History of Edna Manley

Edna Swithenbank Manley, OM (1 March 1900 2 February 1987) was a sculptor

and contributor to Jamaican culture. She was the wife of Norman Manley, the
founder of the Jamaican People's National Party. She is often considered the
"mother of Jamaican art"
Edna Manley was born in Yorkshire, England in 1900 to a Jamaican mother and an English father
and died February 2, 1987. She studied at various art schools in England including St, Michaels
School of Art, London and privately with Maurice Harding, the animal sculptor. She married Norman
Manley in 1921 and in 1922 moved to Jamaica with him. Art as it existed in Jamaica then could not
have interested Edna. Sculpture was almost non-existent and painting was limited to a conservative
watercolour landscape tradition, practiced essentially by amateurs.

Throughout her career the artist passed through a series of phases, each representing Edna stages
in the development of her life and that of Jamaica

A picture of Edna Manley