Peggy Somerville: An English Impressionist

by Stephen Reiss

Margaret Scott Somerville (1918-1975), better known as Peggy, was born into an artistic family and learnt to paint by watching the others at their work. From her earliest years she could converse in pictures as easily as she could speak - for her learning to read and write came later! Nobody interfered with her picture making or gave her a single lesson and while she constantly looked at other peoples' paintings, she never copied them. When asked how she composed her pictures she would simply say - see the picture in my mind and then just paint it?
Written in the firm belief that Peggy's achievements merit an even wider recognition and appreciation, the author, in close association with the artist's sister Rosemary, has gathered together an extensive and representative selection of her paintings (with over seventy reproduced here in colour), and a wealth of anecdotal commentary, previously unpublished family photographs and other archive material, the whole accompanied by a sensitive, informative and highly readable text.

111 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1997