Biography:
Mary Harriet Jellett, known as Mainie Jellett (1897, Dublin – 1944, Dublin) was an Irish painter whose Decoration (1923) was among the first abstract painting shown in Ireland when it was exhibited at the Society of Dublin Painters Group Show in 1923.
Mainie Jellett studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and under Walter Sickert at the Westminster Technical Institute in London. This work dates from that period.
Students at the Westminster school studying under the tutelage of Walter Sickert were often asked to paint models with unusual props. In other Jellet studies of this time the archway in the background is a recurring motif, as is the inclusion of other students at work within the composition.
