Cheffins
Lot 360
§ Hilda Elizabeth Kidman, ASWA (British, 1891-1980) Self portrait of the artist in her studio at Ramerick Manor, Hertfordshire signed 'H Kidman' (lower right); further signed and titled to the reverse oil on canvas 44 x 34cm (17 x 13in) Other Notes: Hilda Elizabeth Tomson, née Kidman was born into a farming family at Ramerick Manor, Hertfordshire (sometimes spelt Ramerwick). After studying at Frank Calderon’s School of Painting in Baker Street, London,she went to the Slade where she studied under Professor Henry Tonks. Amongst Hilda’s fellow students were some of the greatest names of modern British art, Dora Carrington, C.W.R Nevinson, Mark Gertler, Paul Nash and Augustus John. The notes she made in later life regarding the ‘rebellious bohemian’s’, gives an interesting insight into the group; ‘Dora Carrington was at the Slade when I was there, a simple girl from Bedford…Carrington was exceptional, about 5’5, hair ash-brown with golden lights, and eyes blue. She had her hair bobbed – and Gertler too. She was still the completely unspoiled girl. Garsington with its snobbery later turned her head – it was too much for her, and ended with her being housekeeper for Lytton Strachey…I remember AugustusJohn coming to the annual dance dressed in a navy blue jumper, playing a barrel organ with various Slade girl helping him. In 1914 kidman shared a studio with Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman. As well as admiring Dutch still live paintings, she was influenced by Ginner’s Post-Impressionist flower paintings and it was during this period that she produced some of her most original works. Her main career decision was to specialise in children’s portraiture which she often executed in the style of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Hilda’s most important commission as a society painter was for two portraits of the children of Michael Bowes-Lyons, 17th Earl of Strathmore and kinghorne.Hilda married Maynard Tomson in 1927 and had two children, Philippa and Susan. The 1936 February edition of ‘Woman’s Journal’, featured Philippa on its front cover. The portrait hung at the Royal Academy and caught the eye of Alfred Hitchcock who commissioned Hilda to paint his own daughter, Patricia. Philippa Maynard Romer, née Tomson, was educated at the Cambridge Technological College, Byam Shaw and the Royal Academy School (1949-1952). Philippa, like her mother, quickly established herself as a portrait painter and her reputation for producing charm and a character of likeness in her portraits, often resulted in Philippa painting two generations of the same family. This is evident in the twenty-five portraits she produced for the art collector, Iris Hughes, of Furnes Pelham Hall. Like her mother, Philippa also had one of her pictures reproduced in print when ‘Star of the old Gaiety’, was published in the Evening Standard on the 15th May 1953. The portrait depicted the actress and dancer, Miss Sylvia Grey on her 88th birthday. Philippa married Mark Romer in 1953 and It would seem only natural that one of their children would inherit the desire to paint and it was their daughter, Caroline Romer, who would become an eminent artist who still paints today. Three generations of women artists, who between them, spanned almost the entire 20th century. Oil on canvas which has good tension and is in plane. Slight stretcher bar marks have formed in the paint layer. The paint is in a good condition overall. There is a thin layer of yellowed varnish, the surface is slightly dusty. The painting is glazed, the frame is in a good condition.
