that cut him off from the more gifted of his pupils’. He also berated students and was noted for his sarcasm. However, it was recorded that in one of Gray’s classes ‘a certain woman student used, when she considered herself unjustly bullied, to reason gravely and firmly with him, and this from her, he tolerated’.31 Tonks’s paintings were noted for their dryness of technique, known as ‘Tonking’. It consisted of soaking up the absorbent material with excess material. This technique Gray used later in many of her collages. Steer’s area of expertise was painting – especially watercolour. But Steer was criticised for not taking a lively interest in his teaching, so if a student persisted in questioning him, his acute judgement and great knowledge would be brought to bear.32
Gray’s frustration with the Slade School may have stemmed from the fact that students seldom spent more than a day on one drawing, where hours were spent in the crowded Antique Room until four o’clock. Then from four until five o’clock students drew short poses in the Life Room.33 There were also stories of students never moving from the Antique Room to the Life Room, drawing with unabated zeal for three or four years.34 Her dissatisfaction with the Slade School was apparent from her lack of attendance. She recorded that she first met Dean Charles in 1901, in Dean Street, Soho in London. Charles was a furniture restorer and was the first to introduce Gray to lacquering techniques.35 Whilst at the Slade Gray solicited lessons from the firm in traditional Asian lacquer techniques, making numerous notes. She remained friends with Charles for years afterwards.36 Dean Charles used mostly coloured European varnishes to repair screens but also had red Chinese lacquer which Gray began to use.
Her attention turned to the artistic centre of Paris, but the friendships she formed in London would influence her artistic propensities and her thinking for years to come. Gray departed for Paris along with several friends, including Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), Gerald Festus Kelly (1879-1972),37 Kathleen Bruce (1878-1947) and Jessie Gavin (1876-1939). She had settled there temporarily by 1902, with Gavin and Bruce, at a pension at 7 rue de Joseph Bara in the artist quarter near Montparnasse. Gray told Maeve Binchy that she ‘arrived as an Irish immigrant to Paris in 1902. She didn’t really intend to stay there forever, but somehow things worked out that way. It was very different to home in Wexford’.38 They continued their drawing studies, enrolling at the École Colarossi in late 1902 to 1903, a popular art school among foreign students.39 Rivalry among students was apparent but also considered engaging. Gray, Kelly and others soon transferred to the Académie Julian by 1903, a private fee-paying school, where students were trained primarily for admission to the École des Beaux-Arts. The Académie prided itself on segregated studios, yet women were taught by the same professors as their male counterparts.
1.17 Sir Gerald Kelly, by Sir Oswald Birley, 1920, oil on canvas © National Portrait Gallery, London
Gray had many admirers during this period of her life, Kelly being one of them. ‘To Eileen he seemed someone quite extraordinary, and she took to this talkative Irishman, he was good company’.40 Kelly was born in London in 1879; however, his Irish ancestry could be traced back to the tenth century. His father was of direct Irish descent while his mother was half Irish.41 Kelly said, ‘I’m of Irish blood, you know, and apparently in France they imagined that Ireland being damp, was full of people with gout’.42 He was educated at Eton College and then Trinity College Cambridge. He attended the Slade School at exactly the same dates as Gray. He went to Paris in 1901, where he remained for many years. He exhibited at the Salon in 1904. He travelled extensively during his lifetime, to exotic locations such as Burma and Africa, as well as closer countries such as Italy and Spain for his inspiration. He painted many pictures of young Burmese ladies, sometimes dancing, often posed. Although he had a somewhat varied subject matter he is renowned primarily for his portraits. He executed several State portraits, paintings of society ladies and gentlemen, bishops and lords of the time, among them a portrait of Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932)43 and a fine three- quarter length portrait of Sir Hugh Lane (1875-1915).44 He exhibited over 300 works at the Royal Academy in London between 1909 and 1970 and held the Presidency there from 1949 to 1954.
1.18 Auguste Rodin, by George Charles Beresford, 1902, half plate glass negative © National Portrait Gallery, London
Though they had a number of close mutual friends, Kelly was responsible for introducing Gray to a much wider Parisian circle. His cousin wrote a letter of introduction that brought about an invitation to the home of the great art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922). Through Durand-Ruel he befriended the artists Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and the French sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) among others. In 1902 Gray was introduced to Rodin by Kelly and wrote to him looking to purchase one of his bronze statues – the Danaid.45 Kelly also owed many glowing Parisian memories to the Jewish essayist and critic Marcel Schwob (1867-1905) and his wife the actress Marguerite Moreno (1871-1948). Kelly drew her hands. He introduced Eileen Gray to the Schwobs at their house.46 They were concerned for Kelly’s welfare, and Marguerite was worried because Kelly’s French was poor. As a result they organised for him to dine twice a week with a young writer, Paul Léautaud (1872-1956). Eileen Gray also met Léautaud at the Schwobs while visiting with Kelly some time during 1904. According to his diaries Léautaud pursued Gray with amorous intent, albeit unsuccessfully.47
Gray remembers spending many evenings in Kelly’s studio listening to him describe a meeting with Rodin, or the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, or the actresses Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), and Maillol or just waiting with Aleister Crowley for something ‘magic’ to happen.48 In Cambridge Kelly had befriended the controversial figure Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). Crowley was an influential English occultist, mystic and ceremonial magician responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as a co-founder of the spiritual organisation the A?A and?leader of Ordo Templi Orientis. A controversial poet, playwright and social critic, he revolted against the moral and religious values of the time through a hedonistic lifestyle espousing a form of libertinism based on the rule of ‘Do What Thou Wilt’. When he left Cambridge in 1896 Crowley severed all ties with Christianity and began to read up on the subject of occultism and mysticism, reading books by alchemists and mystics and books on magic. In May 1896 Crowley met and befriended Kelly. Their friendship was fostered by shared artistic ambitions and parallels in their background.49 Occultism was fashionable in intellectual circles at the time and in their first years
