Angela Lemaire


Angela Jaqueline Lemaire was a British artist and printmaker. Specializing in wood engraving, she lived and worked in the Scottish Borders. She was a member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Her interests included illustrating ancient texts and poems, illustrating the work of authors or poets by commission and creating artist books. For many years, she collaborated with a specialist fine print publisher, The Old Stile Press, that produced handprinted high quality books. Lemaire also created single prints and paintings sometimes to commission.

Early life and education

Lemaire was born in Buckinghamshire on 27 September 1944 to Monica Hope and Eric Lemaire. Her parents had a messy divorce and her father took custody of she and her brother and was educated in London and Sussex before travelling to Australia. There she attended Pymble Ladies' College, Sydney, returning to the UK in 1962. In 1963 she trained in London at Chelsea College of Arts, then attended Camberwell College of Arts between 1964-1967, gaining a Diploma in Art and Design. There she studied relief printmaking and became interested in wood engraving. She went on to study etching at Morley College. In 1969 she published a book about her unhappy childhood titled "Are You Trying to Annoy Me?" using the nom de plume of Katherine Blake.

Work

Lemaire's main interest lies in the combination of text and image illustrating literature across the centuries, from Thomas the Rhymer in the 15th century to Ian Hamilton-Finlay in 1992.
Her work has been exhibited in England, Scotland, and abroad, and can be found in public and private collections internationally. The National Library of Scotland holds an archive of her work which includes book drafts, sketchbooks, correspondence and engravings and the Yale Center for British Art holds many of Lemaire's books and wood engravings.
In 2023 Lemaire had a one woman exhibition of her work at the HAGB gallery in Jedburgh.

Personal life and death

Lemaire had a husband, Roddy Macaskill, and they had a son, before they divorced. She died on 25 April 2025, at the age of 80.

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