Myrtle Desmond Blair
A Canvas from Her Life in Hertford
Perspective by Thomas L Blair
© All rights reserved
A Canvas from Her Life in Hertford spans a dazzlingly diverse set of works by long time resident and artist, the African-American Myrtle Desmond Blair, 1927-2017.
Family Roots and Art Education
The first of 11 children, Myrtle was born March 9th 1927 in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was raised in the centuries-old town of Savoy in the forested Berkshire Hills Massachusetts.
Growing up Myrtle loved to draw the greetings cards andsnow scenes for family song fests on Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. And with the encouragement of her mother, teachers and a circle of friends, teenage Myrtle put an art career at the centre of her life aspirations.
Myrtle studied at the Vesper George School of Art, Boston and later with Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League, New York. With me in tow she taught art in Texas and in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. In all, she gained a considerable reputation for life drawing and graphic design
Blooming in Hertford
Blithe was our settling in England. Myrtle expressed her art and ideals in the tranquility of a ten centuries old market town. We had settled there with our four daughters in 1973. I had a professorship in a London college and the North Road British Rail line could whisk her away on day trips to the capital’s famous and avant garde galleries and museums.
As I recall, it was the themes of English life that shaped Myrtle’s interest. She honed her artistic skills in the village-like pockets of gentility on West Street by the gentle River Lea. Her floral sketches and waterside scenes reflected the town’s growing confidence as a cultural centre.
At first sight a painter of domestic subjects, her colour-drenched flowers would not be out of place in your living room. Outdoors her cows graze peacefully in the flood plains, a living part of the townscape.
Black crayon is her favourite medium when she draws nudes and interior figures. And her children’s book illustrations and occasional cards remind us of happy story-telling bed times and festive dinners with old friends.
Through her teaching, aspiring neophytes found new ways to express themselves. An avid volunteer at the Hertford Museum’s Six Contemporary Local Artists exhibitions, “she helped beginners, mature and A-level students build their portfolios”.
Ever mindful of her children’s future, Myrtle quickly gained a network of friendships with residents, artists, music teachers and schools. She was a leading member of the local residents’ association and of the Hertford Civic Society. She helped neighbours safeguard West Street, the old Roman road on which we lived. She joined the county ladies at tea and belonged to the nearby Welwyn Garden City Decoration and Fine Arts Society
Soon, Myrtle gained awards, patrons and recognition. She exhibited with acclaimed English artists and water colourists Trevor Chamberlain and Julie Harrison. Admirers placed our co-written booklet Hertford Sketches (2016) in the town library, tourist information office, and museum.
In her most productive years, from 1980 to 1995 Myrtle created harmonious watercolours. These included grazing cows in the flood plain behind the house; a neighbour’s garden stairs; the shimmering leaves on a nearby tree. Indoors she displayed her versatile talents in her portraits, nudes and sketches. Moreover, her cheery children’s book illustrations and Christmas cards showed her caring spirit.
Afterword
Seeing Myrtle’s canvas from her life in Hertford through more than 30 of her works has drawn me closer to the themes that distinguish her work.
She liked painting outdoors, making as it were portraits of light and colour. In the studio her life drawings, portraits and sketches were quickly composed with effective use of gouache, charcoal, ink and watercolours. Many of her paintings sparkle through sparing touches of colour. She combines eye catching spontaneity and fun in her occasional cards.
Furthermore, her style and relevance raises lofty questions of art and circumstance. How does the artist assist people’s appreciation of self and community? Can the arts promote life-enhancing cultural and social activities? Indeed, what links artistic expression and social progress?
In her advancing years, Myrtle had rich memories of close friendships with local water colourists Trevor Chamberlain and Julie Harrison. Her international reach crossed boundaries – artistic, ethnic and political. In all her works Myrtle displayed an artist’s right and obligation to organize, even rework the real and not just match and polish up the visible. Therefore, Myrtle’s work not only informs us but has wider appeal.
Acknowledgements
A Canvas from Her Life in Hertford celebrates the art of Myrtle Desmond Blair. Our Blair family daughters Lucille, Katharine, Gage, Ellen and I have been extremely blessed to have lived with her so many years, in so many different places. Special thanks to the Desmond family in America for their insights into Myrtle’s early life. And I am grateful to Clare Smith of Hertford whose sensitive photographs of her works helped me to see Myrtle more clearly.
Thomas L Blair,
Braziers Field
Hertford, England
December 2019
Notice
Myrtle Desmond Blair
Born: March 9th, 1927, Greenwich, Connecticut, United States.
Died: April 13th, 2017, Hertford, England. Laid to Rest in the Garden of Remembrance, All Saints’ Church, Hertford, England
A professional artist and generous supporter of artistic, educational and popular causes.
Bibliography and online references
Herts Memories, gateway to Hertfordshire’s community archive network – https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/people/artists-and- illustrators/the_blair_family-2
Hertford Sketches supports town art and tourism, paintings of Myrtle Desmond Blair and Photographs by Thomas L Blair – 16 pp booklet, and online at https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/people/local-folk/the-blair- family-of-hertford/hertford-sketches-supports-town-art-tourism
Myrtle Desmond Blair obit
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jun/18/myrtle-blair-obituary
Hertfordshire Mercury online – https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/tributes-paid- to-american-artist-myrtle-blair-who-lived-in-hertford-for-40-years/story-30297951- detail/story.html
Honours
Entered by the National Museum of Women in Art, Washington, DC into the World Catalogue https://www.worldcat.org/title/myrtle-desmond-blair-artist- file/oclc/995850847&referer=brief_results