Mabel Royds: Columbines Notecard

Mabel Royds (English, 1874–1941) Columbines, c. 1935

Mabel Royds

English artist Mabel Royds (1874–1941) is best known for her colorful botanical prints. She was an early supporter of Britain’s Society of Graver-Printers in Colour, exhibited with the Society of Women Artists for 41 years, and taught at the Edinburgh College of Art. She lived in Paris, Toronto, and Edinburgh, and traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, and India. Royds studied Japanese printmaking processes and learned to create the images, carve the woodblocks, and produce the prints herself. Her bold woodcut technique and vibrant colors give her work an almost abstract quality, unlike other printmakers of the time. She enjoyed depicting the simple yet beautiful things around her, including flowers at their prime and in their dying days. In her lifetime, Royds produced 61 color woodblock print, all of which illustrate her mastery of pigment and line—at once robust and delicate.