65
Irish Women Artists 1870 - 1970
Summer 2014
Fig. 26. Dorothy Elvery in front of her work at “Young Irish Artists
Exhibition 1905”
Fig. 27. Dorothy Kay (née Elvery) “Self Portrait” (1919)
Fig 26 Dorothy Kay (nee Elvery)
(1886 - 1964)
The lesser known of the Elvery sisters
aged 14 Dorothy commenced her
studies at the Metropolitan School of
art and the Royal Hibernian Schools
where she won prizes including the
Taylor Scholarship in 1904. Along with
her sister Beatrice , Cissie Beckett and
Estella Solomons she went to Paris to
take life classes at Colarossi’s. In 1905
she exhibited at the “Young Irish Artists”
exhibition at Leinster Hall , Dublin. She
got married to Dr Kay, who she had met
through her brother Philip who was a
fellow student at the Royal College of
Surgeons, in 1910 and emigrated with
him to Port Elizabeth in South Africia
where she continued to paint but her
influence on the Irish Art scene was
reduced to occasional exhibits at the
RHA .
