Alice Essington Nelson
Alice Essington Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1846 Cheltenham, England |
| Died | 1921 (aged 74–75) Hove, England |
| Known for | Abstract painting |
| Movement | Abstract |
| Spouse | William Essington Nelson |
Alice Essington Nelson (1846–1921) was a British artist whose later work reflected her interest in spiritualism.
Early life
Essington Nelson was born in 1846 in Cheltenham in the English county of Gloucestershire. Developing an interest in landscape painting, she joined the Society of Female Artists, later the Society of Women Artists, which was normal for those women who had studied fine arts. At this time, she was a relatively unknown artist.[1]
Spiritualism
In 1889 she became a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which had been founded seven years earlier. She then joined the London Spiritualist Alliance, whose members would include Alfred Russel Wallace and Arthur Conan Doyle. The reasons why she joined these two bodies are unclear. Both gave women a status equal to that of men, but an alternative explanation is that her baby son had died and that her husband, William Essington Nelson, died shortly after she gave birth to a girl, so she may have been seeking solace in spiritualism. Her husband was a music teacher who taught at the Fulneck Moravian Settlement near Leeds. It is probable that she found in abstract art a means of expressing her belief in the beyond.[1]
Artistic works
Only one piece of work by Essington Nelson is known to have survived, but that has been recently exhibited. Inspired by the artist and spiritualist, Georgiana Houghton, and others, she used geometric shapes and colours to convey a spiritual meaning. The work, Shewing the Influence of Osiris, involves the use of spirals, the spiral being a sacred symbol often associated with cosmic evolution. Osiris was the Egyptian god of the afterlife. Essington Nelson said that the process of producing the work was guided by her parapsychic powers. According to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, although she was ignored by artistic circles for many decades, it is now time to give her a deserved place in the history of art.[1][2]
World War One
During World War I, Essington Nelson helped to run Lady Gifford's home for nurses in Boulogne, France. This was for the convalescence of nurses near the front line who often experienced considerable trauma as a result of treating soldiers with severe injuries.[3][4]
Exhibitions
Shewing the Influence of Osiris was exhibited at Elles font l'abstraction. Une autre histoire de l'abstraction au XXe siècle, which was an exhibition of 20th-century abstract art created by women artists, first shown in 2021 at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and later at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Her work also featured in The Medium is the Message, an exhibition organised by the College of Psychic Studies at the end of 2025.[5][6][7]
Death
Essington-Nelson died in Hove, East Sussex in England in 1921. Shewing the Influence of Osiris is held by the College of Psychic Studies in London.[1][8]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Roberts, Vivienne. "Alice Essington Nelson". Guggenheim. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Arte abstracto". Mireia Patiño Coll. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Noakes, Lucy. "Women's Mobilization for War (Great Britain and Ireland)". International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Potter, Jane. ""These frightful sights would work havoc with one's brain": Subjective Experience, Trauma, and Resilience in First World War Writings by Medical Personnel". Academia.edu. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Elles font l'abstraction/Women in Abstraction, by Christine Macel and Laure Chavelot". From the Heart of Europe. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Women in abstraction. Another History of abstraction in the 20th century". AWARE. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "EXHIBITION: The Medium is the Message (9 October 2025–31 January 2026)". British Association for Victorian Studies. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "From the College's art collection: Shewing the influence of Osiris, 1895 by Alice Essington Nelson (1846–1921)". The College of Psychic Studies. Retrieved 15 May 2026.