Gabrielle Muriel Keiller
Born
Gabrielle Ritchie

(1908-08-10)10 August 1908
North Berwick, Scotland
Died23 December 1995(1995-12-23) (aged 87)
Bath, England
NationalityScottish
Known forgolfer, art collector, art patron, photographer, heir to Keiller's marmalade
Spouses
Charles R. Style
​
​
(div. 1950)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1951; died 1955)​
    Children1
    Parent(s)J. Wadsworth Ritchie
    Daisy Muriel Hoare
    RelativesCornelia Adair (grandmother)

    Gabrielle Muriel Keiller (née Ritchie) (10 August 1908 – 23 December 1995) was a Scottish golfer, art collector, archaeological photographer and heir to Keiller's marmalade in Dundee.[1][2] She bequested a large collection of Dada and Surrealist art to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.[3][4]

    Early life

    Keiller was born on 10 August 1908 in North Berwick, Scotland, during a golf trip by her parents, Englishwoman Daisy Muriel Hoare and J. Wadsworth Ritchie, an American rancher.[3] She was the older sister of Montgomery Harrison Wadsworth Ritchie, who ran the family's Texas ranch, known as JA Ranch.[5] During World War II she served as an ambulance driver.[2]

    Her paternal grandmother was Cornelia Adair, the American-born matriarch of Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, Ireland who was married to John George Adair, a Scottish-Irish businessman and landowner.[1]

    Golf career

    Keiller's amateur golf career began in the 1930s under the surname of her second husband, Style. She won the 1948 Ladies' Open Championships in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Monaco, and again in Monaco in 1949.[1] In 1951 she was a finalist in the English Women's Amateur Championship.[3]

    Art collector and patron

    In the 1930s, Keiller inherited part-ownership of an Adair ranch in Texas from her grandmother. Proceeds from the later sale of this asset enabled her to begin collecting art. As an art patron, Keiller focused upon 20th-century avant-garde art.[6] She became interested following a 1960 visit to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and through exposure to the work of Eduardo Paolozzi at the 1960 Venice Biennale.[7][3]

    Keiller developed her collection of Dada and Surrealist art with the advice of the artist Roland Penrose.[6] Her bequest to the Scottish National Gallery comprised over 170 artworks (including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings) in addition to a library of manuscripts, rare books, and journals.[3][8] The collection was exhibited there anonymously in 1988.[4] In 1996, the collection was enhanced by 26 works from the collection of Penrose.

    Keillor became a patron of both Paolozzi (who was said to have been inspired by her Surrealist collection)[9] and Richard Long. She also commissioned Andy Warhol to make a 1976 portrait of her dachshund Maurice.[10]

    Beginning in the 1950s, Keiller became involved with several arts institutions. She volunteered at the Tate from 1976 to 1987, where she was known as the "Marmalade Queen".[1] From 1978 to 1985, she was a member of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's advisory committee.[6]

    Archaeology

    Her third husband, Alexander Keiller, had used wealth from his family's marmalade business to pursue interests in archaeology, particularly the stone circles at Avebury in Wiltshire and the surrounding prehistoric landscape. He bought land to ensure the preservation of the monuments, and in 1938 created a museum at Avebury. After his death in 1955, Gabrielle employed Isobel Smith to make archival records of Alexander's excavations in the 1920s and 1930s.[11] Gabrielle gave the contents of the museum to the nation in 1966,[12] after which it was named the Alexander Keiller Museum.[13]

    From 1956 to approximately 1970, she assisted Rupert Bruce-Mitford in a study of the burial ship Sutton Hoo, taking photographs of the site.[14]

    Personal life

    Keiller's second husband was Charles R. Style, a brewery manager. They divorced in 1950.[15]

    In 1951, she married her third husband, Alexander Keiller (1889–1955), archaeologist and family heir of Keiller marmalade makers in Dundee.[16][1] The couple bought a house in Kingston upon Thames, where she lived for most of the rest of her life.[1]

    Keiller died at Bath on 23 December 1995.[17]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brown, David (12 January 1996). "Obituary: Gabrielle Keiller". The Independent. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
    2. 1 2 Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose (27 June 2007). Biographical Dictionary of ScottishWomen. Edinburgh University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780748626601.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 Cowling, Elizabeth; Calvocoressi, Richard; Clifford, Timothy; Grã-Bretanha; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edimburgo) (1997). Surrealism and after: the Gabrielle Keiller collection. Edinburgh: Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. ISBN 090359868X. OCLC 959084816.
    4. 1 2 Magic Mirror: Dada and Surrealism from a Private Collection (Exhibition); Cowling, Elizabeth; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Royal Scottish Academy, eds. (1988). The magic mirror: Dada and surrealism from a private collection. Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. ISBN 0903148811. OCLC 35599364.
    5. ↑ "Montgomery H.W. Ritchie | Owner, operator of Texas' JA Ranch". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 30 July 1999. p. 32. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
    6. 1 2 3 Gere, Charlotte; Vaizey, Marina (1999). Great women collectors. London; New York: P. Wilson; H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0856675032. OCLC 491333517.
    7. ↑ Bowness, Alan; Melville, Robert; Pasmore, Victor; Paolozzi, Eduardo; Clarke, Geoffrey; Cliffe, Henry; Evans, Merlyn; British Council; Biennale di Venezia (1960). Victor Pasmore, paintings and constructions: Eduardo Paolozzi, sculpture and drawings : Geoffrey Clarke, Henry Cliffe, Merlyn Evans, engravings : XXX Biennale Venice 1960 British Pavilion. London: British Council. OCLC 50723557.
    8. ↑ "Surrealism | National Galleries of Scotland". www.nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
    9. ↑ Whitford, Frank (22 April 2005). "Obituary: Sir Eduardo Paolozzi". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
    10. ↑ "Portrait of Maurice". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
    11. ↑ "Breaking ground: Female archaeologists at Avebury". National Trust. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
    12. ↑ Baggs, A. P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). "Parishes: Avebury". In Crowley, D. A. (ed.). A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 12. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 86–105. Retrieved 1 August 2021 – via British History Online.
    13. ↑ "Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury". English Heritage. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
    14. ↑ "Gabrielle Keiller". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
    15. ↑ "Woman Must Pay Alimony" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 July 1953. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
    16. ↑ Murray, Lynda J (1999). A zest for life: the story of Alexander Keiller. Swindon: Morven Books. ISBN 0953603903. OCLC 59421359.
    17. ↑ Paolozzi, Eduardo (12 January 1996). "Gabrielle Keiller: Seizing life by the throat". The Guardian. p. 13.
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