Vernon's acclaimed artist

Gladys Dalla Husband was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on March 3, 1899, to Herbert and Katherine Husband, who were featured in last week's article.

Known as Dalla, she moved to Vernon in 1907 at the age of seven. She was the middle child, with an older brother, Claude, and a younger sister, Doris.

Dalla attended school in Vernon, where she studied art under the guidance of Jessie Topham Brown. In 1924, thanks to an inheritance from her grandmother, Dalla traveled to London and later Paris to further her art studies.

While in Paris, she studied engraving under Polish-born artist Józef Hecht.

During this time, Dalla also persuaded renowned English painter and printmaker Stanley William Hayter to teach her printmaking. Hayter, inspired by her passion, founded the experimental graphic arts studio Atelier 17 in Paris in 1927.

Known for its collaborative environment, Atelier 17 attracted many famous artists, including Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky. Dalla is believed to have collaborated with Picasso and Kandinsky on two art portfolios, Solidarité (1936) and Fraternité (1939). It is also believed that Dalla and Hayter were romantically involved between 1930 and 1938.

In 1937, Dalla contributed nine etchings to accompany poet Langston Hughes’s reflections on the involvement of Black Americans in the Spanish Civil War. A passionate supporter of the Republican cause, Dalla used the project to raise funds for Spanish resistance efforts, as well as for orphans and widows. She and Hayter even traveled to Spain in 1937 to witness events firsthand and support the Republican effort.

Dalla returned to Vernon in 1940 after the German invasion of Paris, and the following year, she moved to Mexico. Despite holding exhibitions in Paris and London, her promising career was tragically cut short in 1943 when she died of blood poisoning after ear surgery, while preparing for an exhibit in New York.

However, Dalla’s legacy endured. In 1952, to mark Vernon’s 60th anniversary, her brother Claude donated one of her paintings to the city. The painting, titled “Study of Sunflowers,” was presented by Miss Topham Brown. The Winnipeg Art Gallery also continues to hold a significant collection of her work, preserving her artistic contributions.

To view Dalla Husband’s artwork, click here.

Gwyn Evans is the Archives Manager for the Museum and Archives of Vernon.