Anne Bannatyne Finlay [also known as 'Spook'] was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 21 April 1898 and studied painting and drawing at Edinburgh College of Art from 1917 to c.1920. In 1922, with fellow Edinburgh artists William and Margery Hutchison, she moved to Hampstead, London, where for a period she earned her living teaching French, Art, and Music at local private schools. She painted a number of portraits at this time, often of young children. In the 1939 England and Wales Register she gave her occupation as "Professional Artist" and her address as Scotland Hall Farm, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk [This may have been a temporary address]. Finlay exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy in London from 1932 to 1963; Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh from 1934 to 1962; and Society of Women Artists in London from 1934 to 1955.
From 1946 to 1957 she worked as Registrar of the City & Guilds.
Although she had relationships with the artists James McBey (1883-1959), Ernest Proctor (1886-1935), and with Philip Connard (1875-1958), with, whom she lived for some time, Finlay never married.
Her address was given as 3 Primrose Hill Road, London in 1932 and 1940; c/o Colley & Co., 88 Haverstock Hill, London in 1941 and 1942; 144 Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey in 1948; 120 Kensington Park Road, London in 1949 and 1951and 155 Sheen Road, Richmond, Surrey in 1953 and 1963. She died at the Marie Curie Hospital, 66 Fitzjohns Avenue, London on 17 October 1963.
Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)
Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)
