Mary Ellen Pollitt (; 9 August 18736 November 1962) was a Scottish painter working in oils and watercolour, creating landscape, still life, and travel subjects.
Pollitt trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and at the Yellow Door School of Art under Frank Spenlove-SpenloveRevue moderne des arts et de la vie, Vol. 26, No. 19, 15 October 1926, pp. 2–3 (Gallica/BnF, ark:/12148/bd6t58519633): article on "Mary-Morrisson Pollit" confirming training at "l'École des Beaux-Arts de Slade" and "l'atelier de la Porte Jaune de Spenlove"., and went on to exhibit at British and international venues. Peter McEwan's Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture records her training as being in London and Paris.McEwan, Peter J.M. Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1994, p. 464.
Early life Mary Ellen Morrison was born on 9 August 1873 in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, Scotland.Scotland, Modern and Civil Births 1855–2019 (ScotlandsPeople): Mary Ellen Morrison, born 9 August 1873, Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire. Father: Charles Morrison; Mother: Jane Green. Her father was the Reverend Charles Morrison MA (1828–1890), minister of Laurencekirk, who served as a military chaplain in India.Fife News, 27 December 1890, p. 5: "Death of a Relative of Dr. Bell, Founder of the Madras Schools": obituary of Rev. Charles Morrison, Laurencekirk. Her mother was Jane Green (1840–1879). Mary's brother was William Stalkartt Morrison (1876–1964).1881 England, Wales & Scotland Census: William S Morrison, son, Manse, Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire.Scotland Monumental Inscriptions, Fonab Cemetery, Moulin, Perthshire: William Stalkartt Morrison, Indian Civil Service (retired), 27.5.1876–14.1.1964.
In the 1901 census Mary Morrison is listed as "living on own means" in the household of Hugh Stalkartt in Dover, Kent,England and Wales Census 1901 (RG14, piece 18, p.27): Mary E. Morrison, age 27, single, "Living on own means", Dover, Kent. and in 1911 as a visitor at the household of Marmaduke William Stalkartt in Willesden, Middlesex.England and Wales Census 1911 (RG14, piece 29, p.1): Mary Ellen Morrison, age 33, visitor, Willesden, Brondesbury NW, Middlesex.
In the fourth quarter of 1913, she married Charles Stanley Pollitt (1888–1965)Robert Hall (dealer), description of Charles Stanley Pollitt, The Aeroplane, etching c. 1930, SKU 2088: "Charles Stanley Pollitt (1888–1965), painter and printmaker." Christie's, British Art: Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art, London, 11 December 2018, Lot 136: William Holman Hunt, Kings carousing; and The Beggar Maid, provenance: "by descent to his daughter, Gladys Joseph, by whom given to Charles Stanley Pollitt, the artist's studio assistant, in 1947, and by descent to Diana Coelho, in 1965," https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6184692. at Chelsea, London.England and Wales Marriages 1837–2005 (General Register Office): Mary E. Morrison married Charles S. Pollitt, Chelsea, London, Q4 1913, Vol. 1A, p.897.
Early career: London and Italy Pollitt's 1916 Royal Academy work was an oil titled A god and some flowers. The exhibition catalogue lists her name as "Morrison, M. (Miss)" and her address at Via Giovanni Prati 23, Florence. Her husband was also in this exhibition, with his entry in the catalogue giving a Cook and Son forwarding address in Florence.Royal Academy of Arts, The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts MCMXVI (1916), p. 25, Gallery VI, entry 631, and address index. The 1926 Revue moderne article lists her exhibition history at that date as the Royal Academy, the Walker Gallery, and, in Italy, the Biennale of Milan and Padua.Revue moderne des arts et de la vie, 15 October 1926.
In May 1925 she exhibited a painting at the II Mostra Internazionale dell'Acquerello at the Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, listed as "Maria Pollitt Morrison". Her former teacher Spenlove-Spenlove exhibited in the same show.De Sabbata, Massimo. Art Exhibitions in Milan in the 1920s. Turin/London/Venice/New York: Allemandi, 2013. In the following year "Mary Pollitt Morrison" exhibited a watercolour, La Chiesa (The Church) in the Open International Section (Mostra Internazionale) of the 15th Venice Biennale (Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia),Archivio Storico delle Arti Contemporanee (ASAC), La Biennale di Venezia: person record for Mary Pollitt Morrison, section Mostra Internazionale, work La Chiesa, XV Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, 1926. Catalogue: 15. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della città di Venezia: catalogo, 4th ed., Venice, 1926. and in early 1927 she exhibited three works at the Mostra primaverile (Spring Exhibition) at the Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, listed as "Mary Morrison Pollitt".De Sabbata (2013).
Edinburgh career (1931–1954) Pollitt had a professional studio at 50 Queen Street, Edinburgh New Town, from at least 1935 to 1956.Scottish Valuation Roll 1935 (VR010000739): "Miss Mary E. Pollitt, Occupier, Studio 50 Queen Street, Edinburgh". Scottish Valuation Roll 1940 (VR010000859): same, as Tenant. Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1956–57: "Pollitt, E. Mary, Studio, 50 Queen Street". She was a Council member of the Scottish Society of Women Artists from at least 1936, re-elected in 1941, and was elected Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists in November 1938.The Scotsman, 9 May 1936, p. 18 (SSWA AGM: "Mrs Pollitt" named as council member unable to attend); The Scotsman, 30 April 1941, p. 3 (SSWA AGM: re-elected to Council, Fine Art section).The Scotsman, 23 November 1938, p. 13 (SSA Professional Membership notice). Peter McEwan's Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture (1994) records 21 appearances at the Royal Scottish Academy, 17 at the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, 20 at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, five at the Aberdeen Artists' Society, and two at the Society of Women Artists, London.McEwan (1994).
Across her career, Pollitt had more than 90 documented exhibition appearances.McEwan (1994); The Scotsman, 9 May 1936, p. 18; Glasgow Herald, 30 October 1931, p. 6: "Women Artists; Exhibition in Edinburgh"; Edinburgh Evening News, 6 October 1932, p. 9; The Scotsman, 11 October 1935, p. 13; The Scotsman, 11 October 1941, p. 7; The Scotsman, 10 January 1945, p. 3: "Glasgow Fine Arts Institute: More Pictures Sold"; Walker's Monthly, May 1938, pp. 3–4. At her 1934 appearance at the Outlook Club the reviewer noted her range and versatility across oils, watercolours, and crayon.The Scotsman, 14 March 1934, p. 9. Penguins, which appeared at her solo show at Walker's Galleries in 1938, sold at the 1940 SSWA.The Scotsman, 2 February 1940, p. 6; The Scotsman, 17 February 1940, p. 7 (sales notice). She exhibited Air Warden, a wartime figure subject, at the 1941 SSA.The Scotsman, 11 October 1941, p. 7. Old Houses, Honfleur sold at the 1944–45 RGI winter exhibition, in a show that included works by Laura Knight, Joan Eardley, and William MacTaggart.The Scotsman, 10 January 1945, p. 3: "Glasgow Fine Arts Institute: More Pictures Sold". Her Elgin Cathedral interior at the 1945 RSW was praised as 'a refreshing change'.Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express, 3 February 1945, p. 1: "Pictures at Edinburgh Exhibition".
From 5 to 18 May 1938, Pollitt held a solo commercial exhibition titled Morocco, Germany, France & Scotland at Walker's Galleries, 118 New Bond Street, London.Daily Telegraph, classified advertisements: 5 May 1938, p. 12; 12 May 1938, p. 12; 17 May 1938, p. 12. The Observer, 8 May 1938, p. 32. The exhibition's reviewer described her as "a constant exhibitor at the leading galleries".Walker's Monthly, May 1938, pp. 3–4: "Morocco and Elsewhere", reviewer M. B. Copy held at the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Other venues where Pollitt exhibited include the Edinburgh Outlook Club, where she was a regular exhibitor between 1932 and 1949,Edinburgh Evening News, 23 February 1932, p. 8; The Scotsman, 14 March 1934, p. 9; The Scotsman, 27 March 1935, p. 17; Edinburgh Evening News, 16 November 1937, p. 8; Edinburgh Evening News, 9 November 1938, p. 7; Edinburgh Evening News, 9 December 1946, p. 3; The Scotsman, 29 November 1949, p. 3. the Aberdeen Artists' Society,McEwan (1994). Paisley Art Institute,Paisley Daily Express, 13 March 1951, p. 2: "Paisley Art Exhibition Closes To-morrow; 29 Pictures Sold"; 15 March 1951, p. 3: "Close of Paisley Art Exhibition; 43 Pictures Sold". the Society of Women Artists, London,Edinburgh Evening News, 9 June 1950, p. 7. and a group exhibition with the Raeburn Studio Painters.The Scotsman, 18 February 1953, p. 5.
Critical reception The 1926 Revue moderne des arts et de la vie described her as une paysagiste vivement sensible (a keenly sensitive landscape painter) with a wide vision, a true sense of colour, and a rare delicacy of nuance; her Venice watercolours were praised as full of depth and relief.Revue moderne des arts et de la vie, Vol. 26, No. 19, 15 October 1926, pp. 2–3. Original French: "une paysagiste vivement sensible"; "une vision large, le sens de la couleur vraie, une délicatesse rare dans la nuance"; "pleines de profondeur et de relief". In 1963, the Scottish poet and critic Sydney Goodsir Smith, reviewing the posthumous exhibition in The Scotsman, described Pollitt as painting "in the old-fashioned, traditional water-colour style of the last century", a characterisation he offered "simply descriptively and not at all disparagingly".Smith, Sydney Goodsir. "Art in Scotland: At Gateway Gallery—Water-colours by Mary Pollitt". The Scotsman, 7 February 1963, p. 6.
Later life Pollitt's last known documented exhibition appearance was at the Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition in 1955.Billcliffe, Roger, comp. The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts 1861–1989: A Dictionary of Exhibitors at the Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Vol. 3 (L–P). Glasgow: The Woodend Press, 1992, p. 382.
A death register entry for Mary Ellen Pollitt, aged 89, records her death on 6 November 1962 at Currie, Midlothian.Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855–2019 (ScotlandsPeople): Mary Ellen Pollitt, died 6 November 1962, Currie, Midlothian, aged 89. Reference 682/27.
Posthumous exhibition A posthumous exhibition of 27 watercolours, described as "mostly landscape", was held at the Gateway Theatre Gallery, Edinburgh, opening in early February and running to 26 February 1963. Works were already selling by the time of Sydney Goodsir Smith's review in The Scotsman on 7 February.Smith, Sydney Goodsir. "Art in Scotland: At Gateway Gallery—Water-colours by Mary Pollitt". The Scotsman, 7 February 1963, p. 6.
References
Sources Baile de Laperrière, Charles (ed.). The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibitors 1826–1990. Calne: Hilmarton Manor Press, 1991. 4 vols. De Sabbata, Massimo. Art Exhibitions in Milan in the 1920s: From the Origins of the Twentieth Century to the First Trade Union Exhibitions (1920–1929). Turin/London/Venice/New York: Allemandi, 2013. . McEwan, Peter J. M. Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1994. (Available at Internet Archive.) Walker's Monthly, May 1938: "Morocco and Elsewhere". National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.