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Stansmore Dean Stevenson 1866 - 1944

Stansmore Dean Stevenson was a Scottish artist whose career spanned the late nineteenth century up until the mid 1930's. Her portrait of the Scottish author Neil Munro, c.1905, was the first work by a living artist to be purchased by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 1931.

Early Life and Family

Stansmore Dean Stevenson was born Stansmore Richmond Leslie Dean at 105 Hill Street, Glasgow, Scotland on the 3rd of June 1866. Her middle name, Leslie, is her mother's maiden name. The inclusion of either the mother's or maternal grandmother's maiden name as a middle name for female family members was a Scottish tradition. Her father was a master engraver and the co-founder of the Glasgow-based Gilmore & Dean printing firm. She died in 1944 in Castle Douglas.

Education

Dean enrolled in the Glasgow School of Art in 1883, where she studied engraving, 1890, following in her fathers footsteps. Her fellow students included the artist Bessie MacNicol and the artist and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Career

An travelling scholarship in 1890 was a turning point in Dean's career as she had the opportunity to study in Paris. The scholarship was the Haldane Travelling Scholarship and she was the first woman artist it had been awarded to.