Alicia Boyle
, Irish, 1908-1997
Title
The Frail StudentDate1942
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
91.4 × 71.1 cm
Credit LinePresented, Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland, 2021
Object numberNGI.2021.15
DescriptionAlicia Boyle spent her childhood in County Derry and in London. As an adult she lived in London, Northampton, Bantry, and Dublin and also travelled widely in Europe. She studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art and was taught by F. Ernest Jackson who she greatly admired. Her first job was to paint a mural at Great Ormond Street Hospital. At the start of her career Alicia Boyle made commercial designs for posters and wrappings. She recalled, ‘I traipsed the streets of London with my folio to different publishing offices. I used to be shown the door because I was a woman and told again and again “We don't employ women”.’ She mainly supported herself by teaching. This work shows a young woman convalescing in a domestic interior. The walls are decorated with pictures and art postcards, including one of Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Armand Roulin. Boyle loved to sketch from life and she filled hundreds of sketchbooks with observational drawings. This painting presents an intimate glimpse into the lives of women during the war years. It remained in the artist’s collection until her death in 1997.ProvenancePresented, Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland, 2021