Margaret Wrightson
Margaret Justina Wrightson was a British artist, renowned for her work in sculpture.Biography
Margaret Wrightson was born at Norton Hall and her father was the politician Sir Thomas Wrightson. She never married, and had a studio and home in Bedford Gardens in London. Wrightson's younger sister, Jocelyn Wrightson, was a painter, mainly working in watercolours.
Wrightson first studied under William Blake Richmond at the Royal College of Art before travelling to Paris to learn from Édouard Lantéri. From 1901, Wrightson exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. She also exhibited with the Society of Women Artists and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
Wrightson received many commissions throughout her long career. Theresa, Marchioness of Londonderry, commissioned Wrightson to create a female nude which was completed in 1912 and sold at Christies in 2014 for £68,500. Wrightson created a sculpture of a woman titled ‘Mechanic, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps’ in 1917 that was later exhibited at the Royal Academy; the work had been suggested as a war memorial. In 1925 she created a 'Viking Warrior' for Walter Runciman. Wrightston's memorial of Admiral Earl Jellicoe stands in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Other public works include the figure of Saint George on the Cramlington war memorial in Northumberland, created in 1922, and a figure memorialising Charles Lamb, situated in the Inner Temple gardens, London.
Several of Wrightson's works are in the collection of National Trust's Mount Stewart, including the popular bronze of Lady Mairi as a child. The work was restored in 2012 after originally being commissioned in 1925, and erected in 1928.
Wrightson gained membership to the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1943. She was also a member of the Royal Academy.Works
