Olive Snell

Olive Constance Snell (3 April 1888^[1] – 23 May 1962)^[2] was an English artist, known for her portraiture.^[3]

Snell was born in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, the daughter of Constance Louisa and Edward Snell of Monkokehampton, Devon, England.^[4] She arrived in England in 1912, already a competent painter.^[5]

In the 1920s, she painted portraits for the front covers of several issues of The Sketch,^[6][7][8] and The Bystander,^[9] working mainly in crayon & watercolour.^[9] During this period, she made two visits to the United States, making use of introductions made by Sir Joseph Duveen at the behest of Oswald Birley.^[5] Her subjects included American celebrities such as Tallulah Bankhead and Amelia Earhart, and their British equivalents, such as Madeleine Carroll and Cathleen Nesbitt.^[6] Her portrait of Agatha Christie was used on the cover of Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. She also painted Mrs. Walter Rosen (Lucie Bigelow Dodge), and other sitters.

During World War II, she turned to military subjects, including Battle of Britain pilots,^[6] as an unofficial war artist attached to the Royal Air Force.^[5] Her 1943 painting of pilots of 610 Squadron at RAF Westhampnett is now in the Goodwood collection on the same site.^[6] Four of the eighteen pilots depicted were killed within months of its completion.^[6] The War Artists' Advisory Committee issued her with a permit to sketch in public during wartime.^[6]

She married Ebenezer John Lecky Pike, CBE, MC (1884–1965), an officer (later a colonel) in the Grenadier Guards, on 16 April 1913.^[4][6] They had four children, the youngest of whom, David Ebenezer (born 9 June 1925), a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on 5 March 1945^[4] and is buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.^[10][11] Their eldest child, Helena Christian, married Lionel Brett, 4th Viscount Esher. The middle daughter Katherine Mary Penelope married Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland. A third daughter, Jane Rosemary (1923–1934), died in childhood.^[4]

She exhibited at the Fine Art Society, Grosvenor Gallery, New English Art Club, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists.^[9] Her works are in public collections, including the Imperial War Museums and Royal Air Force Museum.^[3]

Her portrait was painted in 1922 by Oswald Birley.^[12] As of 2017, the picture was in private ownership.^[5] Birley subsequently painted Ebenezer Pike, and later married Pike's sister, Rhoda, after painting her also.^[12] Another portrait was painted circa 1927 by Augustus John.^[9] This work was sold by Boningtons in June 2018.^[9] The Illustrated London News noted in 1927, that Snell "was lucky enough to have some lessons from that celebrated artist Augustus John, who was interested in her work".^[9]