Born in Bray Co Wicklow, Lilian Davidson was educated privately before going on to attend the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. She began exhibiting with the Watercolour Society of Ireland in 1912, and from then until 1953 never missed a year, contributing in total 188 works to the Society exhibitions. Closely associated with the Royal Hibernian Academy, she exhibited 135 works in forty years, beginning in 1914. In 1920, she held a joint exhibition with Mainie Jellett at Mills’ Hall, Dublin and in the 1920’s, she gave art lessons on Saturday morning’s at her studio in Earlsfort Terrace. Among her pupils were Bea Orpen and Kitty Wilmer O’Brien. “Low Tide Wicklow”, exhibited at the 1934 RHA, was purchased by the Haverty Trust and subsequently presented to the Belfast Museum and Gallery. She became an associate of the RHA in 1940, having earlier exhibited in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Chicago followed by a one women show in Dublin. She was greatly interested in drama, wrote a play, painted scenery and designed for the Torch Theatre in the 1930’s. In the William Butler Yeats centenary exhibition held at the National Gallery of Ireland in 1965, three of her portraits were hung, including one of Sarah Purser. Her portrait of Jack Butler Yeats is included in the collection of the National Gallery.