Edward Reginald Frampton (1872-1923)
Saint Cecilia
John Byam Liston Shaw (1872-1919)
Mrs Paul Konody
Pastel; signed and dated 1904
31 ½ x 12 ½ inches
Provenance
The sitter, and thence by descent
Exhibitions
The Pastel Society, 1904
Literature
"Mr Byam Shaw sends two portraits, one of Mrs Paul Konody, the red of whose lips is carried out in the coral-red which edges her white dress, in the fresher red of the bow in her dark hair, seen against a greenish wall" (London Daily News, 26 Jan 1904, p 5)
"Mr Byam Shaw has been as fearless and original in his portrait head of a man of Science with the stethoscope as, in a later room and in a better place, he has been agreeable with esprit in his vision of the grace of Mrs Konody" (London Evening Standard, 23 Jan 1904, p 3)
"Mr Byam Shaw exhibits small portraits of 'Mrs Paul Konody' and 'T E Paul, Esq, MD' which display his wonted care in the accurate interpretation of detail" (Morning Post, 23 Jan 1904, p 4)
This pastel is of Isabel Codrington, an accomplished painter, and Byam Shaw's sister in law. She had great success, winning medals, exhibiting widely and holding solo exhibitions at the Rembrandt Gallery. Isabel was first married to the art critic Paul Konody. His portrait hangs on the wall behind her, alongside another portrait of their infant daughter Pauline to the right.
The year this was exhibited, 1904, was the year that Shaw began to teach at the Women's Department of King's College London. In 1910, with Rex Vicat Cole, he founded a school of art that became known simply as the 'Byam Shaw.' Evelyn Shaw had an active role in the new school, teaching miniature painintg, and they both had had a long association with Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, who taught at the new school.
