Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RA

Born: 24 September 1931, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK
Elected ARA: 22 April 1971
Elected RA: 29 April 1976
Category of Membership: Painter

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder DBE RA, Still-life with Mirror and Japanese Print Elizabeth Blackadder studied at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art from 1949 to 1954. In 1954 she was awarded a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship by the Royal Scottish Academy, which took her to southern Europe. Blackadder also received an Andrew Grant Post-Graduate Scholarship. In 1955 she was awarded another Travelling Scholarship and spent nine months in Italy. In 1956 Blackadder married the painter, John Houston and lectured in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art from 1962 to 1986.

Blackadder’s first solo exhibition was held in 1959 at 57 Gallery, Edinburgh. Since then, solo exhibitions of her work have been held almost every year to date, both nationally and internationally. She has also participated extensively in group exhibitions around the world.

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder DBE RA, Still-life, Lilies, Gerberas and Indian Miniature Blackadder has received a number of awards, including the Guthrie Award, Royal Scottish Academy (1962) and the Pimms Award for Work on Paper (Royal Academy, 1983). She was joint-winner of the Royal Academy’s Watercolour Foundation Award in 1988. Blackadder was elected Member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1972, a Royal Academician in 1976 and a Member of The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts in 1983. She is an Honorary Member of the Royal West of England Academy, the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She has also received Honorary Doctorates from four Scottish universities. In 2001 she was appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland. Blackadder lives and works in Edinburgh.

Recent solo exhibitions
2011-2012 Park Gallery, Falkirk
2011 National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh
2010 Browse & Darby, London
2008 Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2006 Browse & Darby, London
2004 Browse & Darby, London
2002 Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
2000 Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
1999 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
1998 The Scottish Gallery, Aitken Dott, Edinburgh
Mercury Gallery, London
Glasgow Print Studio
1996 Mercury Gallery, London
1994 The Scottish Gallery, Aitken Dott, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition
1993 Glasgow Print Studio
Mercury Gallery, London
1992 DLI Museum, Durham
1991 Mercury Gallery, London
1990 Abbot Hall, Kendal

Public collections
Argyll County Council
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
Contemporary Art Society
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Dundee Museum and Art Gallery
Dunfermline, Carnegie Trust
Edinburgh City Art Gallery
Eastbourne, Tower Art Gallery
Fife County Council
Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery
Government Art Collection
Greater London Council
Heriot Watt University
Hove Museum and Art Gallery
Huddersfield Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
Middlesbrough Art Galery
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA
National Portrait Gallery, London
Nottingham County Council
Paisley Art Gallery
Perth Museum and Art Gallery
Reading Museum and Art Gallery
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Scottish Arts Council
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery
Tate Gallery, London
University of Cambridge, Kettle’s Yard
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow, Hunterian Art Gallery
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
West Riding County Museum
Wustun Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, USA

Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk

• Royal Academy of Arts