Gerald Kelly

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Not to be confused with the Scottish actor Gerard Kelly.

Sir Gerald Festus Kelly PRA (9 April 1879 – 5 January 1972) was a British painter best known for his portraits.

Life and work

Sir Gerald Festus Kelly's English Heritage blue plaque in London

Gerald Kelly was born in London, educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge,^[1] and later lived and studied art in Paris.^[2] James McNeill Whistler was an early influence. Kelly travelled much, visiting Spain, America, South Africa and Burma.

In 1920 he married Lilian Ryan, who became his model for a celebrated series of portraits. These were exhibited under the title Jane, followed by a roman numeral that corresponded to the year of exhibition.^[3] Other sitters included T. S. Eliot, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Somerset Maugham, whom he painted eighteeen times.^[4]

Maugham, a lifelong friend of Kelly, wrote an introduction to a catalogue (1950) of an exhibition of Kelly's work. Maugham regularly portrayed Kelly in his works, as Lionel Hillier in Cakes and Ale, as Frederick Lawson in Of Human Bondage and as O'Malley in His Excellency presenting him as "the young Irish painter called O'Malley", and dedicating Ashenden to him.^[5]

He became a favourite painter of the Royal Family. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1930, was the Academy's keeper 1943-45 and President, 1949-54. Kelly held a number of official positions, such as his membership of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, 1938–43, and was knighted in 1945. The artist John Napper worked as his assistant.^[2] In 1950 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding Academician.

Kelly died in Exmouth in 1972. He is represented in many public collections, including the Tate Gallery, which holds seven works.

His father was the Rev. Frederic Festus Kelly. His grandfather, also named Frederic Festus Kelly, was the founder of Kelly's Directories Ltd.. His sister, Rose Edith Kelly, was briefly married to Aleister Crowley.

Notes

↑ "Kelly, Gerald Festus (KLY897GF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ 2.0 2.1 Sir Gerald Festus KellyPortfolio at Liss Fine Art
↑ Postle and Vaughan, 1999, p. 104.
↑ Hudson, Derek, 1975, p. 31.
↑ Rintoul, M. C. (1993). Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. United Kingdom: Routledge. p. 560. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/04150599920 |04150599920 [[Category:Articles with invalid ISBNs]]]] Check |isbn= value (help).

References

Hudson, Derek (1975). For Love of Painting
Postle, Martin; Vaughan, William (1999). The Artist's Model from Etty to Spencer. London: Merrell Holberton. ISBN 1-85894-084-2

External links

Cultural offices
Preceded by Sir Alfred Munnings	President of the Royal Academy 1949–1954	Succeeded by Albert Richardson

Authority control	VIAF: 37189671 ISNI: 0000 0001 1055 3774 BNF: cb149710108

Persondata
Name	Kelly, Gerald Festus
Alternative names
Short description	British painter
Date of birth	9 April 1879
Place of birth
Date of death	5 January 1972
Place of death

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