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Jessica Dismorr was an experimental force within twentieth century modernism in Britain. A frontrunner of British abstraction, a signatory of the radical Vorticist movement, and a politically engaged professional artist, Dismorr’s artistic imprint on British art is marked. This portrait, previously thought to depict Ann Ody, is of Dismorr’s great friend and fellow artist, Catherine Giles. It was likely painted a year before Giles welcomed Dismorr into her family home, where she continued to live until two years before her death.



Dismorr first met Giles in 1904 in Étaples, France, at the art school run by Max Bohm. Dismorr had recently left the Slade School of Art, which at the time permitted women to study from the life model, and Giles had recently left the Royal Academy Schools. Both women pursued their artistic careers at a time when middle- and upper-class parents were willing for their daughters to explore their talents on the condition and assumption that family duties...

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Jessica Dismorr was an experimental force within twentieth century modernism in Britain. A frontrunner of British abstraction, a signatory of the radical Vorticist movement, and a politically engaged professional artist, Dismorr’s artistic imprint on British art is marked. This portrait, previously thought to depict Ann Ody, is of Dismorr’s great friend and fellow artist, Catherine Giles. It was likely painted a year before Giles welcomed Dismorr into her family home, where she continued to live until two years before her death.



Dismorr first met Giles in 1904 in Étaples, France, at the art school run by Max Bohm. Dismorr had recently left the Slade School of Art, which at the time permitted women to study from the life model, and Giles had recently left the Royal Academy Schools. Both women pursued their artistic careers at a time when middle- and upper-class parents were willing for their daughters to explore their talents on the condition and assumption that family duties were prioritised.[1] Quentin Stevenson, author of the Fine Art Society exhibition catalogue Jessica Dismorr & Catherine Giles, reflects; ‘The attempt to pursue single-mindedly what would not be acknowledged as ‘work’ led almost inevitably to accusations of selfishness and even unwomanliness.’[2] The move from England to France at this time not only demonstrates both artists’ desires to immerse themselves in the modern European movements, particularly the Parisian art scene, but also their conviction to their respective artistic practises in place of domestic obligations. Giles and Dismorr became lifelong friends.

This portrait was likely painted in the early 1930s, when Dismorr was living with Giles in her home in Putney, London. At this date, Dismorr was painting in a figurative manner and her style – almost sculptural in its muted appearance - was evidently influenced by the modernist sculptors she exhibited with.[3] During this period, both women were exhibiting in London - Giles with the Roman Catholic Guild of Artists with the likes of Glyn Philpot and Eric Gill and Dismorr was exhibiting with groups such as The London Group.



After Dismorr’s death in 1939, Giles was distraught. In honour of her legacy, Giles preserved and transcribed Dismorr’s writing which has assisted in rightfully readdressing the work of a woman who was written out of the history books.

Experimental in nature, Dismorr participated in sundry key art movements throughout her lifetime. After studying in Étaples, in c.1910 Dismorr enrolled in the Academie de la Palette, Paris and studied under the Scottish Colourist J. D. Fergusson. Fergusson’s influence is evident in Dismorr’s early work, particularly in her landscapes and cityscapes which are contoured with bold, linear outlines. In Paris, Dismorr joined the Rhythm movement and illustrated their 1911 magazine. She has perhaps become best known through her association with Vorticism, whose members included Wyndham Lewis, Helen Saunders, Cuthbert Hamilton, Ezra Pound, William Roberts, Frederik Etchells, and Edward Wadsworth.

[1] Stevenson, Q. (2000) Jessica Dismorr & Catherine Giles. London: The Fine Art Society, p.23.

[2] Stevenson, Q. (2000) Jessica Dismorr & Catherine Giles. London: The Fine Art Society, p.23.

[3] Foster, A. (2019) Radical Women, Jessica Dismorr and her contemporaries. London: Lund Humphries, p.71.

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500 Years of British Art