Amy Gladys Donovan

Daughter of an Officer in the Indian army, she spent the early years of her life in India. She received a strict upbringing and later, when the family moved to England, she met great resistance to her ambitions to become an artist, She eventually persuaded her parents to allow her to attend Art Schools in London. She attended the Salde School of Art where she came under the influence of many of the well known artists of the period. She was also interested in the work of impressionists and post-impressionists but her distinctive work was not well received by her family. She exhibited during the years 1936-1938 principally at the New English At Club, Royal society of British Artists and the Royal Cambrian Academy. She also held ambitions to become an illustrator and the etching on view are evidence of her skill in this field. However, pressure from her family eventually drove her to forsake the highly distinctive style of her early work and she spent the latter period of her working life painting portraits on commission. Amy Donovan, now in advanced years and with failing eyesight now lives in a retirement home. NB. It should be noted that for reasons unknown Amy Donovan signed "Donovan" and "O" Donovan"