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Lilian Davidson ARHA (26 January 1879 – 29 March 1954) was an Irish landscape and portrait artist, teacher and writer.
Davidson held a joint exhibition with Mainie Jellett in 1920, at Mill's Hall, Merrion Row, Dublin. Jellett produced a pencil portrait of Davison, which shows her in a straw hat she frequently wore. The RHA exhibited Davidson's oil painting, The flax pullers, in 1921. This work shows an influence from Paul Henry and French Impressionism in Davidson's use of colour-blocking. In the early 1920s, Davidson travelled to Switzerland, Belgium, and France, producing works such as Fish market, Bruges. She lived in Paris in the late 1920s, exhibiting at the Salon de la Societé Nationale in 1924 and 1930. Davidson placed a self-portrait in her depiction of a peasant gathering, The country races. Reproductions of her drawing of Leinster House and Christ Church Cathedral by Bulmer Hobson were included in A book of Dublin (1929). Her landscape, Low tide, Wicklow, which was exhibited at the RHA in 1934, and Boats at Wicklow, dusk show her ability to depict reflections in water. She continued to paint scenes of rural life, including Cottages – Keel, Achill, which shows an influence from Jack Butler Yeats in her use of space and colour. The fact that Davidson's family was not wealthy may have influenced her choice of poorer people as her subjects, depicting them in a sympathetic manner. Her work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Davidson's paintings were exhibited at the Contemporary Picture Galleries, Dublin in 1930, alongside Yeats, Evie Hone, and Harry Kernoff. She was a member of the Picture Hire Club, 24 Molesworth Street, Dublin from 1941 to 1942, and was a frequent contributor to the Munster Fine Arts Club. Her work was exhibited at the Salon des Beaux Arts, Paris, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and in Amsterdam. A large number of her works from the 1930s show the Irish language-speaking area of Galway, Claddagh, such as Night in Claddagh, exhibited with the RHA in 1933. Her Irish landscapes, such as Claddagh cottages, were included in the Oireachtas Art Exhibitions from 1932 to 1946. From around 1934, she was a member of the Society of Dublin Painters, exhibiting with them from 1939 to 1954. She influenced the Society's move towards the avant-garde in the 1940s. She was elected associate to the RHA in 1940, and continued to exhibit there until her death. Her 1946 work, Gorta, shows influence from Zola, Rilke, Dostoyevsky and Picasso.
Davidson taught drawing at her studio at 1 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin. Her pupils included Bea Orpen, Anne Yeats, and Mo Irwin. She also was a teacher at a number of Dublin schools, such as Belgrave school, Rathmines, Wesley College, St Stephen's Green, and Castle Park School, Dalkey. She travelled to Abbeyleix, County Laois, once a week to teach at Glenbawn boarding school.
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