We are seeking more information about the author of the fascinating book "Race of Green Ginger," by Anne Averil Mackenzie-Grieves, who lived on Gulangyu in the 1920s. If you have any information on her, please share it with us!
Best regards, Dr. Bill
Born in 1903
into a wealthy and distinguished family near Uckfield, Sussex, she grew up
mainly in Castle Hill House, Torrington, Devon. Her private tutor,
Francis James, was a flower painter and inspired her interest in art,
and after the death of her father in 1918 she went to Florence to study at
Marfori Savini's studio.
Accompanied
by her mother, she returned to England as Fascism took hold in Italy, settling
in St Ives where her interest in book illustration developed into wood
engraving. At the 1924 Show Day in St Ives she was noticed for her 'very
effective' wood engraving entitled The New Italy, showing Mussolini
reviewing his troops. Having hoped to study under Alfred HARTLEY - his health at this
time making it impossible - she attended the Walter SIMPSON School
for a short time, but afterwards remarked "it was not the tuition I
needed".
Primarily
a wood engraver and author, she also exhibited illuminated work with fine
lettering and decorative wooden boxes. In 1925 she married Cyril Drummond le
Gros Clark in St Ives, and they travelled on postings to China and Sarawak. She
exhibited in the 1928 Summer Exhibition at NAG under
her married name Le Gros Clark, and showed three works: Rice Fields, The
Poet Chu Yuan and Schloss Tauffers: Tyrol. Returning from
the Far East in 1936, she continued to travel extensively, devoting more time
to writing than art. Her husband was killed in a Japanese prisoner of war camp
in WWII. She later married John Keevil, the medical historian.
l Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com
No comments:
Post a Comment