Famous British Women Artists & Painters

Jewelry and home designer Jade Jagger, daughter of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, has also been a model. She launched the fashion brand Jade Inc. and a lifestyle concept called Jezebel. She has also worked for Garrard and designed luxury apartments in New York and Mumbai.

Leonora Carrington was a Mexican artist, novelist, and surrealist painter. During the 1970s, Carrington played an important role in Mexico's women's liberation movement as she was one of the founding members of the movement. Carrington, who was fascinated by symbolism and myth, studied alchemy, Popol Vuh, post-classic Mayan mystical writings, and the kabbalah.

Landscape architect Gertrude Jekyll was born into an affluent family and grew up in a refined environment, learning music and traveling. Initially interested in painting, she gave it up to focus on gardening when she developed eyesight problems. She built around 400 gardens and also collaborated with Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl is the mother of British prime minister Boris Johnson and British journalist Rachel Johnson. She is known for her portraits and her signature style that mirrors the Vorticist style. Her creations have been featured at the Bethlem Museum of the Mind.

Artist Tracey Emin is known for incorporating subjective elements in her artwork. She experiments with media such as drawing, sculpture, and installations. She made headlines with her controversial works such as Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 and My Bed. She has also taught at the Royal Academy.

Alison Lapper is a British artist who uses art forms like painting, digital imaging, and photography to question physical beauty and normality. Born with a condition called phocomelia, Lapper often uses herself as a subject. Lapper achieved national recognition when she posed for Marc Quinn's sculpture. Titled Alison Lapper Pregnant, the sculpture occupied the fourth plinth between 2005 and 2007.

Born to a French father and a British mother, Sophie Gengembre Anderson was a self-taught artist. The family fled to the U.S. to escape the French Revolution. A master portraitist and a major Pre-Raphaelite figure, Sophie specialized in painting women and children, with cats and natural elements thrown in.

Elisabeth Frink was an English printmaker and sculptor. She survived World War II as a young girl and studied at the Guildford School of Art. Her artwork was greatly influenced by her wartime experiences. She quickly gained popularity for her bronze outdoor sculpture. She was made a full academician at the Royal Academy in 1979. 

Eileen Agar was a British-Argentinian photographer and painter best remembered for her association with the Surrealist movement. In 1936, Agar became the only woman to exhibit her works at the International Surrealist Exhibition in London after her work was recommended by Paul Nash to the organizers of the exhibition, Herbert Read and Roland Penrose.

Educationist, feminist, and women’s rights activist Barbara Bodichon is best remembered for co-establishing the English Woman's Journal and Girton College, Cambridge. Her works also led to the passage of the Married Women’s Property Act. She was a talented artist, too, and was known for her watercolor paintings.

Eleanor Coade was a British businesswoman known for her astute entrepreneurial, business, and marketing skills. She manufactured Neoclassical statues, architectural decorations, and garden ornaments. She created stoneware for many famous buildings, including St George's Chapel, The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Carlton House. She was one of the few women to run a highly successful business in the Georgian era. 

Although British sculptor Rebecca Warren is chiefly known for her works in clay, steel and bronze, she is equally at home with variety of other materials, creating collages and wall mounted vitrines with neon, wool, pompoms, paper, thread etc. Currently a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, she has been holding solo exhibitions across Europe and USA since 2003.

Cathy de Monchaux is a British sculptor who uses materials like metal, glass, paper, leather, and fur to create sculptures. In 1988, she earned a Steinberger Group Award. The following year, Cathy de Monchaux won the London Arts Individual Artist's Award. In 1998, she was shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize, which was eventually won by contemporary painter Chris Ofili.

Kim Sears is a British artist known for her portraits, paintings, and other forms of illustrations. She mainly focuses on animals as the subject of her artwork and strives to create awareness about animal rights. She is also involved in philanthropic ventures related to animals. She is married to professional tennis player Andy Murray and has two daughters.