SOPER, Eileen Alice

1905 - 1990

Eileen Alice Soper was born at Enfield, London on 26 March 1905, daughter of artist George Soper and his wife Ada née Lehany (4 May 1873-9 April 1956), who married at Hackney, London in 1897. Eileen was educated at Hitchin Girls School and was artistically trained mostly by her father, and displayed early promise as an artist with two of her etchings shown at the Royal Academy in London when she was aged just 15. An etcher and water colour painter and illustrator of children's and wildlife books, producing a series of etchings of children playing, also illustrating books for other authors, notably Enid Blyton and Elizabeth Gould, and wrote and illustrated her own children's book. In 1908, her parents built a house in Harmer Green, Welwyn, Hertfordshire which Eileen and sister Eva, also an artist, inherited and where they lived for the rest of their lives. In the 1930s, some of her illustrations of children and animals were used in a china series for children by Paragon China. She exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club in 1923, two etchings 'Playtime' and 'Marble' also exhibited her etchings at the Royal Academy. In 1939, an artist, living at Digswell, Welwyn with her parents and elder sister Eva Lilian (24 March 1901-9 September 1990). Later in life she concentrated on writing and illustrating wildlife books and was a founder member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and elected a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers in 1972. Eileen Alice Soper died, as did her sister Eva six months later, at Broad Oak Nursing Home, Bramefield Road, Hertford on 18 March 1990, she was unmarried. She signed her works 'Eileen A. Soper'.

Royal Academy exhibits
from Harmer Green, Welwyn
1921 847 La Barriere Cassee - etching
         855 The Swing - etching
1922 Leap Frog - etching
1924 1066 Flying Swings - dry point
         1078 The Hurt Paw - etching
1927 1162 A Voyage of Discovery - etching
1928 1172 Ad Infinitum - etching
1930 1228 Sticklebacks - etching

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Works by This Artist