Mary Cameron (painter)

Mary Margaret Cameron (9 March 1865 – 15 February 1921) was a Scottish artist, renowned for her depictions of everyday Spanish life. She exhibited fifty-six works at the Royal Scottish Academy between 1886 and 1919.

Mary Margaret Cameron was born on 9 March 1865 in Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland, the third of six children of Duncan Cameron and Mary Brown Small. Her father was associated with the Edinburgh, Scotland printing and stationery firm of Macniven and Cameron and the inventor of the "Waverley" pen-nib. Her father also owned The Oban Times newspaper. Her mother was a member of the Smalls of Dirnanean of Perthshire, Scotland. Cameron was the younger sister of Flora Macaulay – widow of the Rev Robert Blair – who was Editor of The Oban Times newspaper until her death age 99 in 1958.

Cameron first began her art education at the age of sixteen through the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh, winning prizes as early as age seventeen. She took classes at the Edinburgh Veterinary College to perfect her understanding of animal anatomy, and developed a particular skill for depicting horses. This reflected her early interest in unusual subject matter, and was helped by her ability to use her own horse as a model.

In 1900, Cameron travelled to Madrid in Spain to study the work of 17th-century Spanish painter, Diego Velazquez. She fell in love with the country and in particular the people and culture. She painted many Spanish scenes, particularly bullfights, and lived for a time in Madrid and Seville. She generated controversy in her native Scotland over her realistic portrayal of the sometimes brutal bullfighting scenes.

Cameron was a member of the Edinburgh Ladies' Art Club and was later involved with the Royal Scottish Academy. She exhibited fifty-six works at the Royal Scottish Academy between 1886 and 1919. Her painting, Portrait de Mme. Blair et ses borzois received a "Mention Honorable" at The Paris Salon in 1904. The winning portrait depicted her sister Flora with her two Russian Borzoi dogs at either side. The painting, along with one of Cameron's Spanish paintings, were published in the book Women Painters of the World (1905).

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