Hermes, Gertrude (1901–1983)

British wood engraver and sculptor. Born Gertrude Anna Bertha Hermes in Bromley, Kent, England, on August 18, 1901; died in 1983; daughter of L.A. Hermes; educated privately; attended Belmont School for Girls, Bickley; studied at Beckenham School of Art; studied at Leon Underwood's School of Painting and Sculpture, 1922–26; married Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (an engraver), in 1926 (divorced 1932); children: one son; one daughter.

A British engraver and sculptor, Gertrude Hermes produced distinctive pieces which over the years have found their way into most of the major collections in Europe and North America. Born in Bromley, Kent, in 1901, Hermes studied at the Beckenham School of Art and the Leon Underwood School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1926, she and her husband, Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton, worked as engravers at the Gregynog Press, founded by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies in Central Wales.

Following her divorce in 1932, Hermes moved to London, where she produced a variety of sculptures, prints (linocuts), and decorative pieces, including a mosaic pool floor and stone foundation for the Shakespeare Memorial Theater in Stratford. During the war years, she worked in tank factories and shipyards in the United States and Montreal, producing working drawings. Hermes returned to London in 1945, resuming her work in print-making and sculpture, including bronze portrait heads. She also taught at several London art schools and at the Royal Academy School of Arts. The artist became a fellow of the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers, and Engravers in 1951, and was the recipient of the Jean Masson Davidson Prize for portrait sculpture in 1967. On the occasion of Hermes' 80th birthday in 1981, the Royal Academy held a retrospective exhibition of her work. Hermes was made an OBE in 1982, a year before her death.