Cinderella Dressing Her Ugly Sister

Artist Wilhelmina Margaret Geddes (1887 - 1955)

Datec. 1910

MediumWatercolour and ink on paper

Dimensions25.7 x 15.3 cm

ClassificationsWatercolours

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated through the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland in memory of Sean Purser, 1964. © The Estate of Wilhelmina Geddes.

Object number1766

Description'Cinderella dressing her Ugly Sister' is a very early work by Geddes and the one, which launched her on her career as a stained glass artist. Not surprisingly, it caught the attention of Rosamund Praeger and Sarah Purser when exhibited in 1910 at the Arts and Crafts Society and led to her invitation to join An Túr Gloine where she worked until 1925 when she moved to London. It is therefore of significance in the development of 20th century stained glass. The simplification of line and form anticipates stained glass, as does the contrast in colour between the hard lemon yellow of the Ugly Sister's dress and the softer bottle green tones of Cinderella's skirt and the curtain. The heavily inked outlines suggest the lead lines of stained glass and Geddes' use of these is especially confident and sure, particularly around the arms and faces. Her interpretation of character is challenging and strong. Cinderella is not the shrinking, timid handmaid of earlier illustrations but a forceful personality, robust and resentful even though confined to the background. Geddes' Cinderella is in marked contrast to the heroines of Harry Clarke's windows and illustrations and clearly owes much to Geddes' Suffragette sympathies.

(Extract from 'Images and Insights', Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1993, p. 100)

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