Isobel Atterbury Heath (29 December 1908 – 1989) was a British artist and poet active in the St Ives area of Cornwall.
Isobel Atterbury Heath | |
---|---|
Born | 29 December 1908 Kingston Upon Hull, England |
Died | 1989 (aged 80–81) |
Nationality | British |
Education | Académie Colarossi |
Known for | Painting, Poetry |
Spouse(s) | Marc Prati |
Heath was born in Kingston Upon Hull. Little is known of her childhood but later in life she indicated that her father had been a chemist and that she had been educated by nuns.[1] Heath studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris before, in the late 1930s, taking classes at the school of painting run by Leonard Fuller in St Ives.[2][3] During World War II Heath worked as an illustrator for the Ministry of Information, painting and drawing workers in ordinance factories and at a camouflage factory in St Ives.[4][5] During the war, she also made pencil drawings of British and American troops stationed in Cornwall.[2] She was given permission to record naval subjects and also spent time at the Spitfire station at RAF Perranporth.[6] During the conflict she met her future husband, Dr. Marc Prati, a political correspondent for La Stampa, who as an Italian national had been interned in Cornwall.[6]
Heath was a member of the St Ives Society of Artists and in 1949 was a founder member of the breakaway Penwith Society of Arts but resigned in 1950 and rejoined the St Ives Society in 1957.[7][8] She continued to exhibit with the St Ives Society for the rest of her life.[1] The Cornish landscape was the principal subject of Heath's paintings and she would regularly camp out on the moors in Cornwall for several days at a time painting landscapes.[7][8] In 1962, for the Royal Watercolour Society she organized an exhibition of unknown Cornish artists, entitled The Cornish Experiment.[3] Heath exhibited with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Scottish Academy.[7] She was included in the centenary exhibition of the Society of Women Artists held in London during 1955.[8] Heath also published three volumes of poetry.[2][1]