EDGE, Helga Violet

1885 - 1976

Helga Violet Edge was born at Kensington, London on 14 December 1885 and baptised on 18 February 1886, youngest of the one son and four daughters of Sir John Edge (28 July 1841–30 July 1926), an Irish and English barrister, and his wife Laura Loughborough (10 May 1848-25 November 1936), youngest daughter of Thomas Loughborough, a solicitor, of Selwood Lodge, Tulse Hill, Surrey, who married at Holy Trinity Church, Tulse Hill, on 18 September 1867. Helga spent the early part of her life in India where her father was Chief Justice at Allahabad and then studied at Cheltenham College then, against her father's wishes, studied art, taking a job on a chicken farm to pay for art lessons. In 1911, a 25-year-old, living at The Banks, Robertsbridge, Battle, Sussex with her parents, 69-year-old Sir John and 62-year-old Laura and during the First World War served as a Red Cross Nurse and was sent to Egypt in 1917, where she filled many sketchbooks with views of Middle Eastern life. After the war, she continued her art training and was accepted at the Royal College of Art in South Kensington, after which she travelled extensively, practicing her craft and teaching art to art students. Helga and her widowed mother, moved to Stour House, Nayland, Suffolk, where her 88-year-old mother died on 25 November 1936. Helga exhibited at the Royal Academy and was a member and exhibitor from Stour House, at the Ipswich Art Club 1929-1953, showing four watercolours in 1932 'Near Bures', 'Hoo Hill', 'Mount Bures' and 'September Evening' and two etched bookplates, in 1933 four items 'Mount Bures', 'September Evening' and two etched bookplates and in 1935 a watercolour 'Kersey', she also exhibited at Lankesheer's Gallery in Colchester, Essex 7-12 May 1928. In 1940, she was in lodgings at Cooperstown, Otsego, New York, the home of Margorie F. Murray, when she accepted an invitation to remain and teach painting to adults. Helga had a lengthy career teaching in the local Adult Education Programme and in five school districts in Otsego County, establishing her home and studio in the old Toddsville Schoolhouse. She was the author of 'Painting for You, Notes on Painting in Oils' (1954) and a second book, 'Painting for You, Book II, A Reference Book for the Artist', was published just before her death. In the mid-1960s, she founded the Brush and Palette Club, which held fine art exhibitions, ran a gallery during the summer and hosted an outdoor arts and crafts sales. Helga Violet Edge died at Otsego, New York in April 1976, she was unmarried. In 1981 a retrospective exhibition was mounted 'Helga V. Edge, Paintings & Prints' which was sponsored by the Delaware County Council on the Arts.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 31 Holland Park Road, London
1924 1129 A Bankside Warehouse - etching

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Works by This Artist