irises in bloom by elvic Steele
pastel on fine light paper.
Size...500mm x 400mm
unframed.
elvic Steele ( 1920- 1997 ) had a lifelong passion for nature. the way in which she interepreted plants in her art and her attention to detail illustrates her in depth knowledge of nature and botany which was derived from her love of the countryside and gardening.
in 1946 elvic Steele enrolled in the east anglian school of painting and drawing at benton end in suffolk, run by sir cedric morris. it was in the tranquility of morris' delightful garden at benton end that she found a great deal of her inspiration and continued studying and painting there until the 1970's. Of her work, Cedric Morris said: "She is an excellent draughts woman and colourist, both in her portraiture and still life painting."
cedric morris was a notable iris breeder, many of his 90 or so introductions have been lost, it is likely that the blooms in this rendering by elvic Steele are a representation of one of those lost introductions drawn from life.
