Helen Allingham, RWS

Helen Allingham is renowned for her watercolour images of cottages and gardens and was one of the most fêted Victorian female artists.

Helen Paterson was born in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, in September 1848, the eldest of seven children of a doctor. In Altrincham, Cheshire she was educated at the Unitarian school for girls, established by her maternal grandmother, Sarah Smith Herford. On her father’s death in 1862, the family moved to Birmingham to live with her paternal grandmother.

The artist studied at the Birmingham School of Design (1862-65), the Royal Female School of Art, Bloomsbury, London (1866-67), the Royal Academy Schools (1868-72) and the Slade School of Art (evening classes, 1872-74). In the spring of 1868, she visited Italy and, on her return to London she drew illustrations for Once a Week and other periodicals. This led in 1870 to a job as an artist on the staff of The Graphic.

In 1874, Helen Paterson started to exhibit at the Dudley Gallery and married the Irish poet, William Allingham (1824-1889) with whom she had three children. After her marriage she continued to produce occasional illustrations for The Cornhill magazine and other periodicals and books. John Ruskin became a great admirer of her work. She was elected an Associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1875 and a full member in 1890 when women were first admitted. (In 1881, the society had become the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours.)

From 1881, Helen Allingham lived at Sandhills, near Witley in Surrey and specialised increasingly in scenes of rural life. Her first two solo shows at the Fine Art Society followed ‘Surrey Cottages’ (1886) and ‘In the Country’ (1887). She died in Haslemere, Surrey in 1926.

Her work is represented in numerous public collections, including the British Museum, Burgh House & Hampstead Museum and the V&A.

Additional Information
British Museum