Mabel Royds (Art Angels)

Mabel Royds (1874 - 1941)

Mabel Royds grew up in Liverpool. after some time at the Royal Academy, Mabel studied art at the Slade School in London followed by some time in Paris working with the English painter Walter Sickert. She later moved to Canada where she taught at the Havergal College in Toronto. On returning to Britain she taught at the Edinburgh College of Art, then under the directorship of Frank Morley Fletcher. Under Fletcher's influence Mabel took to making colour woodcuts. In 1913 she married the etcher, Ernest Lumsden, who also taught at Edinburgh, and together they travelled through Europe, the Middle East and India. She is best known for her colourful woodcuts of flowers, along with Biblical and Indian scenes, influenced stongly by Japanese woodcuts. Her most popular works include the Knife Grinders, Housetops, and the Boat Builders, all scenes of India created in around 1920-1930.