Stella Steyn

Stella Steyn (1907–1987) was an Irish artist. She was born in Dublin in 1907 to dentist William Steyn and Bertha Jaffe, who met and married in Limerick, having moved to Ireland from the town of Akmene on the borders of Latvia and Lithuania.

Early life and education

Stella Steyn studied at Alexandra College and in 1924 the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. In 1926, in the company of her mother and fellow artist Hilda Roberts, she went to Paris to study at the Académie Scandinave and at La Grande Chaumière. She enrolled at the Bauhaus in Germany in 1931.^[1] While in Paris she met Samuel Beckett, as well as James Joyce, who later asked her to provide illustrations for Finnegans Wake.

In 1928 she was awarded the Tailteann Silver Medal at the Metropolitan in Dublin.

Later career

In 1938 she married David Ross, a Professor of French at the University of London, whom she had met while in Germany in 1933. They lived in England, where Ross worked as an academic in a number of universities.^[2]

Legacy

Stella Steyn was a prolific artist. One of her paintings, Still Life - Flowers, is displayed in the British Prime Minister's residence, chosen by his wife, Sarah Brown.^[3] Her work can been seen at the Tatha Gallery in Fife, Scotland

Stella Steyn is the great-aunt of columnist Mark Steyn.^[4]

References