She rarely left the family home, and did not even travel into the centre of Belfast unaccompanied, but she made the daunting journey to Paris in 1883 at the age of 18 to study at the Académie Colarossi. This was one of the small number of private academies that accepted female students, as the main art college in Paris at the time, the École des Beaux-Arts, did not accept women students until 1897.

Her time in Paris clearly sparked an interest in adventure and she continued to travel extensively throughout Europe for the rest of her career. Bringing her influence back to Belfast through paintings and lectures at the Belfast Art Society, she would often give talks about her travels and the trends she had spotted in painting on the continent.

She went on to exhibit one of her French market works in the Paris Salon in 1924, which was then purchased by the Ulster Museum in 1927.

In addition to bringing her knowledge home to Ireland, Moutray Kyle was active in the Belfast art scene. She was the secretary for the Ladies Life Class, a member of the Belfast Ramblers sketching club, and was one of the first academicians of the Ulster Academy of the Arts (the Royal Ulster Academy) going on to become vice president.

Moutray Kyle exhibited widely, representing Northern Ireland in the Wembley exhibition of 1924, she showed at the royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters London, Walker Gallery in Liverpool and the Royal Scottish Academy. Though she did not actively sell, and this appears to be by choice, she often preferred to give her paintings to family and friends.

Many of her paintings are seaside scenes, specifically depicting the work of women in relation to fishing. Every year she would spend part of her summer in the fishing village of Ardglass, County Down, where this scene was painted.

Ardglass was central to the herring fishing industry. At the height of the season the harbour would have boats from all over Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and as far away as Cornwall. The fish were processed by women known as 'The Gutter Girls', some were locals but most came from Donegal and the West of Ireland.

Her interest in the daily lives of women is also evident in her market scenes both in France and this one of Belfast.

Women from all over Ireland flocked to the city to find work in the late nineteenth century industrial textile boom. Many worked in the factories and manufacturers, there were also textile jobs at the local markets. Older women, such as those depicted here, may have ended up selling second hand wares when they could no longer work in the physically demanding industrial positions.

This painting is likely of Smithfield in the west of the city, though this scene was common across the markets of the city.

Though most of her work centred on activity and movement through bustling market scenes, or the rhythm of the sea, she did paint a small number of still lifes. Also executed in her distinctive style, these studies maintained her strong emphasis on shape and colour, evoking a similar pale palette to those in the New English Art Club at the that time.

Georgina Moutray Kyle died at her home in Belfast in 1950 at the age of 85. National Museums NI is fortunate to be able to mark her presence through the twenty-six works held across the Ulster Museum and Ulster Folk Museum. They have been collected over ninety years through purchases and gifts from the artist herself and her great niece.

There is still much more to learn about the life of this artist. Hopefully through highlighting her here on Art UK, we can begin to secure her position as an important figure in the artistic activity of the North of Ireland.