Elizabeth Organ 1934 – 2009

Still Life | Abstract | Sculpture | Print
“not only an artist of international quality, but also a guide endowed with the most discerning eye. This discernment in art matters has been a fundamental influence on countless artists.”

After graduating from Leicester college of art, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Watts took up a lectureship in art at Loughborough, where she met and married Bryan Organ, a fellow tutor. As Bryan became an established portrait painter, Lizzie entertained his clients and promoted his work while continuing as a teacher and painter and running her own art consultancy business.

Post-divorce in 1981, her own work flourished in the form of highly detailed hyper-realistic oil paintings, prints and drawings underpinned by her exceptional ability as a draughtswoman. The exacting standards she applied to herself resulted in work of intricate serenity, but ultimately the pursuit of perfection led to a depression of such magnitude that she decided to stop painting altogether.

Her creativity subsequently found an outlet in curating, and in design of both furniture and interiors, culminating in her own home-business, The Kilvert Gallery, as a work of art in itself.

“Lizzie believed art in the home went far beyond Matisse’s hope that his paintings had the same effect as a good armchair. For her, it was a key to release the powers of beauty, strangeness and creativity every day.”

OBITUARY Peter Wakelin | The Guardian July 2009