Ottilie Maclaren Wallace

Ottilie Helen McLaren was the youngest daughter of Lord John McLaren (1831–1910), an Edinburgh lawyer and the one-time Lord Advocate of Scotland, and his wife from Glasgow, Ottilie Schwabe, who was from a German-Jewish family. The family was respectable and well to do, with a town house in Moray Place, Edinburgh, and a holiday home in the Highlands. Wallace considered herself a "mixture of Celt and Jew". It is possible Wallace initially took up sculpture as therapy, after an illness. == Studies ==

In 1880s Edinburgh, women's art education was strictly constrained by the regulations of the Royal Scottish Academy. Although women could study up to a certain level at the Board of Trustees school, they were not admitted to RSA classes and were forced to continue their education independently. Wallace worked with Rodin closely for the next two years. She also helped organise his pavilion From 1900 to 1901, Wallace took a room in the artists' quarter of Montparnasse in rue Duguay-Trouin where, in defiance of convention, she could be freely visited by her fiancé, William Wallace. == Work ==

On her return to Edinburgh in 1901, the artist rented a studio in George Street, where she continued to work. She exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy. Her statue of her aunt Priscilla Bright McLaren is in the property of the National Trust at Bodnant. == Exhibitions and awards ==

Wallace exhibited regularly with the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Engravers (London), the Royal Academy of Arts (London), the Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh), and also at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (Glasgow). In 2025, her sculpture of F. S. Oliver is featured in the exhibition "In the Time of Camille Claudel, Being a Woman Sculptor in Paris" organised by the Musée Camille Claudel. == References ==