Ottilie Helen McLaren Wallace was a sculptor, a pupil of Auguste Rodin and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Occupation
sculptor
Citizenship
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Born
August 2, 1875
Died
October 16, 1947, October 17, 1947
Overview
Ottilie Helen McLaren (or MacLaren) Wallace (2 August 1875 – 17 October 1947) was a sculptor, a pupil of Auguste Rodin and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Early life
Ottilie Helen McLaren was the youngest daughter of Lord John McLaren (1831-1910), an Edinburgh lawyer and the one-time Lord Advocate of Scotland, and his wife from Glasgow, Ottilie Schwabe, who was from a German-Jewish family. The family was respectable and well to do, with a town house in Moray Place, Edinburgh, and a holiday home in the Highlands. Wallace considered herself a "mixture of Celt and Jew". It is possible Wallace initially took up sculpture as therapy, after an illness.
Studies
In 1880s Edinburgh, women's art education was strictly constrained by the regulations of the Royal Scottish Academy. Although women could study up to a certain level at the Board of Trustees school, they were not admitted to RSA classes and were forced to continue their education independently.
