The Tryst
- The Letter
- The Town of Siena
- Thro’ the Orchard
- The Dreamer
- The Convalescent
- Cupid and Psyche
- Oreads
- Oceanid
- Illusions
- The Sense of Sight
- New-risen Hope (Tate)
- The Debutante
- Portrait of Geoffrey and Christopher Herringham (The Young Gardeners)
- Portrait of Count Zuboff
- Portrait of Margaret and Chrystian Guthrie
- Portrait of Mrs A. Scott-Elliot and Children
- The Southing of the Sun
- The Barren Figtree
- Capri
- Suviaco from Scholastica
- The Olive Gatherers
- Portrait of Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett
- Montagna Mia
There was in addition a pencil drawing, Head of a young man, in a cabinet, and The Vagrant was temporarily on display during the earlier part of the exhibition.
Two pieces by Susan Isable Dacre were also included, A View in Venice and Portrait of Lydia Becker. A further work by Dacre, Two Italian Mothers, is on permanent display in another room in the gallery.
Gwenny Griffith’s Portrait of Annie L. Swynnerton was also displayed.
SPOTLIGHTS – ANNIE SWYNNERTON, Tate Britain, November 2022.
Nine works in a single room, along with pieces by John Singer Sargent, Gillian Wearing and Mary Lowndes.
- Annie Louisa Swynnerton:
- John Singer Sargent: Val d’Aosta.
- Gillian Wearing: Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (maquette).
- Mary Lowndes: banner celebrating Mary Moser R.A.
Thanks to R. L. at the library of the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the scans of the 1956 catalogue, and Grant M. Waters for information on the staging of the 1956 exhibition.
ANNIE LOUISA SWYNNERTON (1844-1933) 