Alice Buxton Winnicott
| Alice Buxton Winnicott | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alice Buxton Taylor 1891 |
| Died | 1968 |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Education | Newnham College |
| Spouse(s) | Donald Winnicott (1923-1949) |
Alice Buxton Winnicott née Taylor (1891 – 1968) was an English painter and ceramist.
Alice Buxton Taylor was born in 1891, in Claverdon, Warwickshire, the second of five accomplished children. Her father was John William Taylor (1851-1910) who was the professor of gynaecology at the University of Birmingham. Alice’s mother, Florence Maberly Buxton (1856-1934), a teacher before she had married, had educated all her children at home in their younger years. Alice went on to the King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham. In 1912 Alice went up to Cambridge, following her mother and older sister Mary into Newnham College (1912-1915), studying the Natural Sciences Tripos.
After her time at Cambridge, Taylor spent five years (1916-1920) at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, carrying out research into ceramics and optical glass, ‘where, for most of the time, I was the only woman research student’. She references the work as being ‘in connection with the urgent needs of Government and Industry’ and refers to the work as ‘Refractorics’, testing materials under very high temperatures and casting optical glass pots under pressure.
In 1923 she married the newly qualified doctor, Donald Winnicott, on 7 July 1923 in St Mary's Church, Frensham. She was thirty one at the time and appears to have spent her time, on leaving the National Physical Laboratory and prior to meeting Donald, in the company of artists. Her entry in Artists in Britain since 1945. Vol 2 (Buckman, 2006) states that she studied and worked with important artists of the time as she studied in Richmond, Kingston, Wimbledon and Central School of Arts and Crafts . She was instrumental in the foundation of several art groups including the New Kingston Group of painters.
Alice's "severe psychological difficulties" are documented in a number of Winnicott's biographies, but the limitations of this description belie her achievements. Although Winnicott arranged for his wife to have psychoanalysis with Dr Clifford Scott, he also had long term psychoanalysis himself. Those who remember Alice, refer to her as 'other wordly' or 'fey' Biographers of Donald Winnicott offer more detail of the difficulties created by the Winnicotts' psychoanalysis. Her husband undertook psychoanalysis with James Strachey. Strachey discussed Winnicott's case, unethically with his wife, Alix Strachey who was also a Newnham alumna. Strachey reported that Winnicott's sex life was damaged by erectile problems and his fear of women's genitalia. The problems of this becoming public information creates ethical problems for analysts who might want to discuss their case.
...
Wikipedia