Stella Steyn

Stella Steyn
Photo of Stella Steyn
Portrait of Steyn by Patrick Tuohy
Born26 December 1907
Dublin, Ireland
Died21 July 1987(1987-07-21) (aged 79)
EducationAlexandra College
Notable workIllustrations for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

Stella Steyn (26 December 1907 – 21 July 1987) was an Irish artist.

Early life

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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.[1]

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.[2] Much of Steyn's early work was inspired by Harry Clarke and Aubrey Beardsley.[3]

Career

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In 1926,[4] 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.[5] She worked in the Arts Quarter (Montaparnasse) and called Paris “the most stimulating place for the artist who really wants to work”.[2]

While in Paris she met Samuel Beckett, as well as James Joyce. She became friends with Joyce's daughter, Lucia[6] and was asked to illustrate Joyce's Finnegans Wake.[7][8][9] She did not understand the piece, but it was explained to her by Joyce[10] and was specifically asked to respond to its musicality.[2]

In 1928, Steyn's first individual art show was held in St Stephen's Green at the Dublin Painter's Gallery.[11] She exhibited a variety of forms, including etchings, watercolours and pencil drawings.[3] That same year Steyn entered into Sur La Glace, she did not win but was awarded a silver medal at the Tailteann Games.[2] She also competed in the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[12][13]

Between 1927 and 1930 she had 19 works displayed in the Royal Hibernian Academy, four of which were of the female figure.[3] In 1929 she had an exhibition in Manhattan and embarked on a tour of France and Germany visiting Avignon, Toulon and Marseilles.[3] She felt her work was underappreciated in Ireland and returned to continue her study at La Grande Chaumiere and then Académie Scandinave.[3]

She enrolled at the Bauhaus in Germany in 1931,[14] becoming the first known Irish artist to study at the Bauhaus. She was taught by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Joseph Albers.[5] She began to feel disillusioned by the methods while there,[2] but continued her study until 1932 when she moved to Kunstgewerbeschule, Stuttgart.[3]

In 1938, she married David Ross,[4] a professor of French at the University of London, whom she had met in Germany in 1933. They lived in England,[9] where Ross worked as an academic in a number of universities.[15] Steyn stayed mostly out of the public sphere after this rarely displaying her work.[16] However, In 1947 Ladies in a Vase was completed and in 1952 she featured in the Carnegie institute Exhibition Pittsburgh.[3]

Legacy

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Little known in Ireland for many years,[9] 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.[17]

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.[18] Her work can be seen at the Tatha Gallery in Fife, Scotland.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Ray Rivlin. Jewish Ireland: A Social History
  2. ^ a b c d e O'Hanlon, Oliver (6 April 2022). "From Ranelagh to the Bauhaus – Oliver O'Hanlon on Irish artist Stella Steyn". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Snoddy, Theo (2002). Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century (2 ed.). Dublin: Merlin Publishing. pp. 633–5. ISBN 1-903582-17-2.
  4. ^ a b "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Stella Steyn 1907 - 1987, Irish Artist". adams.ie. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  6. ^ Goldstone, Katrine (October 2009). "Steyn, Stella | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Stella Steyn 1907–1987, Irish Artist". adams.ie. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Stella Steyn at Gormley's Art Auctions". www.gormleysartauctions.com. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "ARTS : EXHIBITIONS : Star of Joyce's firmament". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  10. ^ Foster, Alicia (26 October 2020). "Stella Steyn: the Irish artist who went beyond the Bauhaus | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Miss Stella Steyn Picture Exhibition". The Irish Times. 3 December 1927. p. 4.
  12. ^ Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon; Hilary Evans (October 2017). "Stella Steyn Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics. Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  13. ^ "Stella Steyn". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  14. ^ Stella Steyn, (1907–1987) Whytes Catalogue.
  15. ^ "Irish Art Original Stella Steyn Sketch Framed + Letter of Provenance | #464072759". Worthpoint. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  16. ^ Gorman, Sophie (24 May 2008). "Rediscovering the Wild Beast of Dublin's Art World". Irish Independent. p. 22.
  17. ^ "IMMA | Irish Museum of Modern Art".
  18. ^ Chris Hastings (27 September 2008). "Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street art collection chosen by his wife". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Stella Steyn | TATHA GALLERY". www.tathagallery.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014.
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