Camille Souter, painter, though born in England in 1929 was raised in Ireland. She originally trained as a nurse and began painting in the 1950s while recovering from illness. Her name '"Camille" is actually a nickname given to her by first husband Gordon Souter in reference to the consumptive heroine of Alexander Duma'sLa Dame aux Camelias, she was born Betty Pamela Holmes.
Camille Souter captures light and color, texture and form in intimate almost abstract paintings of unexpected subjects, her subject matter has included landscapes, still lifes and slaughterhouses, . In Circa 89 (http://www.recirca.com/backissues/c89/dundalk.shtml) in a review of Camille Souter's joint show with Nano Reid Vona Groarke writes:
"Camille Souter's paintings have a statuesque elegance to them, even when the subject is something as banal as silage bags. She is an artist who avoids prettiness while seeking beauty."
The Douglas Hyde Gallery held a retrospective of her work in 1980. She is a member of Aosdána and lives on Achill Island.
Since she is such a shy exhibitor, CamilleSouter's retrospective is a rare treat.
From the fifties on, Souter moved between Italy, Wicklow and Achill (she currently divides her time between Italy and Ireland.) In complete contrast to the autobiographical approach taken by so many contemporary artists, Souter expertly circumvents herself.
Although Souter always has a subject matter, it is extremely hard to extract her own opinions (even in her series of paintings set in slaughterhouses), instead she documents with brilliant artistry, seducing us with colour and form.
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