This family photograph, probably taken in the late 1880’s when the family was living in Freiburg shows all the children gathered round their parents – Thomas and Emilie Waddington. Vera, the youngest is sitting on the floor. Going round from left to right: Ethel Waddington (1871 – 1933) married a young doctor Robert Moon, who fought in… Read More
It is important to locate Vera Waddington’s approach to her artistic work within the broader context of artistic developments emerging in her early professional career. Where does she stand in the ‘crisis of brilliance’ a term coined by her mentor Henry Tonks, the formidable lecturer in drawing and later Professor of Fine Art at the… Read More
In 1909 Vera travelled with her father and sisters Mabel and Daisy to China via the Trans Siberian railway, taking a month and a day to reach Shanghai, home to Vera’s sister Daisy and her husband Duncan McNeil. In China she drew and painted in different media a series of scenes and people taken from… Read More
In 1916, whilst herself practising as a masseuse, (physiotherapist) in London hospitals Vera produced, wrote and illustrated a massage training book. What Every Masseuse should know was published by Methuen in 1917 and was positively reviewed in The Spectator: ‘It is not often that one comes across a handbook with such pretty pictures in it… Read More
Vera learnt the art of wood engraving in the late 1920’s from Eric Fitch Daglish. Daglish was a naturalist and wood engraver who lived not far from Vera in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns. He specialised in plants, birds and animals and illustrated many of his own books. Vera also specialised in nature. She printed her engravings… Read More