Artistic Foundations
Rachel Reckitt was born in St Albans in 1908. Her father Frank Norman Reckitt (known as Norman) was an architect; her mother Beatrice Reckitt (née Hewett) had studied fine art at the Slade School of Art. In 1923 the family moved to Golsoncott, an Arts and Crafts home a few miles from Roadwater in West Somerset.
Reckitt’s parents came from Quaker families, which gave them a shared belief in the importance of philanthropy. Shortly after moving to Somerset, they supported their new community by funding the construction of Roadwater Village Hall, which was designed by Norman Reckitt and still stands today. Religion played a central role in the Reckitt’s lives, and Rachel would continue to support churches close to Golsoncott until her death.
In 1926, after finishing boarding school, Reckitt announced her intention to pursue art. Following an ‘unsatisfactory’ start at Taunton School of Art, Reckitt chose to move to London, to place herself at the centre of the avant-garde artistic conversations taking place in the capital. In 1933 she enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Art, a progressive school founded by Scottish artist Iain Macnab, where she would remain until 1937.
South West Heritage Trust Collection
Wood engraving, 25 x 20 cm
South West Heritage Trust Collection
Linocut, 22 x 34 cm
South West Heritage Trust Collection
Oil, and household paint on canvas, 74 x 61 cm
Gallery