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Browning, Amy Katherine

(1881 – 1978)

Browning was born near Luton in Bedfordshire in 1881 and, although first entering the Royal College of Art in 1899, only finished as a student in 1906 after several interruptions.  

Her first artistic success came when, along with her friend Sylvia Pankhurst, she created an art exhibition for the Women's Social and Political Union at the Prince's Skating Club in 1909. Supplementing her income by teaching, Browning also enjoyed further early success with her painting, most notably after the French government bought her painting Chequered Shade which had taken the silver medal when it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1913. 

When the Paris Salon restarted after the end of the First World War, she regularly exhibited at the Salon, on one occasion taking the gold medal. At this time, Browning was also continuing to exhibit regularly at the Royal Academy and at other international locations.

After her marriage in 1916 to Thomas Dugdale who she met at the Royal College, the couple shared their time between London and Suffolk although Browning preferred to spend more of her time in the country.

After her husband died in 1952, she gave up the house in Suffolk moving permanently to London but in fact died in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. 

Browning left an important a legacy of work and has paintings in Musée Baron Gerard, Bayeux, Luton Museum and Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Museum and Art Gallery, Ipswich Museum and Art Gallery; Kelvingrove Museum and the Royal Academy's collection and her own portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

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