Kathleen Guthrie 1905 - 1981

Painter in oil and opaque watercolour, silkscreen printer, textile designer and mural painter. Writer of children's books. Born in Feitham, Middlesex. Studied at the Slade School under Henry Tonks and at the Royal Academy Schools. Married the artist Robin Guthrie in 1927 and after divorce the Constructivist painter Cecil Stephenson in 1941. Early work is signed K Maltby, her maiden name. At the Slade was influenced by Stanley Spencer's The Nativity, then in the late 19205 by the French Impressionists and her husband's more conventional, Augustus John-like style. With Robin Guthrie went to Boston in 1931 for two years, where he was invited with Rodney Burn to become a co-director of the School of Fine Art. One-man show by Kathleen Guthrie, of figure paintings and landscapes, at Boston's Stace Home Gallery, in 1932. Her style was further modified when she married Stephenson and associated with the avant-garde of Hampstead. Completed a mural for a local welfare centre. In 1948 had one-man show at Wolf Mankowitz's Little Gallery, in 1951 at the Crane Gallery in Manchester. Began to move from pictures with a whimsical, poetic feeling towards pure abstracts. Retrospective at Drian Gallery in 1966. She illustrated successful children's books, The Magic Button and Magic Button to the Moon, which contain short poems by her. Lived in London.