Artist Information
Artist
Emily Sartain (1903-1990)Role
PainterDate made
1961Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Born in Oxfordshire, England, Emily Sartain was a British, later Canadian artist, a painter of wild flowers known as the “Audubon of the Flowers”. With a natural talent, Sartain started painting when she was six. She studied at the famous Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Lindley Library where she viewed the works of artists including Redoubté, Dürer and Audubon. She chose to specialize in flower portraits in a botanical style, although she occasionally painted animals and fantasy landscapes. In 1931, she decided to become a professional artist,
and she supported herself solely from the sale of her art for some 60 years.
Sartain achieved early success with the purchase of a work by Her Majesty Queen Mary in 1932. This royal recognition launched her career, and she was elected Fellow of the RHS in 1932, and she also worked on assignment with the Society. Visiting her sister in Vancouver in 1939, she was unable to return home with the onset of World War II, and she decided to stay and become a Canadian citizen.
Later moving to Victoria, she continued her painting and exhibitions, and as a conservationist worked to preserve the many unique wildflowers growing on Vancouver Island and elsewhere in Canada. Sartain was a traditional watercolourist who painted her floral portraits with a delicacy and accuracy few painters could duplicate. She was also prolific, reported to have produced 5,000 watercolours of various sizes, mostly on a commission basis. As her recognition at home and internationally increased, paintings were purchased by the British Columbia government and others to be offered as gifts to royalty and others. Sartain was a member of of the Island Arts and Crafts Society and the Victoria Sketch Club.
