Mabel Alington Royds

Mabel Allington Royds (1874–1941) was an English artist best known for her woodcuts.

Life She grew up in Liverpool. At age fifteen, Royds was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy in London but instead decided on the Slade School, where she studied under the tutelage of Henry Tonks. Royds moved to Paris, where she trained with the painter and printmaker Walter Sickert. She then went to Canada where she taught for several years at the Havergal College in Toronto. In 1921 Royds exhibited at the newly-formed Society of Graphic Art in London.

Woodcuts Upon her arrival to the Edinburgh College of Art under the tutelage of Frank Morley Fletcher, Royds began creating colour woodcuts. Fletcher taught classes on the traditional Japanese ukiyo-e printmaking process, but rather than having three people collaborate on a print (artist, artisan, printer), he taught the artists how to manage all three stages independently.

Despite the inspirations from Royds’s extensive travel through other countries, she also enjoyed depicting the simple things that surrounded her home: children growing up, neighbourhood animals, and flowers in bloom. By the 1930s, Royds found a new subject in the many varieties of flowers depicted in dazzling colours made with powdered color ground and a ready-made bought medium, rather than the traditional Japanese rice flour paste. Between the years of 1933 and 1938, Royds created a vibrant and lively flower series – using contrasting colors and hard lines to guide the viewer’s eyes through the composition. Whether at home or abroad, Royds’s subjects are derived from the often overlooked moments of everyday life.

List of works Honeysuckle, c. 1936, colour woodcut on paper. White Lilies, exh. 1937, colour woodcut on paper. Water Carriers, Benares, c. 1920, colour woodcut on paper. Choir Boys (Xmas Greeting1898), 1898, woodcut on paper. Cat with T Square and Shield (cut from a theatre programme), unknown, woodcut on paper. Christmas Morning (or The Stocking), unknown, colour woodcut on paper. Little Girl with Bowl of Fruit (or Marjorie), unknown, colour woodcut on paper. Cyclamen, exh. 1933, colour woodcut on paper. Water Lilies, c. 1938, colour woodcut on paper. Trees on a Slope, unknown, colour woodcut on paper. Magnolia, c. 1936, colour woodcut on paper. Tiger Lilies, exh. 1936, colour woodcut on paper. Artichoke, c. 1935, colour woodcut on paper. The Red Mug, exh. 1934, colour woodcut on paper. Red Daisies, c. 1936, colour woodcut on paper. Snowdrops, c. 1935, colour woodcut on paper. Foxgloves, c. 1934, colour woodcut on paper. Prickly Pear Cactus, c. 1924, colour woodcut on paper. Dead Tulips, c. 1934, colour woodcut on paper. House-top, c. 1924, colour woodcut on paper. Goat Herd, c. 1920, colour woodcut on paper. The Waterfall, c. 1938, colour woodcut on paper. Cineraria, exh. 1932, colour woodcut on paper. Columbines, c. 1935, colour woodcut on paper. Bathers, Benares, c. 1922, colour woodcut on paper. Angels Appearing to Shepherds, c. 1938, colour woodcut on paper. Cactus Rocks, St. Abbs, c. 1938, colour woodcut on paper.