Artist of the Day, September 5, 2022: Mildred Anne Butler, an Irish painter (#1639)

Mildred Anne Butler RA RWS (1858 – 1941) was an Irish artist, who worked in watercolour and oil of landscape, genre and animal subjects. Butler was born and spent most of her life in Kilmurry, Thomastown, County Kilkenny and was associated with the Newlyn School of painters.

Mildred Anne's en plein air style is dominated by the theme of nature and reflects scenes of domesticity around the family home in Kilmurry. She achieved distinction in her lifetime and exhibited in major galleries in Ireland and England. Among her patrons were Queen Mary of Teck and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.

She became a member of the Royal Academy in 1893. In 1896, Butler's Morning Bath was exhibited at the Royal Academy. It was the first work by a female artist to be purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest and was then presented to the Tate. She became an associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1896 and was granted full membership in 1937.

She was one of the first academicians elected by the Ulster Academy of Arts in 1930. She virtually stopped painting by the 1930s due to arthritis and died in 1941, aged 83. Around four hundred pieces of her work were sold as part of the artist's studio sale in 1980. She is celebrated in a postage stamp by An Post.

© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Mildred Anne Butler or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only 

Ms. Mildred Anne Butler

Meditation, 1889

Summer Flowers, Kilmurry, 1891

Trees in January, 1895

Morning Bath, 1896

The Lily, 1897

Cattle Grazing at Kilmurry, 1899

A Mother and Child by a River, with Wild Roses, 1900

A Woman Sketching In A Glade, 1900

Winter weather, 1900

Garden at Kilmurry, County Kilkenny, 1901

Shades of Evening, 1904

Across the bay, Tramore, Waterford, June 1918

Winter scene, 1918

On a Midsummer day, 1925

A Country house and gardens, Kilmurry House

A Murder of Crows

Chasing the Treat (ThreeDucks)

Daily Toil

Flowers

Garden Poppies

Harvesting

Hollyhocks

Lilac-Time In Cassington Vicarage Garden

Ploughing

Poppies

Procession through the Bluebells

Rear of Kilmurry house, County Kilkenny

Sidecars, Phoenix Park

The Boot Boy

View of a garden