The life and works of a remarkable Somerset artist, with a daringly independent spirit, are being celebrated in a new exhibition opening at the Museum of Somerset on 19 October. 

Rachel Reckitt (1908-1995) was a 20th-century modernist artist who lived and worked in West Somerset for over 60 years. She was a unique-artistic talent who worked entirely on her own terms, even training as a blacksmith when she was in her 60s. Reckitt is amongst previously-overlooked female artists to feature in a new film, War Paint – Women at War. This feature documentary, by BAFTA award-winning director Margy Kinmonth, champions the powerful female perspective of conflict through art.

Sarah Cox, Exhibitions Manager at the South West Heritage Trust, said: “Reckitt was a woman who, in many ways, rejected the conventions of her time, gender and class. Her lifelong-artistic endeavor, inspired by her astute observations of people and places, spans avant garde painting, sculpture, wood engraving and blacksmithing.We are delighted that this new exhibition and documentary film will shine a light on the achievements of this inimitable Somerset artist.”
 
In preparation for the exhibition the South West Heritage Trust has acquired 13 new works by Reckitt, adding to its growing collection of works by local female artists. Amongst them is Ruins which was painted by Reckitt whilst travelling in Sweden, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Ruins will be displayed alongside paintings, sculpture and wood engravings on loan from public and private collections. Highlights include the RAF Museum’s Spanish Refugee Family, which further shines a light on her war-time experiences. In 1939 Reckitt moved from Somerset to London to support the war effort, helping to evacuate families from the city and sending children to Golsoncott, her family home in Somerset, which became a nursery. 
War Paint Director Margy Kinmonth said: "I am delighted to have discovered the work of Reckitt, an exceptionally talented artist who has not had popular recognition, until now. I am proud to showcase her conflict work in the film, looking in detail at her wood engravings and oils of bomb-damaged London and the refugee crisis during the Blitz. Reckitt’s talent at capturing the detail of domesticity and homelessness in her art is exceptionally moving and she stands out as another great, but previously overlooked, female British artist.”

The exhibition is supported by the Golsoncott Foundation, a charitable Trust established to support the arts as part of Reckitt’s legacy. Penelope Lively, Rachel Reckitt’s niece and Trustee of the Foundation said: “We are delighted that this comprehensive exhibition will bring my aunt’s work to a larger audience. She was a central figure in my life, and I watched and marvelled at her versatility, up to and beyond her recreation of herself in later years as one of the few women artist blacksmiths.”
 
The exhibition, Chance Encounters: The Art of Rachel Reckitt, opens at the Museum of Somerset, 19 October 2024 – 15 March 2025. It will be supported by a programme of events including gallery tours, family activities and an engagement programme for schools.
 
Visit museumofsomerset.org.uk