Kathleen Bridle

Kathleen Mabel Bridle ARUA (19 November 1897 – 25 May 1989) was a British artist and teacher. She influenced Northern Irish artists such as William Scott and T.P. Flanagan.

Early life and education Kathleen Bridle was born at Swalecliffe in Kent on 19 November 1897. She was the middle child of the three daughters of an Irish lieutenant and coastguard, James Bridle, and a school teacher Janet Bridle (née Flower). Owing to her father's occupation, the family moved many times, living at Gravesend and Winterton-on-Sea before finally settling in Holyhead in 1913. Due to this the Bridle children were educated at home by their mother, but also at nearby schools. In 1910, Bridle attended a private school in Ramsgate, where her artistic talent was recognised. Bridle enrolled at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (DMSA) in 1915, moving in with her aunt in uncle at 60 Upper Rathmines Road. She won a teacher-training scholarship in 1917, which funded her remaining four years at the School. Bridle won a prize for pictorial design in 1917, and completed the certificate course in art by 1918. Bridle was awarded the Taylor scholarship in 1920, for her work based on the Greek myth Leda and the Swan. The scholarship allowed her to attend the Royal College of Art (RCA), London in 1921. Whilst there she became good friends with John Hunter, who gave her the nickname "Pindi", a name she kept for life.

Bridle's first exhibited piece with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) was the painting The Checkered Cloth in 1921, with her continuing to show with the RHA until 1939. The Mermaid, her enamel plaque which was completed under the guidance of Percy Oswald Reeves, was first shown at the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland exhibition in 1921, then at the Galeries Barbazanges, Paris in 1922, and finally won first prize in its section at the Tailteann Games of 1924. At an exhibition of paintings by Dublin students in 1922, Bridle sold five landscapes. In 1923 Bridle received her teacher's diploma and a continuation scholarship. While still in London and attending the RCA, Bridle taught classes at night at the Elephant and Castle School of Art from 1924 to 1925. She won the George Clausen prize at the RCA for her 1924 portrait of Norah McGuinness.

Bridle was one of the founders of the Ulster Unit in 1934, and was featured in their inaugural exhibition. She was a regular exhibitor with the Ulster Academy of Arts from 1931 to 1949, being elected an associate in 1935 and an honorary member in 1962. In 1936 she held an exhibition at John Magee's gallery in Belfast entitled Paintings of Fermanagh, Donegal, and Sligo, which included works such as Donegal Town (1936). During a visit to Italy in 1937, Bridle studied the frescoes of Giotto at the Arena chapel, Padua. She was amongst the artists featured in the touring exhibition of living Irish artists in 1943 to 1944, which was organised by the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, exhibiting with them until 1953.