Helen Mackenzie (1888–1966) - Painted Panels For Country Cottage

A very decorative pair of oil on board paintings by the noted Scottish female artist Helen Margaret MacKenzie (1888–1966). The overall style of the pictures is pure Regency Art Deco , represented by the bold stylised flowers and trees, and the lithe, elongated limbs of the figures. There are similarities in these paintings to the works of French artists such as Georges Lepape (1887–1979) and Jean Dupas (1882–1964), who were synonymous with the stylised 'graphic look' of the 1920s. These two panels capture the flavour of the period, but there is however an additional 'folk art' charm to them which sets them apart and makes them more engaging.

The panels are annotated to the reverse - 'Decorative panels for Country Cottage' and 'No. 1 The Gardener's Daughter' and 'No. 2 The Squire's Son' respectively. There are also the remnants of exhibition labels, on which can just be seen parts of the artist's SW3 Chelsea address in London.

Helen Margaret MacKenzie was a painter and designer born in Elgin Scotland in 1888. She studied at the Royal College of Art, studying under Gerald Moira, and gained her diploma in 1905. In 1915 she married the painter Herbert Ashwin Budd (1881–1950), who she had met at the RCA. Herbert used Helen as a model in many of his paintings. She was a well-recognised artist in her own right, having exhibited at various important venues of the time, including the Royal Academy (RA), Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI), Walker Art Gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery, Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP), Society of Women Artists (SWA), Chenil Gallery, Coooling Galleries, and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI). She was an elected member of the SWA and the ROI in 1923. Her work is held in many gallery collections around the world. The V&A holds a fabric sample she designed in 1926 entitled 'An Old Garden', for Tootal, Broadhurst, Lee Co. Ltd. This pair of painted panels were most likely executed around the same period.