Putney School of Art & Design
Putney School of Art and Design is closely linked to the early life and training of the painter Ethel Walker (1861–1951), whose formative partnership with fellow artist Clara Christian (1868–1906), forms an important part of Putney’s queer history. Walker studied here in the late 19th century, at a time when art schools offered some of the few socially acceptable routes for women to pursue professional careers and independent lives. Christian, also an artist, became her close companion and collaborator during this period, and the two lived and worked together for several years.
Although their relationship was not discussed publicly in terms of sexuality, Walker and Christian shared domestic and creative lives at a time when long-term partnerships between women were rarely acknowledged or legally recognised. Their situation fits within a wider pattern of same-sex female relationships sustained through artistic and intellectual communities, where women could achieve a degree of independence, professional identity and mutual support.
Christian later moved to Dublin, married, and died young in 1906, while Walker continued her artistic career. Walker went on to become one of Britain’s most recognised women painters, becoming the first woman elected to the New English Art Club, representing Britain at the Venice Biennale several times in the 1920s, and later being made a Dame of the British Empire for her contribution to art. Her work was collected by major institutions and by figures including Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
The inclusion of Putney School of Art and Design highlights the role of art education in shaping queer women’s lives and relationships, particularly at early and vulnerable stages. Together with later examples of women artists living and working in Putney, it shows how the area supported creative networks that made alternative domestic and professional arrangements possible.
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