Victoria Monkhouse

Victoria Monkhouse (1883-1970) was a British artist and illustrator, notable for her depictions of women working on the British Home Front during the First World War.

Biography

Monkhouse attended Cambridge University and, alongside her studies, she created a series of caricatures of university academics which the Cambridge University Magazine published during 1907.[1]

Following the establishment of the Imperial War Museum, IWM, during the First World War, a decision was made to record the contribution women were making to the war effort. Agnes Conway, the daughter of the honorary director-general of the IWM, was appointed to chair the Museum's new Women's Work Sub-Committee.[1] Conway appears to have known of Monkhouse's academic caricatures from her own time at Cambridge University.[2] Through a mutual acquaintance, Conway contacted Monkhouse and commissioned her, in May 1918, to produce a series of sketches and watercolours showing women working in jobs left vacant by men who were serving in the forces.[1] Monkhouse produced a series showing women working as bus conductors, drivers, window cleaners and in other previously exclusively male roles.[3][4]

After the War, Monkhouse exhibited in some group shows in the early 1920s but does not appear to have pursued a professional artistic career beyond that. The IWM regularly features Monkhouse's work in their exhibitions to favourable reviews.[5]

References
  1. Catherine Speck (2014). Beyond the Battlefield, Women Artists of Two World Wars. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978 178023 374 1.
  2. Kathleen Palmer (2011). Women War Artists. Tate Publishing/ Imperial War Museum. ISBN 978-1-85437-989-4.
  3. Amanda Mason (10 January 2018). "6 Stunning First World War Artworks by Women War Artists". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  4. Lucy Meretto Peterson (2018). The Women Who Inspired London Art, The Avico Sisters and Other Models of the Early 20th Century. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781526725257.
  5. Florence Waters (8 April 2011). "Women War Artists, Imperial War Museum, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
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