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{TOC – DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS}

“ Dictionary of Australian Artists ”

by David James Angeloro

(Excerpt of Draft January 2019)

Copyright © 2019 David James Angeloro

David James Angeloro was born and raised in Syracuse, New York and graduated from Columbia University ( New York City ) and Hobart University ( Geneva ). In 1971, he immigrated to Australia where he has worked as a management-technology consultant for commonwealth-state-local government organisations and large corporations throughout Australasia.

David’s interest (obsession) with fine arts started while attending university in New York City. In Australia, he earned a Masters of Art from Sydney University for his thesis Sydney’s Women Sculptors: Women’s Work in Three Dimensions [ 1788-1940 ]. His passion for art extends to art history with particular interests in women artists (his two daughters are well-known artists of mashed-up video works), sculptors and painter-etchers.

The Angeloro family collections have been nearly fifty years in the making. David’s collecting philosophy focused on affordable second tier artists, who were generally well-known in their day, but have been ‘forgotten’ by art historians and curators. David has followed the world-wide trend of reassessing the position and value of pre-1940 painters, illustrators, printmakers and sculptors, especially marginalized women artists.

Why I’m Selling The Collection ? I’m selling my collection because after nearly fifty years, I’m returning to New York and I don’t want these Australian treasures to be lost and unappreciated. It’s time for other art lovers and collectors to appreciate and cherish these artworks.

[999] bracketed numbers preceding the name of an illustrated painting is related to the corresponding Lot Number in Davidson’s Auction Catalogue.

[NAS] indicates that the painting is “ Not Available for Sale ”; while it was once part of the Angeloro family collection, it has moved on to a new owner.

Enquires: [email protected]



DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS - TABLE OF CONTENTS (TOC WITH HOT LINKS)

AUSTRALIAN FEMALE ARTISTS BAKER, CHRISTINA ASQUITH

BALE, ALICE MARION ELLEN

BELL BROWN, EDITH J. (ISABELLA)

BROOKS, EVA (EVELYN CAROLINE)

COGHLAN, ELAINE EDITH

CRAIG, SYBIL MARY FRANCES

CUMBRAE STEWART, JANET AGNES

CUSACK, ALINE MARGARET

CUSACK, EDITH ELEANORA

EVANS, JESSIE LAVER (A.K.A. LAVINGTON)

GEACH, PORTIA STRANTON

GREGORY, INA (GEORGIANA) ALICE

GURDON, NORAH

HAKE, ELSIE FREDERICA (MRS ARTHUR BARLOW)

HAXTON, ELAINE ALYS (A.K.A. MRS RICHARD FOOT)

HOY, GRACE

HUME, ELLEN ADYE (NEE JENKINS)

JENKINS, CONSTANCE LILLIAN (MRS ERIC SPENCER MACKAY)

LAYCOCK, GLADYS DAPHNE (MRS D’ARCY OSBORNE)

MEESON, DORA (MRS GEORGE COATES)

MERFIELD, BERTHA ELIZABETH

MESTON, (EUPHEMIA) EMILY

MOSER, MARION CONSTANCE

MUNTZ-ADAMS, JOSEPHINE MARGARET (NEE MUNTZ)

MUSKETT, ALICE JANE

NICHOLAS, (EMILY) HILDA RIX

NORRISS TAIT, BESS (ELIZABETH) MAY

NORTON, ALICE ELIZA (MRS FRANCIS A.Q. STEPHENS)

PARSONS, ANNIE HEDLEY (NEE NICOLL; MRS HARRY I PARSONS)

PAYNE, FRANKIE (FRANCES) MALLALIEU (MRS ANDREW P. CLINTON)

POTTER, ANNIE E.

REIDY, LILLA (ELISABETH MARY ANN)

RODWAY, FLORENCE ALINE (MRS WALTER MOORE)

SCARVELL, JESSIE EMILY (MRS CHARLES W. BUNDOCK)

STEPHENS, ETHEL ANNA

TINDALL, AGNES (NESSIE) S. (MRS SYDNEY BROOKS LLOYD)

TRAILL, JESSIE CONSTANCE ALICIA

TUOMY, FABIOLA VERONICA

VALE, AMY (AMELIA)

VALE, MAY (MRS ALEXANDER GILFILLAN)

WHYTE, JANE (JANIE) WILKINSON

WILSON, DORA LYNNELL (A.K.A. ‘WILTZ’)

AUSTRALIAN MALE ARTISTS BACKHOUSE, (ROBERT) CLARENCE

BYRNE, HAROLD

CHRISTMAS, ERNEST WILLIAM (R.B.A.)

COFFEY, ALFRED ROLAND LEOPOLD

CONDER, CHARLES EDWARD

CRISP, JAMES ALEXANDER

DALY, HERBERT JAMES

FULLWOOD, ALBERT HENRY

JONES, JOHN LLEWELYN

LINDSAY, NORMAN ALFRED WILLIAM

LISTER (A.K.A. BUTTREY), WILLIAM LISTER

MCINNES, WILLIAM BECKWITH

OFFICER, EDWARD CAIRNS

PATERSON, JOHN FORD

QUINN, JAMES PETER QUINN

ROSE, HERBERT GEORGE

TAYLOR-GHEE, ROBERT EDGAR

TINDALL, CHARLES EPHRAIM SMITH

WATKINS, JOHN SAMUEL (A.K.A. ‘ WATTIE ’)

WHYTE, DUNCAN MACGREGOR



PREFACE Let me start by saying that I won’t argue who is Australian,

American, English, etc and I’ve considered an artist to be Australian if

he/she was born in Australia and/or painted for a time in Australia. If

not ‘Australian’, then I have used the country in which the person was

born and/or raised. There is no international ‘standard’ and the subject

is a minefield whereby important artists are claimed by national groups

with the flimsiest of hooks. I also know that the United Kingdom is part

of Europe, but in the world of Australian art the separation of the United

Kingdom and the rest of Europe can be important.

The following biographical information is typically more accurate

and complete than sources available on the Internet (Design and Art

Australia Online and Dictionary of Australian Biography) or printed

publications. I have researched each artist carefully and thoroughly,

correcting where discovered mis-information and myth that in some

cases has circulated as fact for decades. I plan to merge this

information into Design and Art Australia Online and Dictionary of

Australian Biography as soon as I have the time after my move.

With the digitizing of much of Australia’s, New Zealand’s and

American newspaper archives and access to genealogy websites like

Ancestry.com, researching a biography of an undocumented artist and

proofing the details of a documented Australian artist are less complex

and time-consuming than sifting through paper and microfiche

archives, but is still not necessarily easy. Birth and death dates have

often been confused with persons who have the same or similar names

and biographical details were often compiled from personal or family

myth building, people’s long-term memories, or old index card files. By

going back to primary sources, I was able to produce a more accurate

and complete biography of individual artists and recreate the times in

which they lived and painted.

By including the artist’s family details, art historians are able

to determine the circumstances that influenced an artist’s youth

and career. This is especially important to dispel the incorrect

assumption that most women artists were supported by their

fathers or husbands. From my own detailed analysis, I have found

the many fathers died before the artist attended art school or early

in the artist’s professional career. Australia’s women artists often

married after their artistic careers were established and their

husbands often died within a decade of the marriage or were

absent and not directly supporting their wives and children. There

is little evidence that women artist received more financial

assistance from their families than their brother-artists.

Unlike today, between the 1870s and 1930s, art societies,

associations and clubs played an important role in the

development of an artist’s professional career. These artists’

groups organized exhibitions two to four times per year,1 each

exhibition containing several hundred paintings on view for

several weeks. This was how most professional artists exhibited

and sold their artworks, solo and joint exhibitions only gaining in

popularity and importance as the 20th century progressed. In an

era without the internet, television, radio, movies or even popular

magazines, the daily newspapers covered group, joint and solo

exhibitions in detail. The newspaper archives contain a largely

untapped resource about the lives and times of Australia’s artists,

even those who have been ‘forgotten and marginalised’.

In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, artists were

celebrities, held on par with performing singers and musicians

and theater actors, and generally ahead of sportspersons who

were generally local amateurs. The newspaper archives contain

not only details of the exhibitions, but also contemporary art

critique and biographical details of the artists working between

1870s and 1930s.

1 I have collected copies of most of the exhibition catalogues for the major and many of the minor art societies in all Australian states between 1870s and 1940, a massive resource with literally thousands of artists and tens-of-thousands of pictures across all media.



Dictionary of Biography - Australian Women Artists

BAKER, CHRISTINA ASQUITH [ VICTORIA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, EUROPE, UK ]

BORN: 13th May 1869 at Islington, London, England

DIED: 29th July 1960 at St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria

Christina Asquith Baker was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher. Her parents

were Rev. William Asquith [1844-1884] and Christina [1850-1931; Gillbanks] Baker. The family

arrived at Melbourne on 3rd January 1870 aboard the Collingrove, afterward for more than a

decade, the Reverend preaching in country Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. After

her father’s death at Clare, South Australia, the family settled in Melbourne.

C. Asquith Baker received her artistic training at the Port Melbourne School of Art prior to

attending the National Gallery of Victoria School (1888-95) under Fred McCubbin, George

Folingsby and Bernard Hall and Melbourne School of Art (1893-97) under E. Phillips Fox and

Tudor St George Tucker, where she was awarded a free year of tuition and other prizes. In 1895,

she resigned from the National Gallery School after refusing to ‘complete’ an oil painting that

Bernard Hall considered unfinished (Baker considered it complete and ready for exhibition).

[101] White Roses circa 1912; oil on board; 34.0 x 43.5 cm;

signed: “ C. Asquith Baker ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1912 while in Paris, France and acquired by E. Phillips Fox when his studio was next to hers in Paris.

COLLECTION: E. Phillips Fox from 1912.

PURCHASED: 1994 from Leonard Joel’s.

Even though still-lifes are not generally associated with Australian Impressionism, Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and most of the exponents of impressionist styles painted still-lifes, especially flower arrangements.

[102] Yarra River at Dusk

a.k.a. River Landscape circa 1906; oil on board; 34.0 x 43.0 cm;

signed: “ C. Asquith Baker ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1906 shortly after returning after five years study in Paris, France.

PURCHASED: 1998 from Deutscher-Menzie’s.

The Yarra River (a.k.a. Yarra Yarra River) has its source in the Yarra Ranges and flows 242 kilometers west through the Yarra Valley which opens out into plains as it winds its way through Greater Melbourne before emptying into Hobsons Bay in northernmost Port Phillip. It flows through Richmond, Hawthorn, Fairfield, Heidelberg, Bulleen, Templestowe, Eltham, Warrandyte, Yarra Glen, Healesville, Woori Yallock, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Warburton and McMahons Creek. Even though its colour is perpetually muddy brown, it featured in many landscapes in the 19th and early-20th centuries.



In 1898, one of Baker’s artworks was selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art at the

Grafton Gallery in London. In November 1898, she held a joint exhibition with Miss Francis at a

gallery on Collins Street that received good reviews. In early-1903, Baker boarded the Persic

arriving at London in May 1903, after a voyage that had taken her to Wellington, Rio De Janeiro

and the Virgin Islands. Between 1904 and December 1905, C. Asquith Baker continued her artistic

studies in Paris at the Académie Julien (1903-1904) under Jean Paul Laurens, Marcel Baschet

and Gabriel Ferris, and privately under Charles Augustus Lasar [1856-1936], an American

Impressionist, who spent most of his career in France. She took painting trips to Etaples (where

the Rae sisters were based) and other French scenic spots, also spending time studying and

painting in Holland and England. While in Paris, Baker shared a studio with Ada Plante, another

Melbourne artists and exhibited at Paris’s Salons.

In early-1906, C. Asquith Baker returned to Melbourne where she held an exhibition of her

European paintings at Athenaeum Gallery, afterward giving lessons in painting and drawing from

her Bourke Street studio and later Benalla. After solo exhibitions at the Athenaeum Gallery in May

1911 and May 1912 (sold 30 paintings), she boarded the S.S. Commonwealth on 6th June 1912

to returned to London and Paris where she renewed her friendship with E. Phillips Fox,

maintaining a studio next to his in Paris. In 1913, she held her first international solo exhibition at

the Baille Gallery (London October 1913). In 1914, she studied lithography and etching at London

and exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Walker Gallery

(Liverpool), returning to Melbourne in December 1914 due to the outbreak of World War II. In

addition to taking painting commissions and exhibiting extensively, C. Asquith Baker again

conducted art classes at her studio on Elisabeth Street, continuing this routine until 1955 when

she was 87-years-old. Unlike many women artists of the day, C. Asquith Baker considered herself

a professional artist who lived from her earnings as an artist, her father having died when she was

a child, having never married and having no private means or income. A measure of her success

was C. Asquith Baker’s ability to exhibit and sell paintings for more than 100 guineas, a price only

achievable by the top artists of the time. In Melbourne, she exhibited at the Melbourne Society of

Women Painters and Sculptors, Australian Art Association and Victorian Artists' Society, serving

on its Council (1909-11).

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGSA; NGV.

PORTRAITS: Bulletin (15th July 1920).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show, More

Than Just Gum Trees; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Design and Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.



BALE, ALICE MARION ELLEN (A.K.A. AME BALE) [ Victoria ]

BORN: 11th November 1875 at Richmond, Victoria

DIED: 14th February 1955 at Melbourne, Victoria

Alice M.E. Bale was a professional artist who between the 1910s and 1950s was considered

by many art critics to be Australia’s leading painter of flowers and still-lifes. She was the only child

of William Mountier [1851-1940; customs official, well-known naturalist and member of the Royal

Society of Victoria] and Marian [1839-1915; nee Adams] Bale. Alice spent her early life at

Richmond, Victoria and between 1886 and 1955, she lived with her family at Kew. Between 1885

and 1892, she attended the Methodist Ladies’ College where she distinguished herself in music

and literature. In 1891 and 1892, she qualified to attend the University of Melbourne, but instead

choose a career as a painter. Throughout her long career, Alice M.E. Bale listed herself as “artist’

and maintained an art studio at Kew. Between 1929 and mid-1930s, she owned and maintained

a cottage and artist studio in Castlemaine, where she painted primarily landscapes and interior

scenes. Throughout most of her career, she was outspoken on matters dealing with Victoria’s art

community.

Between 1893 and 1898, Alice Bale intermittently studied art privately under May Vale and in

circa 1902 and 1903 took art classes with Hugh Ramsay. At the age of 20-years, she studied full-

time at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1895-1904) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard

Hall, being awarded nine prizes and in her later years of study was an annual contender for the

School’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship. In 1907, she exhibited oil paintings (flower

arrangement and still-lifes and a genre subject), a watercolour (figure painting) and black-and-

white pictures (portrait, figure study and illustrations) at the Australian Exhibition of Women's

Work where she was awarded 1st Prize for Oil Genre and 2nd Prize for Oil Flower Painting. After

1918, Alice Bale became an advocate of Max Meldrum and his “tonal Impressionism” (generalised

masses of light and dark).

In 1922, two of her flower paintings were purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria and

one was included in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Since then her paintings have been

acquired by most of the state and numerous regional gallery collections. In 1927, three of her

landscape painting were finalists in the prestigious Wynne Prize. In the 1920s and 1930s, Alice

Bale had solo and joint (usually with Jo Sweatman and Bernice Edwell) exhibitions almost every

year in Melbourne and occasionally in Sydney that receive praise repeatedly from the art critic

who often classified her as ‘Australia’s leading flower painter’. However, throughout her career,

her portraits, genre subjects, interior scenes and landscapes also received considerable attention

and highly favourable critiques. On 23rd May 1933, William Blamire Young the artist and art critic

for the Herald stated

[103] The Letter

a.k.a. Admiring the Begonias circa 1900; oil on canvas; 54.0 x 54.0 cm;

signed: “ A.M.E. Bale ” (upper right).

PROVENANCE


In 1902, Alice M.E. Bale painted Leisure Moments, an iconic interior scene with three ladies actively occupying the space of Bale’s studio, but none are looking out at the viewer. Alice Bale’s father was a well-known naturalist and his daughter relished in portraying floral still-lifes. Admiring the Begonia is quite unusual as it portrays a lady who is inside the home, admiring a potted plant outside. What is unusual about this composition is that the begonia’s flowers are not the focus, but instead the large variegated leaves of the plant carry the interest.



Miss Bale’s picture of Scabious stands with the work of Fantin-Latour well over the normal standard of flower painting, its color is entirely satisfactory, the quality of its paint has a sensuous richness that endows the greys with an opulence that they rarely carry. In the matter of texture, we may miss the Fantinian contrast between the flowers and the background, but otherwise the whole composition has a unity about it that leaves us little more to wish for.”

Alice Bale had a strong sense of independence and a firm belief in her own considerable talent,

dedicating her long life to art. In 1894 when only 19-years-old, she became an exhibiting member

of the Victorian Artists' Society, serving on its Council and editing its Journal between 1918 and

1919. From 1923, her membership of the Australian Art Association enabled her to exhibit

annually with the major artists from all States. In 1923, two of her paintings were selected for the

prestigious Exhibition of Australian Art in London, a group portrait was hung at the Royal

Academy in London in 1933 and another portrait was displayed at Paris’s Old Salon in 1939.

Between 1943 and 1948, she exhibited with the Half Dozen Group of Artists in Brisbane and in

1946, was commissioned to paint a portrait of Major General Vasey for the Australian War

Memorial.

After her death, Alice Bale left and estate worth more than £46,000, much of the money being

used to endow the biennial A.M.E. Bale Travelling Scholarship and Art Prize with the intent to

encourage, support and advance classical training of emerging artists who are pursuing the study

and practice of traditional art.

From the mid-1890s, Alice Bale exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society and was a prominent

member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (from 1905) and a foundation

member of the Melbourne Twenty Painters. In Melbourne, she also exhibited at the Victorian

Artists' Society, serving on its Council (1914, 1916-18), Australian Art Association and Twenty

Melbourne Painters. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Artists and Society of Women

Painters.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; AGSA; NGA, NGV; QAG; Australian War Memorial; and Regional

Galleries in Ballarat, Bendigo, Benalla, Castlemaine, Hamilton, Mildura, Warrnambool and

Wollongong; and numerous library and university collections.

PORTRAIT: By William Rowell (CAGHM)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Artists Camps; Encyclopedia of Australian Artist; More Than Just Gum Leaves; Story of

Australian Art; Heritage; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Argus (31st December 1891; 23rd May 1922; 15th November 1935; 1st October 1940; 25th October 1955); Table Talk (27th May 1898; 17th August 1922; 27th February 1929); Herald (15th April 1912; 27th March 1927); Australasian (27th October 1923; 21st March 1925); Age (3rd August 1929); numerous newspaper articles.



BELL BROWN, EDITH J. (ISABELLA) [ New South Wales ]

Born: 10th August 1864 at Surrey Hills (Sydney), New South Wales

Died: 13th December 1946 at Darling Point (Sydney), New South Wales

Edith Bell-Brown was professional painter, art teacher china painter, ceramicist, photographer

and printmaker. Her parents were John [1833-1895; official of Bank of NSW] and Eliza Charlotte

[1835-1883; nee Edson] Brown. Edith Isabella Brown was the sister of Ethel Maude Brown, both

being students at the Sydney Technical College in the 1890's. A contemporary of theirs was

Gertrude Brown, both Gertrude and Edith taking up teaching positions at the college. In order to

resolve the confusion between Gertrude and Edith it has been suggested that Edith I. Brown

modified her name using Bell-Brown, ‘Bell’ being a reference to one of her grandparents.

Edith Bell-Brown received her initial artistic training at Sydney Teachers College (1893), later

teaching art at the college (1897-1909). She also studied at Sydney Technical College (1894-

1899), later teaching at (East) Sydney Technical College (1899-1926). She was a member of the

Minerva Art Club, serving as its Vice-

Chairperson. In 1907, she exhibited at the

Australian Exhibition of Women's Work

where she was awarded second prize in the

Plain, Fancy and Art Needlework. When she

started exhibiting her artworks in circa 1910,

she adopted the ‘Bell Brown’ family name. By

1911, she was teaching arts and crafts from

her studio and in 1914, she exhibited several

etchings at the Society of Woman Painters. In

the mid-1910s, she was an outstanding potter,

the Art Gallery of NSW acquiring four of her

porcelain pieces.

In Sydney, Edith Bell Brown exhibited at

the Royal Art Society, Society of Women

Painters and Society of Arts & Craft of N.S.W.

In Brisbane, she exhibited with the Royal

Queensland Art Society and in Adelaide, the

Royal South Australian Society of Art.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Painters 1900-50;

numerous newspaper articles.

[104] “ Greenoaks ” and

“ Back of Trinity Church, Milson Point ” 1910; watercolour;

signed: “ Edith Bell Brown ” (reverse side).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1990 from private collector.



BROOKS, EVA (A.K.A. EVELYN CAROLINE) [ VICTORIA ]

BORN: 1867 at Williamstown, Victoria

DIED: 1st November 1897 at Heidelberg, Victoria

Eva Brooks was a promising landscape painter who died tragically at Heidelberg, while

attending E. Phillips Fox’s Summer School. She was the daughter of John [????-before 1897;

customs officer] and Joanna [????-after 1897; nee Rankin] and had two siblings John Leicester

Brooks [1869-1949; carpenter] and Minnie Maud Brooks [1871-1871]. Eva resided with her family

at 10 Learmonth Street, Moonee Ponds and had attended Kensington State School not far from

her home.

Eva Brooks received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victory School (1890s) and

Melbourne School of Art under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker. Between 1895 and

1897, she was an active member of the Victorian Sketching Club where she attended sketching

outings in the countryside around Melbourne to paint en plein air pictures that were exhibited at

the Club’s monthly exhibitions.

Eva Brooks was a promising landscape painter who in November 1897 accidently drowned at

Heidelberg, while bathing in the cold Yarra River, succumbing of heart failure. For a time prior to

the accident, she and two other art students of E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker had

rented a cottage at Charterisville and had spent their days painting and sketching the scenic

countryside around the Yarra River. Early in the morning of 1st November 1897, Harry J. Recknall,

another artist, had come across a pile of clothes and a hat suspended from a quince tree that

were identified by other artists painting in the area. Police were contacted and the river dragged,

resulting in Eva Brooks body being discovered a fortnight later.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Table Talk (1st February 1895; 8th February 1895); Melbourne Punch (7th February 1895); Tatler

(27th April 1897); Herald (2nd November); Age (4th & 18th November 1897); Mercury and Weekly Courier (5th

November 1897); Argus (30th July 1870; 18th November 1897); Sunbury News and Bulla and Melton Advertiser

(20th November 1897).



COGHLAN, ELAINE EDITH [ New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria ]

Born: 30th August 1897 at Ashfield, New South Wales Died: 5th June 1989 at Sydney, New South Wales

Elaine E. Coghlan was a professional painter and art teacher. She was the second eldest of

the five children of Frederick Albert [1859-1938; Auditor General of N.S.W.] and Kate Edith [1873-

1952; nee Blackwood] Coghlan. Elaine lived with her family at the Sydney suburbs of Stanmore,

Cremorne and Lane Cove. During World War I, she volunteered at the canteen at Victoria

Barracks in Paddington.

Elaine Coghlan received initial education at Petersham Superior Public School and her artistic

training at the Royal Art Society School (1918-1925) under Dattilo Rubbo and James R. Jackson.

While at the R.A.S. School, she was awarded three life painting scholarships, a life drawing

scholarship and a number of other art prizes. In mid-1920s, she studied portrait painting under

Lawson Balfour at the Society of Women Painters. Between 1929 and 1946, she was a finalist in

the prestigious Archibald Prize (1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1941) for Portraiture

and Wynne Prize (1941, 1944, 1946 and 1947) for Landscape Painting. In 1930, she had a joint

exhibition with Frankie Payne at the Arts Club and in 1936 Coghlan had a solo exhibition of oils,

watercolours and drawings at the Wynyard Book Club (George Street Sydney). In 1947, her pencil

drawing The Model was illustrated in Australian Art Illustrated, Royal Art Society Publication.

During the late-1920s and 1930s, Elaine Coghlan taught portrait and landscape painting at her

studio at Cremorne Point. From circa 1938, she also taught at several private schools including

Cremorne Grammar School for Girls and Manly Grammar School. During World War II, she

studied engineering drawing and on completion of the course was employed with Roneo (Hunter

Street, Sydney), but continued to teach evening art classes at the Mosman Public School. In the

1960s, her eyesight began to fail and afterward her artistic career was greatly curtailed.

Early in her artistic career, Elaine Coghlan concentrated on oil painting, but later she turned to

watercolours as her principal medium. She was primarily an oil painter and watercolourist who

painted plein air landscapes of New South Wales, but also included scenes of Tasmania and

Victoria. She is represented in the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery and the Howard Hinton

Collection at Armidale Teachers' College. In 1990, the Seasons Gallery (North Sydney) held a

retrospective exhibition of her artwork.

Elaine Coghlan was a prominent member of the Society of Women Painters (1925-1934),

serving on its Council and on its Exhibition Committees, and Women's Industrial Arts Society

(1935-1936). In Sydney, she also exhibited at the Royal Art Society, Society of Artists, Australian

Watercolour Institute, Painter-Etchers' and Graphic Arts Society of Australia and Australian Art

Society, serving on its Council.

COLLECTIONS: Howard Hinton Collection; Newcastle AG.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Heritage; Design and Art Australia Online; Daily Telegraph

(12th December 1909); Sydney Morning Herald (6th July 1918); numerous newspaper clippings.

[105] Self-Portrait at Easel 1931; oil on canvas on board; 27.0 x 22.0 cm;

signed: “ E.E. Coghlan ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: Finalist in 1930 Archibald Prize;

COLLECTIONS: 1930-1993 Elaine Coghlan then by descent through family

PURCHASED: 2006 from Bonhams & Goodman.

Elaine E. Coghlan received her artistic training at the Royal Art Society School (1918-1925) under Dattilo Rubbo and James R. Jackson, being awarded three life painting scholarships, a life drawing scholarship and a number of other art prizes.In mid-1920s, she studied portrait painting under Lawson Balfour at the Society of Women Painters. Between 1929 and 1946, she was a finalist in the prestigious Archibald Prize (1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1941) for Portraiture and Wynne Prize (1941, 1944, 1946 and 1947) for Landscape Painting.



[107] Monsieur de Closay – Artist plus original sketch

1929; oil on canvas on board; 44.0 x 33.5 cm;

signed: “ Elaine Coghlan ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: 1929 Finalist in prestigious Archibald Prize for Portraiture; Sydney Morning Herald (17th January 1930) “ …there is also a spirited study by Miss Elaine Coghlan, a portrait of M. de Closay, showing strength and definiteness of treatment. ”


PURCHASED: 1993 from artist’s family. Edward (Tiger) Tenri de Closay [1859 1936] was a painter, printmaker and postcard artist. He was born in Mauritius and graduated from the French Academy (Paris) in oils and watercolours. He later became involved with the School of Art (Madras) and as an official artist in Bombay, India. In 1899, he arrived in Australia where he used the name Edward Tiger de Closay. By 1915, failing eyesight greatly reduced his artistic activities. He produced a series of postcards published by the New South Wales Bookstall Co. The Art Series included colour portraits of actresses, state shields, butterflies, country transport and bushrangers. He also published postcards under the pseudonym ‘Tiger’ for Harding and Billings that were images of women.

[108] “ Russian Cap ” 1934; oil on canvas on board; 46.0 x 35.5 cm;

signed: “ Elaine Coghlan ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: 1934 Finalist in prestigious Archibald Prize for Portraiture;


PURCHASED: 1993 from artist’s family.

[106] “Lawson Balfour, Australian Artist ” 1926; oil on canvas on board; 37.0 x 26.5 cm;

signed: “ E.E. Coghlan ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: April 1926 at Sydney’s Society of Woman Painters Exhibition (Daily Telegraph (29th April 1926 “One admires the adventurous spirit of E. E. Coghlan, who contributes a clever study of Lawson Balfour”);





[110] “ Enid (Dickson - Artist) ” 1932; oil on canvas on board; 41.0 x 31.0 cm;

signed: “ E.E. Coghlan ” (label verso).

PROVENANCE



[111] “ Middle Harbour ”

1930s; watercolour and ink; 16.0 x 30.5 cm;

signed: “ Elaine Coghlan ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

COLLECTIONS: 1930-1993 Elaine Coghlan then by descent through family;


[109] “ Gypsy Dancer ” 1928; oil on canvas on board; 34.5 x 244.5 cm

signed: “ Elaine Coghlan ” (lower right)

Provenance

PAINTED: While studying under Lawson Balfour at the Society of Women Painters’ School of Fine Arts”);





CRAIG, SYBIL MARY FRANCES [ Victoria; UK ]

BORN: 18th November 1901 at Enfield (London), England

DIED: 17th September 1989 at Caulfield, Victoria

Sybil Craig was a professional painter. She was the only daughter of Australian parents

Matthew Francis [1872-1958; architect-surveyor] and Winifred Frances [1880-1970; nee Majors]

Craig, the family returning to Australia when she was one year old. Sybil Craig received her early

education at Atherton College in Sandringham, being awarded a number of prizes. Between 1936

and 1951, she maintained an artist studio on Collins Street and from 1914, lived with her family

at Caulfield.

Sybil Craig received her initial artistic training under John Shirlow, at George Bell School (circa

1923-1924) and at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1924-1931) under Bernard Hall, William

McInnes and Charles Wheeler. She studied printmaking and design at the Melbourne Institute of

Technology (1935) under Robert Timmings and Napier Waller, and in the 1930s, produced a

number of linocut prints. In the 1950s, she studied at the Victorian Artists’ Society under Ian Bow.

In June 1932, Sybil Craig held her first of numerous solo exhibitions at the Athenaeum and other

Melbourne galleries. In 1922, she travelled to the United Kingdom with her family, returning late

in the same year. During World War II, she was appointed an official war artist with Nora Heysen

and Stella Bowen, painting only scenes within Australia.

It was John Shirlow who introduced her to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, such as

demonstrated by Paul Gaugin and Henri Matisse. Sybil Craig was best- known as an expressionist

flower painter, but her work covers a much broader spectrum of subjects painted in a post-

impressionist style with a strong use of colour and polished design. She was friends with Arthur

Streeton and Rupert Bunny, whose portraits she painted.

In Melbourne, Sybil Craig was a foundation member of the New Melbourne Art Club, Twenty

Melbourne Artists and a prominent member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and

Sculptors. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Women Painters. In 1981, she was awarded

a Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the arts.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; NGV; AGSA; Australian War Memorial; Library of Victoria; Ballarat AG;

Warrnambool AG.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: George Bell School; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, Ladies Picture Show; Heritage;

Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design & Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[112] “ Chinese Jar

and Black-Berry Leaves”

a.k.a. Artist’s Still-Life 1934: oil on canvas board; 37.0 x 27.0 cm;

signed: “ Sybil Craig 1934 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

FROM: GOWRIE GALLERY (LABEL VERSO)

PURCHASED: 1993 from Goodman’s.



CUMBRAE STEWART, JANET AGNES [ Victoria; New South Wales; Tasmania; Europe; UK ]

BORN: 23rd December 1883 at Brighton Beach, Victoria

DIED: 8th September 1960 at South Yarra, Victoria

Janet Cumbrae Stewart was a professional painter in primarily pastels and oils. She was the youngest of the ten children of Francis Edward [1833-1904; banker] and Agnes [1843-1927; nee Parks] Stewart; her father opposing his daughter’s interest in becoming a professional artist. The children of the family adopted the family name Cumbrae-Stewart, but Janet didn’t use the hyphen.

Janet Cumbrae Stewart received early artistic encouragement from John Mather who taught her plein air painting and later studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1901-1908) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall, being awarded 2nd Place in its Travelling Scholarship in 1905 and 1908. However, Cumbrae Stewart was self-taught in pastels, a media in which she excelled. In 1907, she exhibited an oil portrait and a flower painting at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work where she was awarded 1st Prize for Pastel Painting. She was awarded a Honourable Mention at the Paris Salon and a Silver Medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco (1914). In 1918, the Art Gallery of NSW purchased three of her pastel artworks and later the National Gallery of Victoria purchased five of her art European works. Throughout the 1910s and early-1920s, she held successful solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, especially of her pastel nudes and life-studies.

On 29th May 1922, Janet Cumbrae Stewart departed Melbourne aboard the SS Aeneas to the United Kingdom, a large number of her pastels she hoped to exhibit in London being damaged beyond repair during the voyage. On arrival, she took a studio in St John Wood (London) and soon had a highly successful solo exhibition at the Walker Gallery, Queen Mary purchasing two of her pastels. Cumbrae Stewart travelled throughout England and Scotland and lived for eight years in the Southern France and Northern Italy, having studios at Florence, Alassio, Milan and Avignon. While overseas, she exhibited at the Beaux Arts Gallery, Royal Academy, Royal Society of Oil Painters, Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Society of Women Artists and Salon des Artistes Francaise, her exhibitions bringing her financial security and an international reputation. After 15 years living overseas, Janet Cumbrae Stewart returned to Melbourne on 17th February 1937 aboard the Dutch steamer Melisker, stating her reasons as concern over the unrest in Europe.

After her return, Janet Cumbrae Stewart and her companion Miss ‘Bill’ Bellairs lived at ‘Wanna’ at Hurstbridge (north of Templestowe; designated a native animal sanctuary) and from 1947, they lived at South Yarra until her death. Janet Cumbrae Stewart is primarily remembered for her female nudes painted in pastel. In Melbourne, she was a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society, serving on its Council, Australian Art Association and Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Women Painters and in Queensland with the Queensland Art Society.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; NGV; QAG; NLA; Gallería del'Arte Moderna (Milan, Italy); and Reginal Galleries in Victoria.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Water Colour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies Picture Show; More Than Just Gum Trees; Heritage; Age (5th September 1931); Argus (19th February 1937); numerous newspaper

clippings.

[113] Pensive circa 1906; oil on canvas on board;

61.0 x 48.0 cm; inscribed: in pencil {verso}.

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1906 while studying at National Art School (NGV) under Bernard Hall and Fred McCubbin

COLLECTION: until 1961 studio of Cumbrae Stewart

PURCHASED: 1961 by Private Collector in 1961 from estate auction of Cumbrae Stewart’s studio contents;

PURCHASED: 1994 from Gray’s.

This is a typical costumed subject painted by the students of Bernard Hall during painting classes at the National Gallrey of Victoria School.



CUSACK, ALINE MARGARET [ New South Wales, UK, Ireland, Europe; USA ]

BORN: 7th March 1867 at Nelson, New Zealand

DIED: 12th July 1949 at Pymble (Sydney), New South Wales

Aline M. Cusack was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher. She was the youngest

child of Georgiana Frances [1840-1913; nee Holmes] and Samuel Athanasius [1830-1869; M.D.,

F.R.C.S.I., M.R.C.S.L.] Cusack, an Irish Army surgeon who had fought in Crimean War and was

the brother of the notorious “Nun of Kenmare”, Margaret Anna Cusack. Aline M. and Edith E.

Cusack had at least seven siblings (Arthur A. [1858-1883]; Joseph Athanasius [1861-1893];

Georgiana Frances [1862-1890]; son [1863-1863]; Edward Chamney [1864-1930]; Maud [1868-

1869]; and Harry Samuel [1869-1926] Cusack).

In February 1861, the Cusack family emigrated from Dublin, Ireland to New Zealand aboard

the SS Lord Ashley from London, hoping that Samuel’s health would improve. The family settled

in Spring Grove, South Island (20 kilometers southwest of Nelson) where he practiced medicine

and from October 1862 was also surgeon for the Nelson Volunteer Rifles. In March 1868, the

family (including seven children) resettled to Wellington but in November 1868, immigrated to

Australia aboard the Mataura, settling in Maitland in the Hunter Valley where Georgina had a

brother Joseph Broadbent Holmes [1817-1897], who had planted some of the earliest grapevines

for winemaking in the Hunter Valley. On 9th February 1869, Dr Samuel Cusack died of

tuberculosis, leaving his wife and surviving seven children in poverty, the family’s extensive farm

and holdings in Wairau Valley, New Zealand remaining unsold for more than three years.

Aline M. Cusack worked from an inner-city studio (1895-96: Norwich Chambers; (1896-1914)

66 Paling's Building, Ash Street off George Street) which she shared with her sister Edith E., who

was also a professional artist. Between 1890 and 1937, they lived at ‘Laragh’, 42 William Street,

Lavender Bay, building a purpose-built studio attached to their home in 1906. From 1937 until her

death, Aline Cusack and her sister Edith lived at 1 Bromley Avenue, Pymble.

Aline Cusack received her artistic training at Parramatta under Joseph Bennett, paying her

weekly fees by being his assistant teacher. She later continued her studies at the Royal Art

Society School under Gordon Coutts. In 1898, she was awarded the School’s President’s Prize

and Hanson Prize. In December 1905, she travelled to London where she studied animal painting

under Frank Calderon A.R.A. and later Colarossi Académie in Paris. While oversea, Aline Cusack

took the opportunity to paint at the artists’ colony at Etaples, Frances and Venice, Italy. On 21st

February 1908, Aline M. Cusack arrived at Sydney aboard the RMS Ophir from London after two

years art studies in London and Paris. In July 1908, Aline and Edith Cusack held a highly

successful joint exhibition of more than 100 paintings at the Walter Bradley’s Gallery on George

Street. In addition to landscapes, life-studies and still-lifes, a feature of the exhibition was Aline’s

animal paintings, a subject seldom painted by Australian’s women artists.

[114] Darling Harbour Waterfront, 1895 1895; oil on panel; 41.5 x 24.0 cm;

signed: “ A Cusack 1895 ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: 1895, shortly after her sister Edith E. Cusack had returned from studying art in Paris, France; related to paintin of Darling Harbour 1895 painted by Edith Cusack that is in Newcasle Art Gallery’s Collection.




From 1894 when her sister Edith returned from studying art in Europe, they taught painting

and drawing from their inner-city studio, becoming well-known for the plein air landscapes painted

in an impressionistic style. In 1898, two of Aline’s landscapes were selected for the Exhibition of

Australian Art at the Grafton Gallery, London. In 1907, she exhibited oil animal paintings (one

for 63 guineas) and a flower painting] and watercolour (still-life) paintings at the Australian

Exhibition of Women's Work.

In June 1914 (one month before the outbreak of war), Edith and Aline Cusack travelled to the

United Kingdom aboard the Ballarat to further their artistic careers, but until the armistice, picked

fruit with the Land Girls (a.k.a. Kitchener’s Lizzies) at Warwickshire with Australian miniaturist

Justine Kong Sing, worked in military canteens and between April 1918 and February 1919 served

as VAD Ward Orderlies at No.72 General Military Hospital in France, nursing wounded soldiers.

After the war, the two sisters caravanned around the United Kingdom, afterward travelling and

painting in Ireland, France and Belgian before returning to Sydney in August 1920 aboard the

Megantic. Between 1925 and 1926, they were again travelling and painting in the United States

and Europe, taking their final trip in 1936-1937.

In Sydney, Aline was a member of the Royal Art Society (from 1894) and a founding member

of the Society of Women Painters, serving as its Vice-President, on Council and as Honorary

Treasurer. In New Zealand, she exhibited at the N.Z. Academy of Fine Arts (1905).

PORTRAIT: Pastel by Edith Cusack [AGNSW].

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Ladies’ Picture Show; Australian Art Review (1st April 1899);

Evening News (1st January 1900); Sydney Morning Herald (6th September 1902); Art & Architecture (July-Aug

1909); Australasian (12th November 1921); numerous newspaper articles.

[115] Still-Life - Fuchsia, Plums & Grapes circa 1900; watercolour; 27.0 x 36.0 cm;

signed: “ A Cusack ” (lower left)

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 2012 from Davidson Auctions.



CUSACK, EDITH ELEANORA [ New South Wales, Europe, UK, Ireland, USA ]

BORN: 5th September 1865 at Nelson, New Zealand

DIED: 20th May 1941 at Pymble, New South Wales

Edith E. Cusack was a professional painter, sculptor, miniaturist and art teacher. She was a

middle child of Georgiana Frances [1840-1913; nee Holmes] and Samuel Athanasius [1830-1869; M.D., F.R.C.S.I., M.R.C.S.L.] Cusack, an Irish Army surgeon who had fought in Crimean War and was the brother of the notorious “Nun of Kenmare”, Margaret Anna Cusack. Aline M. and Edith E.

Cusack had at least seven siblings (Arthur A. [1858-1883]; Joseph Athanasius [1861-1893]; Georgiana Frances [1862-1890]; son [1863-1863]; Edward Chamney [1864-1930]; Maud [1868-

1869]; and Harry Samuel [1869-1926] Cusack). In February 1861, the Cusack family emigrated from Dublin, Ireland to New Zealand aboard

the SS Lord Ashley from London, hoping that Samuel’s health would improve. The family settled

in Spring Grove, South Island (20 kilometers southwest of Nelson) where he practiced medicine and from October 1862 was also surgeon for the Nelson Volunteer Rifles. In March 1868, the family (including seven children) resettled to Wellington but in November 1868, immigrated to

Australia aboard the Mataura, settling in Maitland in the Hunter Valley where Georgina had a brother Joseph Broadbent Holmes [1817-1897], who had planted some of the earliest grapevines

for winemaking in the Hunter Valley. On 9th February 1869, Dr Samuel Cusack died of tuberculosis, leaving his wife and surviving seven children in poverty, the family’s extensive farm and holdings in Wairau Valley, New Zealand remaining unsold for more than three years.

Edith E. Cusack worked from an inner-city studio (1895-96: Norwich Chambers; (1896-1914) 66 Paling's Building, Ash Street off George Street) which she shared with her sister Aline M., who was also a professional artist. Between 1890 and 1937, they lived at ‘Laragh’, 42 William Street,

Lavender Bay, building a purpose-built studio attached to their home in 1906. From 1937 until her death, Edith Cusack and her sister Aline lived at 1 Bromley Avenue, Pymble.

In the early 1880s, Edith E. Cusack attended Miss Chester’s School (Parramatta) and received her artistic training at Parramatta under Joseph A. Bennett2 and because paying the weekly fees was a problem, she worked concurrently as his assistant teacher. In 1888, she exhibited drawings

at the Women’s Industrial Exhibition. In 1890, she was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s First Prize for Drawing for Venus of Milo. In 1890, an uncle left £300 for the education of Edith and Aline, and with monies saved from the sale of paintings, Edith was able to spend three years

studying and painting in Europe. On 16th February 1891, she boarded the RMS Oroya for London, to further her studies at Paris’s Académie Julien (1891-1894) under Bouguereau, Lefebvre and

Fleury, and while in Paris exhibited at the Salon. After the Bank Crash of 1893, Aline’s and Edith’s inheritance was lost and Edith was required to return home. On 20th April 1894, she boarded the RMS Austral in London for Sydney via Gibraltar, Naples, Suez, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Perth,

Adelaide and Melbourne.

[116] Flower Market at St Andrew’s

Cathedral, Sydney 1907; watercolour; 27.0 x 38.0 cm:

signed: “ E.C.” (lower left; indistinct on reverse)

Provenance

PURCHASED: 1996 from Australian Art Auctions.

In 1894, Edith E. Cusack returned to Sydney after studying art in Paris and painting the French countryside. She immediately became one of Sydney’s leading artists who also presented art classes and outdoor painting classes with her sister Aline M. Cusack. The Cusack sisters were popular with the art loving public, often receiving prices for their paintings on par with the most well-known male artists. In 1906, Edith Cusack travelled to Dubbo where she painted, especially pictures containing Aborigines, a subject seldom painted by women or even men of the period. In 1894, Aline, a pastel portrait of her sister, was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW, one of the earliest works by a women artist to be purchased by an Australian public collection. Edith and Aline Cusack were members of The Painting Club and were early female Council members of the Royal Art Society; Aline being instrumental in the establishment of Sydney’s Society of Women Painters.

2 Before arriving in Sydney in 1886, Joseph Bennett had studied in Paris under Leon Bonnat [1833-1922] at the time of French Impressionist exhibitions; Bonnat was friends with Edgar Degas, Gustave Moreau, Jean-Jacques Henner and the sculptor Henri Chapu, and had studied for three years in Italy after winning the Prix de Rome.



After her return to Sydney, Edith and Aline taught art from their inner-city studio and exhibited at the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council. In September 1894, Edith’s pastel portrait Aline was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW. Edith Cusack continued her studies at the Royal Art Society School (late-1890s) under Scottish-emigrant painter Gordon Coutts, in 1897, winning the School's Open Competition. In 1898, one of Edith’s portraits and four flower studies were selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Grafton Gallery, London. In 1900, the Art Gallery of NSW purchased Wildflowers (in 1946, it was de-accessioned and sold).

In 1907, Edith E. Cusack was on the Executive Committee of the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work and exhibited oil (portrait [84 guineas], a flower painting, a genre painting [105 guineas] and a figure painting [84 guineas]), watercolour (flower painting), pastel and black-and-white (portrait) paintings. Edith Cusack was highly respected as a Sydney artist (some contemporary art critic considered her Sydney’s leading woman artists). She commanded high prices for her major artwork, comparable to the prices asked by Australia’s leading artists. However, when the breakaway Society of Artists broke from the Royal Art Society in 1907, Edith and Aline chose to stay with the Royal Art Society and later became principals of the Society of Women Painters. For this and other curiosities of Australian art history, she was seldom mention in history test and discussions about Australian artists.

In December 1903, Edith E. Cusack was financially stable and returned to the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, ...) and Europe (France, Italy...). In London, she studied miniature painting and obtained an Art Teacher’s Certificate from the Royal Drawing Society of London. Before returning to Sydney in early-1905, she held a solo exhibition of her paintings and drawings in London which proved to be highly successful. In June 1914 (one month before the outbreak of war), Edith and Aline Cusack travelled to the United Kingdom to further their artistic careers, but until the armistice, picked fruit with the Land Girls (a.k.a. Kitchener’s Lizzies) at Warwickshire with Australian miniaturist Kong Sing, worked in military canteens and between April 1918 and February 1919 served as VAD Ward Orderlies at No.72 General Military Hospital in France, nursing wounded soldiers. After the war, the two sisters caravanned around the United Kingdom, afterward travelling and painting in Ireland, France and Belgian before returning to Sydney in August 1920. Between 1925 and 1926, they were again travelling and painting in the United States and Europe, taking their final trip in 1936-1937.

Edith Cusack was a painter in oils, watercolours and pastels whose subjects included landscapes, still-life, genre and portraits. Between 1895 and the late-1930s, she had numerous solo and joint (with sister Aline) exhibitions in Sydney that always receive excellent reviews and good sales. In Sydney, she was a member of the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council. In 1910, she was one of the founders of the Society of Women Painters, serving on its Council and Exhibition Committees. While in the United Kingdom and Europe, she exhibited in London and Paris. In New Zealand, she occasional exhibited at the N.Z. Academy of Fine Arts.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; Newcastle Regional AG; Mitchel Library; and Regional Art Galleries.

PORTRAIT: photo of Edith and photo of her studio in The Woman at Home 189? p.439.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Heritage; Illustrated Sydney News (7th May 1892; 4th June 1892; 15th May 1894); Sydney Morning Herald (6th October 1888; 9th February 1891; 18th May 1894; 10th June 1914; 21st August 1921); Daily Telegraph (8th January 1890; 2nd June 1894); Sun (4th December 1021); Daily Mail (20thFebruary 1921); numerous newspaper articles.



EVANS, JESSIE LAVER (A.K.A. LAVINGTON) [ VICTORIA ]

BORN: 25th March 1860 at Albury, New South Wales

DIED: 12th May 1943 at Brighton Beach, Victoria

Jessie L. Evans was a plein air painter, who was born in Albury where her father was a

successful storekeeper. She was the daughter of William Byrd (also Burd or Bird) [1834-1904;

son of Lavington Evans] and Clara [1839-1875; nee Farrow] Evans, who had married in 1851 in

Bendigo where he held mining rights. Between 1857 and 1859, Jessie’s father was charged and

convicted of embezzlement, but was finally pardon, largely due to public outcry. Shortly after being

pardon, Jessie was born, there being at least two brothers and two sisters who were younger. For

more than fifty years, Jessie L. Evans lived with her family at "Clifton" 14 Dendy Road, Brighton

Beach (one block from beach), but was never allowed to work or sell her artworks because it

would cast aspersions on her father’s and the family’s ability to support her. However, between

1896 and 1899, she maintained an artist’s studio at 123 & 125 William Street and later 230 Collins

Street.

In 1880, Jessie L. Evans exhibited at the Intercolonial Industrial Exhibition in Melbourne.

She received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1880-1891; 1903-

1904) under Fred McCubbin and George Folingsby, being awarded (1888) 2nd Prize for Still-Life

and (1890) 2nd Prize for Best Drawing from Antique. Between 1894 and 1898, she also studied at

the Melbourne School of Art under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker, being awarded

(1894 and 1897) Prizes for Landscape.

In 1890, the Table Talk's art critic said of her interior painting

"There is clever painting in every detail of the picture, and the drawing is certain,..."

and of a portrait

"…a good portrait, finely modelled and free of any suggestion of slap-dash execution."

and of a flower piece

"…is crisply and vigorously painted."

and of a study of drapery

"…the management of light and shade is noticeably good."

In Melbourne, Jessie L. Evans exhibited at student exhibitions at the National Gallery of

Victory and the Melbourne School of Art, and at the Victorian Artists Society until 1896, her

artworks always receiving good comments from the art critics. In the late-1890s, Jessie L. Evans

had to withdraw from exhibiting and selling her artworks because her father felt that exhibiting

artworks for sale was unladylike and cast aspersions upon his ability to support his family.

Throughout her adult life, Jessie’s career was simply listed as ‘house duties’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Completing the Picture; More Than Just Gum Trees; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest

of a Quiet Eye; numerous newspaper articles.

[117] Little Wanders in Bush

a.k.a. Morning Stroll, Heidelberg circa 1898; oil on canvas; 37.0 x 27.0 cm.

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1994 from Sotheby’s.

Few artworks by Jessie L. Evans were signed because her father considered exhibiting paintings for sale to be ‘unladylike’ and cast aspersions on his ability to support his family. In the late-1890s, Jessie Evans stopped exhibiting at a time when a greater number of women were exhibiting artworks with the hope of receiving desparately needed income to help in the support of their families. This painting is similar in composition to Fred McCubbin's Lost, 1886 and Tom Roberts' A Summer Morning Tiff, 1886.



GEACH, PORTIA STRANTON [ Victoria, New South Wales, UK, Europe, USA ]

Born: 24th December 1873 at Melbourne, Victoria

Died: 5th October 1959 at Sydney, New South Wales

Portia Geach was a professional painter, muralist, printmaker, art teacher and feminist, who

worked from a Collins Street studio when in Melbourne. She was the second youngest of the five

children of Cornish parents Edwin [1839-1914; warehouseman and later draper] and Catherine

[1834-1917; née Greenwood] Geach. Edwin Geach [-1940] the theatrical agent-promoter was her

brother. Throughout her life, Portia was financially well off, enabling her to take frequent overseas

trips to Europe and the North America.

Portia Geach received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1890-

1896) under Fred McCubbin, George Follingsby and Bernard Hall. In 1896, she travelled to

London where she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy School of Arts, studying for four

years, including for a time under American John Singer Sargent [1856-1925], James Shannon,

Solomon J. Solomon, George Clausen and Seymour Lucas. In 1898 and 1899, she worked and

studied in Paris, attending Académie Whistler under the guidance of American James McNeill

Whistler and exhibited in United Kingdom, France (Paris) and USA (New York), returning to

Australian in early-1901. Between 1907-1910 and 1922-1926, she visited Europe, United

Kingdom and United States. In 1920s, she exhibited at Paris’s Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

Back in Melbourne, Portia Geach held an exhibition in January 1901 in her Collins Street

studio, including a number of portraits which became a specialty for a time, before becoming a

well-known muralist and printmaker. In 1904, she moved to Sydney, initially living on Cremorne

Point, but later in an apartment on Macquarie Street. In 1914, she exhibited mainly oils and

watercolours landscapes of the shores of Sydney Harbour and Victorian rural scenes, with some

portraits. In 1907, she exhibited oil (portrait and figure paintings), watercolour (figure painting [52

guineas]) and etched pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work.

On several occasions (1910 and 1920-1922), Portia Geach visited the United States where

she became involved in the feminist Housewives’ Progressive Association in New York, founding

the NSW Housewives’ Association (later Housewives’ Progressive Association) when she

returned to Sydney, its aim being to educate women in the principles of proper nutrition and to aid

them in their struggles against profiteering and rising food prices. For many years, she was also

president of the Federated Association of Australian Housewives, often speaking on the radio to

promote her causes. She was also on the committee of the National Council of Women of New

South Wales and a delegate to the International Council of Women's Conference in Washington

in 1925, believing in equal pay for men and women and the right of women to hold public office.

She also served on the council of the Australian Women's Movement against Socialization from

1947.

[118] Autumn Idyll, Cremorne Point 1922; oil on board; 30.0 x 22.0 cm;

Signed: “ Portia Geach “ (lower right).

Provenance

PAINTED: en plein air near her residence on Cremorne Point.

COLLECTION: 1922-1994 purchase from artist.




In addition to exhibiting while overseas, in Melbourne she was a member of the Victorian

Artists Society and in Sydney exhibited at the Royal Art Society. After, her death in 1959, Portia

Geach left estates valued at £56,582 in New South Wales and £9744 in Victoria to her sister

Florence Kate, who died in 1962 and provided in her will for an annual £1,000 prize, known as the

Portia Geach Memorial Art Award, for a portrait by a woman artist.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; NLA, Australian War Memorial, Mitchell Library and Regional Art Galleries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ladies Picture Show; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Completing the Picture; Heritage;

numerous newspaper clippings.

[119] Moonrise (Mosman Bay) 1922; oil on board; 24.0 x 19.0.0 cm;

signed: “ Portia Geach ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: en plein air near her residence on Cremorne Point.

PURCHASED: 2011 from Lawson’s.

Portia Geach received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1890-1896) under Fred McCubbin, George Follingsby and Bernard Hall. In 1896, she travelled to London where she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy School of Arts, studying for four years, including for a time under American John Singer Sargent, James Shannon, Solomon J. Solomon, George Clausen and Seymour Lucas. In 1898 and 1899, she worked and studied in Paris, attending Académie Whistler under the guidance of American James McNeill Whistler and exhibited in United Kingdom, France (Paris) and USA (New York), returning to Australian in early-1901.



GREGORY, INA (GEORGIANA) ALICE [ Victoria, New South Wales ]

BORN: 18th October 1874 at South Melbourne, Victoria DIED: 5th June 1964 at Ivanhoe (Melbourne), Victoria

Ina Gregory was a professional painter and illustrator. She was the second eldest of the seven

children of John Burslem [1844-1910; barrister and lecturer at Melbourne University] and Alice [1852-1946; nee Topp] Gregory. In circa 1895, her father left the family and traveled to the

California where he died fifteen years later. Ina lived a somewhat reclusive life at ‘Rosedale’ on Inkerman Street, St Kilda with her sister Ada [1873-1935] who was an author and amateur painter. The Gregory family also had a country house ‘Maroondah’ at Healesville, at which Ina and fellow

artists visited to paint en plein air. After her sister’s death, Ina shared accommodation with artist Jane R. Price, with whom she shared and interest in Theosophy.

Ina Gregory received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1893-1894, 98) under George Follingsby and Fred McCubbin. However, her primary artistic influences were acquired while studying at the Melbourne School of Art (1893-1899) under E. Phillips Fox and

Tudor St George Tucker; being awarded numerous prizes for her painting and drawing. Against her mother’s wishes, Ina attended the Summer School at Charterisville in the late-1890s, her sister Ada recounting the experience in the lost novel, Blue Wings. Ina visited Sydney and painted

around the Sydney Harbour, probably while visiting the Theosophy Centre at Clifton Gardens. In 1905, Ina Gregory produced book illustrations with Violet Teague and Geraldine Rede with

whom she had studied at the Melbourne School of Art. In 1907, Ina exhibited oil (landscapes and figure painting [80 guineas]) and black-and-white (portrait and figure study) pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. During World War I, she supported the Red Cross

Fund through the sale of her paintings. In April 1925, she had a successful exhibition of 176 paintings at the Athenaeum Gallery. In February 1938, she held a joint exhibition with C. Asquith Baker at Athenaeum Gallery and in July 1942, she had a highly successful joint exhibition of

paintings with Jane R. Price at Athenaeum Gallery that earned

“The visitor is enticed back to the golden age of Eaglemont, at Heidelberg, in the days of Streeton,

Roberts, Longstaff, Phillips Fox, McCubbin and others.”

Ina Gregory was a painter in oils who preferred garden scenes to bush landscapes and also painted fine expressive portraits. In Melbourne, she exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society (from

1898) and Yarra Sculptor Society (from 1908). In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Women Painters and in Adelaide with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts.

In 1980s, Ina Gregory was rediscovered when her painting Four Art Students, Charterisville was exhibited and toured as part of the exhibitions and books for (1986) Golden Summers: Heidelberg and Beyond and (1992-1993) Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the

Heidelberg Era, later being illustrated in (1995) Heritage: The National Women’s Art Book.

COLLECTIONS: Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHy: Ladies’ Picture Show; Artists Camps; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Completing the Picture; Heritage; Antiques in Victoria, March 1988; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Australasian (18th April 1925); Argus (24th June 1942; numerous newspaper clippings.

[120] “ Four Art Students, Charterisville ” circa 1897; oil on canvas; 29.0 x 24.5 cm.

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1897 at E. Phillips Fox’s & Tudor St George Tucker’s Summer Art School at Charterisville Estate, Ivanhoe, Victoria.

COLLECTIONS: ✓ Ina Gregory’s 156 Inkerman Street, St Kilda Studio; ✓ until 1992 Mrs Robyn, Kelly, Melbourne Victoria. PURCHASED: 1992 from Sotheby’s.

EXHIBITED: ✓ 1985-1986 “Golden Summers: Heidelberg and beyond”

at NGV; AGNSW); AGSA; AGWA ✓ 1992-1993 “Completing the Picture: Women Artists and

the Heidelberg Era” at HP&AG; BFAG; CAG; BAG; SGEG; CHG; QVM&AG; TM&AG; AGWA

ILLUSTRATED: ✓ “Golden Summers: Heidelberg and beyond”, Jane Clark

and Bridget Whitelaw; 1985, ✓ “Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the

Heidelberg Era”, Victoria Hammond and Juliet Peers, 1992

✓ “Heritage: The National Women’s Art Book”, 1995.



GURDON, NORAH [ Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Europe, UK ]

BORN: April 1882 at Hopton-on-the-Sea, Norfolk, England

DIED: 27th June 1974 at Kalorama, Croydon, Victoria

Norah Gurdon was a professional painter. She was the second eldest of the five children of

Edwin John [1853-1927; surgeon] and Ellen Anne [1854-1912; nee Randall] Gurdon. On 13th June

1888, her family arrived at Melbourne aboard the Carlisle Castle. She maintained a country

studio at Kalorama near Mount Dandenong, where her fellow women artists stayed and painted

en plein air the countryside, Arthur Streeton being a frequent visitor.

Norah Gurdon attended Brighton High School before receiving her artistic training at the

National Gallery of Victoria School (1901-1908) and continued her studies in the United Kingdom

(1914-1920). She was closely associated with Constance Jenkins, Hilda Rix Nicholas, Ruth

Sutherland, Jessie Traill and Dora Wilson who were fellow students at the National Gallery of

Victoria School and was a prominent member of the Melbourne Society of Painters and Sculptors.

In 1907, Gurdon exhibited oil (still-life and genre paintings), watercolour (genre painting) and

black-and-white (portrait and figure study) pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's

Work. In May 1912, she held a joint exhibition with Dora Wilson and Ruth Sutherland at Style’s

Gallery on Collins Street. In 1923, Norah Gurdon’s painting, Under the Window, was exhibited

in London’s Exhibition of Australian Art and was a feature illustration in its catalogue.

[NAS] “ Under the Window ” 1922, oil on canvas; 44.5 x 54.5 cm; signed: “ N. Gurdon ” (lower right).

PROVENENCE:

EXHIBITED AND ILLUSTRATED: 1923 Exhibition of Australian Art at London;


Norah Gurdon was well-known for plein air impressionistic landscapes, Arthur Streeton being a frequent guest at her country property and studio in the Dandenong Ranges. Rather than following the fashion of presenting landscapes in the blue and gold palette made popular by the Heidelberg School, she preferred the muted blue and gray tones that were true to the Dandenong Ranges.



On 9th April 1914 (ten weeks prior the outbreak of war), Norah Gurdon boarded the S.S.

Stropshire for London to pursue further artistic training. However, she spent two years as a VAD

(Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse at the French Red Cross Hospital at Le Croisic (central-west

coast of France) and was awarded the British Victory Medal for her services during the war.

Afterward, she continued her artistic studies and painted throughout Europe. In 1920, she

returned to Melbourne, revisiting Europe in 1928 and April 1938 (a year before the outbreak of

World War II). In May 1920, she held a highly successful solo exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery

that included pictures prepared while serving as a nurse in France and also landscapes of French

countryside, Scotland and England that were painted after the hostilities had ended. She followed

this with a solo exhibition in Brisbane in April 1921.

In May 1920, April 1923, May 1925 and April 1927, she held solo exhibitions at the Athenaeum

Gallery, April 1929 and April 1937 at New Gallery, and in March 1943 and August 1949 at Sedon

Gallery. In 1927, her landscapes Boats at Rosebud and Old Shed were finalists in the Art Gallery

of NSW’s prestigious Wynne Prize.

Norah Gurdon exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society, was a prominent member of the

Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and exhibited with the Australian Art

Association. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Women Painters and Women’s Industrial

Arts Society, and in Brisbane, exhibited at the Royal Queensland Art Society.

COLLECTIONS: REGIONAL GALLERIES AT Bendigo, Castlemaine and Shepperton.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of Australian Art; Sydney

University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Table Talk (2nd May 1912); Herald (17th February 1920; 18th May

1920; 9th April 1923; 19th May 1925; 7th January 1928; 9th April 1929); Argus (28th May 1920; 22nd April 1921); Age

(22nd April 1927).



HAKE, ELSIE FREDERICA (MRS ARTHUR BARLOW) [ Victoria, Tasmania ]

BORN: 1876 at Emerald Hill, Victoria DIED: 15th November 1948 at Mentone, Victoria

Elsie Hake was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher, who in her later career

specialized in watercolours. She was the youngest surviving child of the eight children of Sidney

[1835-1911; shipping and customs agent] and Charlotte Helen [1845-1918; nee Hemsley] Hake,

her sister Dora Beatrice [1875-1968; Mrs Percival Serle] was also an accomplished artist. In 1902,

Elsie married Arthur Barlow [1878-1917; police magistrate at Castlemaine; cousin of George Bell],

the couple having three children with one dying as an infant. She shared a studio with her sister,

Dora, until her marriage and after returning from Castlemaine in 1917, maintain an inner-city

studio at the Dunkling Building in Collins Street until the 1940s.

Elsie Hake and her sister Dora attended Fairelight Girls School where they met Jane

Sutherland, attending her art classes in drawing and painting from life. In the late-1890s, Elsie

also attended Walter Withers art classes at Heidelberg and E. Phillip Fox’s Melbourne Art School

(1897-1900) while attending the National Gallery of Victoria School (1894-1901) under Fred

McCubbin and Bernard Hall, being awarded a number of prizes and being a top contender for the

School’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship in her final year. Between 1896 and 1907, Elsie was

repeat-winner of the First Prize for Watercolour and also for Oil Painting most years at the Annual

Murrumbidgee Shows. From 1901, she conducted art classes at the Buxton Building on Collins

Street. In 1901, She was awarded First Prize for her oil Still-Life at the Bendigo Jubilee Exhibition.

In 1907, she exhibited oil (a portrait and a genre painting), watercolour (landscapes, seascapes

and genre) paintings and black-and-white (portraits) pictures at the Australian Exhibition of

Women's Work. Between 1918 and 1941, she had almost annual solo exhibitions of watercolours

from her studio or other galleries on Collins Street. She helped establish the Castlemaine Art

Gallery and Historical Museum. In 1917, she returned to Melbourne where she taught art and

exhibited extensively. In 1923, her work was included in the Exhibition of Australian Art at the

London’s Royal Academy.

Dora Hake was primarily a watercolourist whose subjects included landscape and still-lifes,

and from 1895 exhibited at country art centers, repeatedly being awarded art prizes. In Melbourne

from 1900, she exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society, Melbourne Society of Women Painters

and Sculptors, and Twenty Melbourne Painters. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Society of Women

Painters and Australian Art Society.

COLLECTIONS: Queen Victoria Museum; Regional Galleries at Bendigo, Castlemaine and Launceston.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show;

Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Wagga Wagga Express (3rd September 1896; 24th August 1899; 6th September 1900; 22nd August 1901; 24th August 1905; 24th August 1907); Argus (23rd December 1896; 2nd February 1901; 20th November 1948); Table Talk (25th December 1896; 15th July 1920); Bendigo Independent (15th November 1901); Adelaide Critic (3rd January 1903); Ballarat Stat (10th October 1908); Herald (18th March 1918; 19th April 1921; 29th February 1924); Age (5th December 1941); numerous newspaper article.

[122] Girl with Doll a.k.a. My First Doll

circa 1910; oil on canvas; 64.0 x 74.0 cm; signed: “ E. Barlow ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE


Elsie Hake (Mrs Barlow) received her artistic training privately under Jane Sutherland, Walter Withers and at E. Phillips Fox’s Melbourne School of Art and the National Gallery of Victoria School (1894-1901) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall, being awarded a number of prizes and being a top contender for the School’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship in her final year. From 1901, Elsie Hake conducted art classes at the Buxton Building on Collins Street. In 1907, she exhibited oil (a portrait and a genre painting), watercolour (landscapes, seascapes and genre) paintings and black-and-white (portraits) pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. Between 1918 and 1941, she had almost annual solo exhibitions of watercolours from her studio or other galleries on Collins Street. She helped establish the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum. In 1917, she returned to Melbourne where she taught art and exhibited extensively. In 1923, her work was included in the Exhibition of Australian Art at the London’s Royal Academy.



HAXTON, ELAINE ALYS (A.K.A. MRS RICHARD FOOT) [ New South Wales, USA, Mexico, UK, Japan; Southeast Asia ]

BORN: 26th September 1909 at Melbourne, Victoria

DIED: 6th July 1999 at Adelaide, South Australia

Elaine Haxton was a professional painter, sculptor, theatre designer, commercial artist and

printmaker. She was the youngest of the three children of David Malcolm [1880-; stationery

salesman and talented amateur painter; Scot] and Isobel Florence [1883-; nee Dunham] Haxton,

the family settling in Sydney when Elaine was an infant. In 1954, she married Brigadier Richard

Cunningham Foot [1892-1969], the couple having no children and living at Clareville, Pittwater,

New South Wales.

Elaine Haxton received her artistic training at East Sydney Technical College (1924-1928)

under Raynor Hoff and later in 1930s, at London’s Grosvenor School under Iain McNab. She

studied printmaking at the Willoughby Art Centre, William Hayter Atelier (Paris (late-1940s)) and

at Kyoto (Japan). In the mid-1920s, she produced pokerwork items for a factory and was an

illustrator for David Jones. Between 1929 and 1931, she worked as a freelance designer and

illustrator with four other advertising illustrators in a Bridge Street studio.

Between 1932 and 1939, Elaine Haxton studied and worked as a commercial artist in the

United Kingdom and Europe. With the outbreak of war being imminent, she returned to Australia

via the United States and Mexico. In the 1940s, she became known for her colourful mural and

large decorative paintings. In 1945, she designed ballet costumes and theatre sets for the

government in Dutch New Guinea. In 1946, she again travelled overseas where she studied

theatre design at the New School in New York and travelled through the United Kingdom and

Europe before returning to Sydney in 1948.

Elaine Haxton had numerous solo exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Her

prints have been exhibited at the 2nd British International Print Biennale (1970) and in Rome

(1969), Madrid (1970) and Prague (1970). The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

(Launceston 1982) honoured her by having a retrospective of her prints. In Sydney, she was a

member of the Society of Artists and Contemporary Art Society, and also exhibited at the

Australian Art Society. She was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Sulman Prize

(1943) for mural design and Ballarat’s Crouch Prize (1946) for contemporary painting.

COLLECTIONS: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); AGNSW; AGSA; AGWA; NGV; QAG;

TMAG; Geelong Art Gallery, Newcastle City Gallery, Ballarat AG; Bendigo Art Gallery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian

Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Heritage; Design & Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper clippings.

[123] Pittwater Idyll Oil on canvas; circa 1960; 75.0 x 100.0 cm;

signed: on boatshed wall.

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1994 from Joel’s.

While not known as a landscape painter, the bright Post-Impressionistic, Pittwater Idyll was painted from her Sydney home at Clareville overlooking the Pittwater towards Longnose Point. Elaine Haxton was a leading member of what was derisively named the "Charm School" of Sydney painters in the 1940s and 1950s, her artwork being always agreeable to view. In addition to painting, drawing and printmaking, she studied theatre design in the United States at end-1930s and visited Mexico before returning Sydney. In 1943, she was awarded the Summit Prize for her mural at Kings Cross’s Coq d'Or Restaurant. Afterward, she dabbled in textile design with Sidney Nolan and William Dobell, abstract painting influenced by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and studied printmaking in Japan. Haxton travelled widely under the sponsorship of Qantas and was included in the Order of Australia.



HOY, GRACE [ New South Wales ]

BORN: 1875 Warialda, New South Wales

DIED: 1964 at Newton, New South Wales

Grace Hoy was a painter and printmaker. She was the eldest of five children of Alfred [1847-

1879; land selector] and Elisabeth Jane [1846-1927; nee Grant] Hoy. From 1890s, Grace lived

with her mother and siblings at the Sydney suburb of Newtown (1922-28: 106 St Paul's Road;

1929: 106 Carillon Avenue) throughout her artistic career.

Grace Hoy received her artistic training at the Sydney Technical College (1897-1905) and in

mid-1920s the Society of Woman Painters’ Life Classes under Lawson Balfour, winning a

number of awards. Between 1904 and 1907, she was awarded a number of prizes for oil

paintings at the Muswelbrook Show. In 1907, she exhibited landscape and portrait paintings at

the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. She produced and exhibited monotypes in the

late-1920s that were exhibited in Sydney. In 1925, she was awarded £50 prize for Best Australian

Designed Poster. She was an active member of the Society of Women Painters’ Sketch Club.

In 1922 and 1926, Grace Hoy was a finalist of the prestigious Archibald Prize with three

portraits and in 1938 and 1940 was a finalist in the Sulman Prize with two mural designs. After

her mother’s death, Grace curtailed her artistic endeavors. In Sydney, she exhibited at the

Society of Women Painters (1920s).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Heritage; Design & Art Australia Online; Daily Telegraph (15th January 1898; 14th January

1899; 24th January 1902; 6th January 1905; 13th May 1924; 19th January 1925); Sydney Morning Herald (11th January

1898; 25th June 1913); Maitland Weekly (26th March 1904).

The Frog’s Rendezvous was probably painted in the 1920s, possibly for exhibition at the Society of Women Painters’ Sketch Club Exhibitions. The subject of two frogs meeting on an empty flowerpot was quite unusual for the time when landscapes, flower arrangements, contrived still-life, portraits and genre scenes were favoured. Although frogs were commonly included on Australian studio pottery (e.g. Vi Eyre’s Frog Vase (1928) in AGNSW Collection) or within naturalist painting or children’s illustrations, I cannot remember another oil painting of frogs, certainly none in a Post-Impressionist style. The artwork’s bold brushwork and limited palette is reminiscent of Josephine Muntz Adams’ paintings and is a common feature of Grace Hoy’s quite distinctive and highly appealing oeuvre.

[124] Frog’s Rendezvous circa 1920; oil on canvas; 23.0 x 15.0 cm;

signed: “ Grace Hoy ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

ILLUSTRATED: “Heritage: The National Women’s Art Book”, 1995;




HUME, ELLEN ADYE (NEE JENKINS) [ New South Wales ]

Born: 12th October 1862 at Yass, New South Wales

Died: 8th April 1933 at Eastwood (Ryde), New South Wales

Ellen Adye Hume was a professional painter, illustrator, craftsperson and art teacher. She

was eldest of the six children of Charles [1827-1896; artist of Yass] and Sarah Ellen [1841-1885;

nee Adye] Jenkins. On 18th August 1882, Ellen married Edward Barber Hume [1852-1903,

Frankfield station owner; son of Francis R. and Emma Hume) at Young, N.S.W., the couple

having three children, one dying as an infant. Her husband was a direct descendent of Stuart

Hamilton Hume [1797-1873], the Australian explorer. In 1890, Ellen Adye Hume filed for divorce,

cruelty being the cause, the court assigning her £250 per year alimony. After the divorce, the

husband sold the family’s historic sheep station and retired to a Sydney pub where he proceeded

to drink away his inheritance in hope of leaving his wife destitute.

Ellen Adye Hume lived in country New South Wales (Yass, Gunning, Inverell and Armidale)

until her husband’s death, afterward moving to Sydney where she lived at Mosman (1914-1916:

"Coondarra" Sutherland Street), Neutral Bay and North Sydney (1919: 40 Walker Street), Manly

(1920-1923: 35 Alexander Street), Eastwood (1924-1929: "Manoweel" Coronation Avenue) and

Strathfield (1925: 8 Rowley Street). In 1904, she illustrated Friends Beyond the Sea by Edith

Lamb. Between 1905 and 1920s, she worked from city studios (378a George Street, Angel Place,

183 Pitt Street and Strand Arcade), supporting herself and her children from her income as an

artist, being known as a painter of landscapes and flower studies.

Ellen Adye Hume received her artistic training under her father Charles Jenkins, a well-

known Yass artist. After moving to Sydney in 1903, she maintained a professional artists studio

from which she gave lessons in painting in oils, watercolours and enamels, drawing, stencilling

and pyrography. In 1907, Ellen Adye Hume exhibited watercolour flower paintings and a still-life

at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work where she was awarded 1st Prize for Stenciling

and 1st Prize for Painting on Fabric. In the 1920s, she taught painting and crafts from her studio

in North Sydney, closeby Edith E. and Aline M. Cusack.

In Sydney, Ellen Adye Hume was a member of the Royal Art Society (from 1894), Society

of Artists and Sydney’s Society of Women Painters, serving on its Exhibition Committees. She

was also a prominent member of the Society of Arts & Crafts of N.S.W., serving as its Honorary

Secretary and on its Selection Committees.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1994 interview with grandson; Design and Art Australia Online; Burrowa News (27th June 1896);

Australian Star (1st September 1890); Sydney Morning Herald (18th January 1905; 14th July 1923); numerous

newspaper articles.

[125] Still Life

a.k.a. Flower Arranging

circa 1905; oil on canvas board; 29.0 x 36.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Hume ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

COLLECTIONS: until 1993 reputedly with family;

PURCHASED: 1993 from Archer’s (Katoomba).

Painted shortly after Ellen Adye Hume arrived in Sydney from country New South Wales. Even though, she had married into the well-off family of Hume the explorer, she was divorced from her husband (for cruelty) and left to support her children through the sale of her paintings and art classes she presented from her inner-city studio. She soon became a popular painter of primarily landscapes and still-lifes, her impressionistic style being influenced through her close association with Edith E. and Aline M. Cusack and other Sydney-based impressionists. Throughout the first-quarter of the 20th century, Ellen Adye Hume was an active member of the Royal Art Society (from 1894), Society of Artists and Sydney’s Society of Women Painters, putting her in close contact with Australia’s leading artists. She was also a leading member of the Arts and Craft Society of New South Wales.



[127] Walk along the Rocks

a.k.a. Cremorne Point, Sydney Harbour circa early-1900s; oil on canvas

board; 39.0 x 49.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Hume ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE


[128] Roses – Still Life circa 1905; oil on canvas; 30.5 x 61.0 cm; signed: “ E.A. Hume ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

COLLECTIONS: until 1903 reputedly with family

PURCHASED: 1993 from Archer’s (Katoomba).

[126] “ Morning Glory at Night ” circa 1905; oil on canvas; 60.0 x 38.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Hume ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: prior to 1909;

COLLECTION: gift of artist before 1909; 1909-2012 collection of Mrs Nellie (Eleanor Emma Gunther) Cadell [1881-1945; nee Greville; Mrs Dudley Cadell) then son Harold Cadell;

PURCHASED: 2012 from Davidson’s.



JENKINS, CONSTANCE LILLIAN (MRS ERIC SPENCER MACKY) [ Victoria, USA, Europe, UK ]

Born: 29th June 1883 at Melbourne, Victoria

Died: 11th June 1961 at San Francisco, California, USA

Constance L. Jenkins was a professional painter and art teacher. She was the youngest of

the six children of John Shanks [1834-1913; architect and civil engineer] and Emma [1841-1936;

nee Wright] Jenkins. On 21st August 1912 at Berkley (California), she married Eric Spencer

Macky [1880-1958; New Zealand artist and art teacher], who she met while studying at the

National Gallery of Victoria School and later travelled with him in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The couple had two sons, Donald [1913-] becoming a well-known Californian artist, sculptor and

architect.

Constance L. Jenkins received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School

(1900-1908) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall. In 1908, she was awarded its prestigious

Travelling Scholarship, the first woman winner; Janet Cumbrae Stewart and William B. McInnes

were the runners-up. Her entry, Friendly Critics, was commended for its ‘impressionistic’ style,

a loose application of the term referring not to the light palette and broken brushwork associated

with French Impressionism, but rather to the more textured and broader handling of paint

introduced under Bernard Hall’s aegis.3

“In 1924, in a retrospective evaluation of the Travelling Scholarship, (Bernard) Hall concluded that

only five recipients of the scholarship had justified the award by achieving success as practicing

artists, and that often the most brilliant students ‘missed out’; he named Wheeler, McInnes and

Cumbrae Stewart, among others, in the latter category. He thought that Jenkins had produced the

best work of all, executed when she was still a student. He concluded that of all the scholarship

pictures received, only two would have ‘a permanent place’ in the collection – Longstaff’s (1892)

large symbolist work The Sirens and Jenkins’s (1907) Friendly Critics.”

In 1909, her canvas, Friendly Critics, was reproduced in the International Studio magazine in

London.

In 1907, she exhibited oil (portrait and a figure painting) and black-and-white (portrait and

figure study) pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work, being awarded the Gold

Medal for Best Fine Art Exhibit, Silver Medal for Best Oil Painting, Special Prize for Most Popular

Fine Art Exhibit with the Public, 1st Prize for Oil Portrait, 1st Prize for Black-and-White Figure and

2nd Prize for Black-and-White Portrait. In the early 20th century, Constance L. Jenkins was one

of the leading women artists in Australia.

[129] The Jade Dog a.k.a. Lady with Jade Dragon

1910; oil on canvas; 91.0 x 72.0 cm; signed: “ Constance Jenkins ’10 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE


In 1907, Constance L. Jenkins was awarded the Gold and Silver Medals for Figure Painting at the Exhibition of Women’s Work and the following year, became the first women artist to be awarded the National Gallery of Victoria’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship. Between 1909 and 1912, she studied in Paris and during this time painted Lady with Jade Dragon. In late-1912, she travelled to San Francisco where she married fellow artist Eric Spencer Macky, the couple becoming leading American artists and art teachers in San Francisco.

3 Jillian Dwyer; Constance Jenkins, her painting Friendly critics and the National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship; NGV; accessed 2015; https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/constance-jenkins-her-painting-friendly-critics-and-the-national-gallery-of-victoria-travelling-scholarship/ .

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/constance-jenkins-her-painting-friendly-critics-and-the-national-gallery-of-victoria-travelling-scholarship/



In March 1909, Constance L. Jenkins boarded the SS Medic II for London, her Travelling

Scholarship providing her with £150 per year for three years, enabling her to further her studies

at Paris’s Académie Julien (1909-1911) under Jean Paul Laurens. Afterward she travelled

through Europe furthering her artistic studies in Belgium (Bruges), Germany (Munich),

Switzerland, Italy (Venice) and United Kingdom (London), and painted for a time at the art colony

at Etaples, France. Overseas she exhibited at the Paris Salon and London’s Royal Academy. In

10th February 1912, she arrived at Melbourne from London aboard the RMS Otway and in May

1912, held a highly successful solo exhibition of 96 paintings at the Athenaeum Gallery. A critic

stated

“Miss Constance Jenkins, whose rapid impressions of Continental travel are always vita and

descriptive…”

In August 1912, Constance L. Jenkins traveled to California where she married her finance,

E. Spencer Macky at Berkley, California. In 1914, the couple painted murals and decorations for

the Australian and New Zealand Pavilions at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. In

1916, the Mackys opened their first San Francisco art school in two studios of the Studio Building

on Post Street, near Gough, where an art colony of well-known artists lived. After a year, the

Macky Art School became the most progressive group of art students in the Bay Region, and its

classes were amalgamated with the California School of Fine Arts in 1917 and was sponsored

by the San Francisco Art Association and affiliated with the University of California. The

Constance L. Jenkins was a leading art teacher and Eric Spencer Macky was Dean of the

Faculty.

In 1919, Constance L. Jenkins exhibited a work titled The Peri with the Australian Art

Association and it was reproduced as a full-page feature in The International Studio magazine

earlier that year. Also in 1919, her painting Chrysanthemums appeared as a full-page colour

reproduction in the journal Art in Australia. While becoming well-known as an American artist,

she was largely forgotten in Australia, though one of her paintings was included in the 1923

Exhibition of Australian Art in London.

After having two children, Constance L. Jenkins was appointed with her husband to teaching

positions at the California School of Arts, San Francisco, and was associated with the School for

most of her life. In California, she was a member of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists

(from 1913) and the San Francisco Artists Association, serving as its Executive Director. In 1953,

she returned for a visit to Australia, but found she was another of Australia’s ‘Forgotten Women

Artists’. In Melbourne, she exhibited at the Victorian Academy of Art and Australian Art

Association and in Sydney, exhibited at the Society of Women Painters.

COLLECTIONS: NGV; San Francisco Art Institute; Bancroft Library at University of California.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Heritage; Design and Art Australia

Online; Argus (8th March 1913; 8th October 1935); Bulletin (17th July 1919); Age (1st March 1930); Daily Telegraph (12th April 1953); numerous newspaper articles.



LAYCOCK, GLADYS DAPHNE (MRS D’ARCY OSBORNE) [ New South Wales, UK. Europe ]

BORN: 2nd November 1882 at Newtown, New South Wales

DIED: 14th November 1957 at Paddington, Wollahra, New South Wales

Gladys D. Laycock was a professional painter and miniaturist. She was the daughter of

Thomas Mountford [1840-1900] and Elizabeth Lydia [1858-1933; nee Hughes] Laycock, the

Laycock family being descended from the pioneers of the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. On 3rd

September 1925, she married D’Arcy Osborne [1845-1931; grazier], afterwards living at Bredbo

Station near Michelago, Monaro, New South Wales, but still maintaining close contact with the

social and artistic communities in Sydney. After her husband’s death in 1931, she returned to

Sydney and continued to paint and exhibit miniatures.

Between 1905 and 1950s, Gladys D. Laycock was one of Sydney’s best-known miniaturists.

As a young lady, she received her artistic training at London’s Heatherley School of Fine Art and

in Paris. From 1903, she exhibited primarily miniatures on ivory at the Art Society of NSW (later

Royal Art Society). In 1907, Gladys Laycock exhibited a miniature portrait, Lady Northcote, at

the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work.

Gladys D. Laycock maintained a studio at the Strand Arcade and from 1906, was

commissioned to produce more than 20 miniatures on ivory of famous people at two guineas per

portrait for the Sydney firm of Lovell & Company. Her bosses John Lovell, John Cousins and

David Andrews instructed her to sign the miniatures with specific initials that were not her own.

In November 1907, she testified against her employers who were tried for conspiracy to defraud

for selling Laycock’s miniatures as being painted by famous English and Scottish miniaturists. A

pair of her miniatures, Sir John Banks and Governor Phillips, had been sold to the Principal

of the Free Public Library for 40 guineas as having been painted by Henry Raeburn, President

of the Scottish Academy. These and other faked portrait miniatures were exhibited as evidence.

At no time during the court proceedings was Gladys Laycock charged or accused of any

wrongdoing.

On 25th February 1908, Gladys D. Laycock boarded the RMS Mooltan for United Kingdom

and Europe, planning to stay in Paris for a time. In February 1909, she returned to Sydney after

studying miniature painting in London and Paris. The Art Gallery of NSW purchased miniatures

from the 1913, 1914, 1916, 1919 and 1922 exhibitions of Royal Art Society. In December 1921,

she received a commission to produce miniatures of 63 Australian Generals. In Sydney, Gladys

D. Laycock exhibited at the Royal Art Society (from 1903) and Society of Women Painters.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; Howard Hinton Collection (Armidale); Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: ‘Gladys Osborne's portrait miniatures’ in Australiana (May 2017); Evening News (28th November 1907; 13th February 1908); Sun (11th December 1921); numerous newspaper articles.

[130] Portrait Miniature of Lady 1910s; watercolour-gouache; 10.0 x 8.0 cm;

signed: “ Gladys Laycock ” (lower right).

Provenance




MEESON, DORA (MRS GEORGE COATES) [ Victoria, New Zealand, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 7th August 1869 at Boroondara, Hawthorne (Melbourne), Victoria

DIED: 24th March 1955 at London, England

Dora Meeson was a professional painter, craftsperson, printmaker, illustrator and suffragette.

She was eldest of the five children of John Thomas [1837-1909; head master Melbourne Grammar

School] and Amelia Esther [1839-1909; nee Kipling] Meeson. Between 1876 and 1896, the family

moved often living in United Kingdom, New Zealand and Victoria. On 23rd July 1903, Dora married

George Coates [1869-1930], a fellow Australian artist; the couple having no children.

Largely educated at home, Dora Meeson received her initial artistic training at the Nelson

College for Girls and the Canterbury College School of Art (1888-1892) under George Herbert

Elliott [1860-1941], an en plein air landscape painter. During this time, Meeson was associated

with Margaret Stoddart and was a member of the Palette Club [1887-1895], a group of plein air

sketching artists. In 1888, several of Meeson’s oil landscapes and still-lifes were hung in the

Dunedin and South Seas Exhibition, winning a Certificate of Merit, and two First Prizes at the

Auckland Society of Arts. In 1893, she studied at the Slade School of Art under Fred Brown,

attending the life classes. After her family returned to Melbourne, Dora Meeson resumed her

artistic studies at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1895-1896) under Fred McCubbin and

Bernard Hall. In September 1895, she was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s £75 Chapman Prize

for her oil painting Ars Longa. Anecdotal gossip says she was the outright winner of the School’s

prestigious Travelling Scholarship, but she withdrew in favour of George Coates, who she later

married.

In 1896, Dora Meeson travelled to Europe to further her artistic studies at London’s Slade

School of Art (1896-1898) under Ernest Tonks and Paris’s Académie Julien (1898-99) under

Benjamin Constant and Jean Paul Laurens, being awarded Second and Third place in the

Concours and having her work accepted for display at Paris’s Old Salon. In 1899, she was made

a Life Governor of the Bendigo Art Gallery. In 1900, Dora Meeson relocated to London where she

exhibited, including at the 1907 Australasian Exhibition of Women’s Work where she was

awarded 2nd Prize for Oil Landscape. In December 1907, a disastrous fire in their Chelsea studio

destroyed many of Dora Meason’s and George Coates’s paintings and artistic possessions.

After her marriage in 1903, Dora Meeson became active in the Suffragette Movement and was

a founding member of Women’s Freedom League and Women’s Council of Conservative and

Unionist Women’s Franchise. She was also a member of the Artists’ Suffrage League for which

she illustrated booklets, designed posters and banners. During World War I, she was a founder

of the Women’s Police Service. After the War, she was a member of the Society of Mural

Decorators and Tempera Painters and the first Australian woman artist to be elected a member

of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

[131] “ How Funny ” circa 1905; oil on board; 17.0 x 12.5 cm;

inscribed: “ D. Meeson, 1 Cedar, Studios, Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW ” (lower reverse).

Provenance

Exhibited: London; (on verso) No 2 “How Funny” Price 4-4-0 pounds, D. Meeson, 1 Cedar Studios, Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW;




In 1920, Dora Meeson and George Coates returned to Melbourne where they held a series of

solo and joint art exhibitions. In 1922, they returned to England and she did not return to Australia

until 1934 after the death of her husband.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW, NGV, QAG, AGWA, TMAG, NLA, AWM, and numerous Regional

Galleries and a number of international public collections.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ladies’ Picture Show; Heritage; Sydney Morning Herald (5th September 1895; 21st December

1895); Australian Town and Country (21st December 1895); Bendigo Advertiser (7th February 1899); Sydney Daily Telegraph (25th September 1907); numerous newspaper clippings.

[132] A Harvest Sunset 1888; oil on canvas; 20.5 x 30.5 cm;

signed: “ D.M. 1888 ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: 1888 in New Zealand while Dora Meeson was studying art at the Canterbury

School of Art;

EXHIBITED: Otago Art Society (November 1888), Catalogue Number 38 (Otago Witness (23rd November 1888)).


This is one of the earliest impressionist paintings to be produced in New Zealand, not only by a woman artist but for men as well. Dora Meeson was born in Hawthorne (Melborne, Victoria), but between 1876 and 1896, her family lived in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Victoria. As a teenager, Dora Meeson studied art at the Canterbury School of Art in Christchurch under George Herbert Elliott [1860-1941], an en plein air landscape painter. Meeson’s A Harvest Sunset was produced before the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition had been presented in Melbourne and is among the earliest impressionist paintings produced by an Australiam women artist. During this time, Meeson was associated with Margaret Stoddart, a noted New Zealand Impressionist, and the two ladies were members of the Palette Club [1887-1895], a group of New Zealand plein air artists.



MERFIELD, BERTHA ELIZABETH [ VICTORIA, TASMANIA, NEW SOUTH WALES, EUROPE, UK ]

BORN: 30th January 1869 at Melbourne, Victoria

DIED: 23rd September 1921 at Sandringham, Victoria

Bertha E. Merfield was a professional painter, muralist, craftsperson, art teacher and

suffragette-journalist. She was the daughter of Thomas [1835-1888] and Isabella [1844-1930; nee

Wardman] Merfield, Bertha being the third of the at least eight children living at Stawell (northwest

of Ballarat). Thomas Merfield had been born in London, but raised in Cincinnati, Ohio before

coming to Victoria during the gold rush. By 1865 when he married, Thomas was the manager of

a gold mine at Ararat (between Stawell and Ballarat) and at the time of his death was the owner

of the Ballarat Advertiser newspaper. Between 1900 and her death in 1921, Bertha Merfield

always listed her profession as ‘Artist’ or ‘Art Teacher’ and after returning from Europe in 1904,

she maintained a professional art studio in Alexandra Chambers at 46 Elisabeth Street and later

St James Building at 123 William Street from which she taught painting, drawing and various craft

media.

Bertha E. Merfield received her artistic training at the Melbourne School of Art (1895-1901)

under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker. She also studied at the National Gallery of

Victoria School (1897-1898) under Fred McCubbin. She learned to paint in an impressionist style

in the company of Violet Teague, Ina Gregory, Lilla Reidy, Jessie L. Evans and others. In 1901

and 1902, Merfield was awarded portrait and still-life prizes at the South Street Society in Ballarat.

(While repeatedly being credited with being awarded the Longstaff Art Scholarship (a.k.a. National

Gallery of Victoria’s Travelling Scholarship), there is no evidence of this).

On 24th December 1902, Bertha E. Merfield arrived at London aboard the RMS Omrah, to

continue her art studies. In Paris, she studied at Académie Colarossi under Professors Gustav

Claude Courtois [1852-1923], Paul Emile Colin [1867-1949] and René François-Xavier Prinet

[1861-1946] while sharing a flat in the Latin Quarter with Bernice Edwell, later painting in France,

Italy and the United Kingdom. In January 1904, Bertha E. Merfield returned to Melbourne aboard

the RMS Omrah. In September 1906, she held an exhibition of her paintings and craftwork, the

Australian Town and Country Journal’s critic stating on 17th October 1906

“I really believe that Miss Bertha Merfield must have sold nearly all her prettiest pictures during the time her exhibition was open or immediately after. It is not often one finds an artist equally good in depicting Australian and European scenery. Miss Merfield has full success awaiting her in the future.”

[133] “Mentone, Victoria ” 1904; oil on board; 34.0 x 20.0 cm;

signed: “ B.E. Merfield ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1901 prior to her trip to Europe where she continued her studies in Paris. PURCHASED: 1998 at Deutscher-Menzies.

Bertha Merfield received her artistic training at the Melbourne School of Art (1895-1901) under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker and also studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1897-1898). She learned to paint in an impressionist style in the company of C. Asquith Baker, Jessie L. Evans, Ina Gregory, Lilla Reidy, Violet Teague, and others before continuing her studies in Paris, London and French art colonies.



On 8th December 1910, Bertha E. Mayfield departed aboard the SS Bremen for Bremen,

Germany, later studying in London under George Claussen, who had taken a great interest in her

work. While in Europe, she painted and studying weaving in Germany and Finland, staying with

Baroness von Leaghen. While in England, Merfield was a founding member of the Society of

Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempura (Dora Meeson was also a member). In February 1912,

Bertha held a solo exhibition of thirty painting, including mural decorations, at the Commonwealth

Offices in London. On 18th March 1912, she departed London aboard the SS Scharnhorst to

return to Melbourne.

On her return to Melbourne, Bertha E. Merfield was appointed art teacher at the University.

In October 1913 (and again in September 1918), she held a solo exhibition of 82 paintings and

mural decorations at the Athenaeum Gallery that received glowing reviews and exceptional sales.

In June 1915 (and again in May 1920), she had a solo exhibition at the Hordern’s Fine Art Gallery

in Sydney that was well received and allegedly resulted in numerous commissions. Merfield

became one of the pioneers of mural painting in Victoria, some of her notable murals including 9

by 8 feet murals for Melbourne’s Oriental Hotel, a large Australian landscape commissioned in

1916 by Marion and Walter Burley Griffin for the Cafe “Australia” in Collins Street, and eight large

panels for the ‘New’ Malvern Theatre in 1921.

William Moore assigns Bertha E. Merfield a place as one of the first Australian women to

distinguish herself as a landscape painter, her impressionistic and decorative landscapes, still-

lifes and portraits that show the influence of E. Phillips Fox and her later mural decorations adopt

an art nouveau stylalisation. In 1908, she was one of the founders of the Arts and Craft Society

of Victoria; their first meeting was held at her studio.

Bertha E. Merfield was active in the women’ s right and suffragette movement not only as a

supporter but also an organizer-speaker and journalist for the Women Voter publication, serving

as Vice-President of Women’s Labour Bureau. Between 1905 and 1920, she exhibited at the

Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and Yarra Sculptor

Society, later being a foundation member and exhibitor of the Twenty Melbourne Painters. She

also exhibited craftwork (leather work, enamels and jewelry) at the Victorian Arts and Crafts

Society, serving on its Council since its inception. She also exhibited interstate at Sydney’s

Society of Women Painters and Adelaide’s Society of Artists’ Federal Exhibitions. On 23rd

September 1921, Bertha E. Merfield jumped from the train travelling from Sandringham to

Melbourne, dying aged 51-years. She had been travelling with her mother and was reputedly

depressed and of unsound mind.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Artists of Kew; The Artists Camps; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies Picture Show; Golden Summers, More than Just Gum Trees; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Ballarat Star (24th October 1901; 4th November 1902); Leader (6th February 1869; 22nd September 1906; 10th October 1908); Table Talk (27th September 1906; 2nd November 1916); Punch (8th December 1910; 20th June 1912); Australasian (7th October 1911); Herald (9th January 1912; 2nd December 1913; 13th April 1915; 10th September 1918); Weekly Times (3rd February 1912); Women Voter (2nd September 1913; 23rd September 1913); Sydney Sun (30th May 1915); Argus (6th February 1909; 19th February 1912; 16th October 1913; 30th September 1921); Advocate (29th September 1921).



MESTON, EUPHEMIA EMILY [ New South Wales; Victoria; Tasmania ]

BORN: 1866 at Fitzroy, Victoria

DIED: 6th October 1914 at Ashfield (Sydney), NSW

Emily Meston was a professional painter and art teacher who worked from an inner-city studio

(Pauling Building, Vickery Chambers at 76 Pitt Street and later 6 Market Street). She was the

middle child of the three daughters of John Catto [1829-1889; Scotsman] and Mary Ellen [1836-

1923; nee King; daughter of famous Irish architect] Meston. Her mother’s uncle was Henry

MacManus [1810-1878], a well-known Irish artist, art teacher who established the first art classes

for women in Dublin, and former Director of Dublin and Glasgow Galleries. Emily Meston lived

with her extended family in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield ("Warrawee" Charlotte Street).

Emily Meston received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1882-

1892) under George Follingsby, Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall. She was good friends with

Tom Roberts (painted his portrait), Jane Sutherland, Iso Rae and other painters of the Heidelberg

School of Landscape Painting who had been her classmates at the Gallery School. In early-1890s,

she taught painting and drawing at the Buxton’s building, where the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition

had been held in 1889.

After her father’s death, Emily Meston moved to Sydney in 1892, immediately setting up an

artist studio in Paling’s Building from which she taught painting and drawing. In 1895, her Study

of Grapes was bought by the Art Gallery of N.S.W. from the first exhibition of the newly formed

Society of Artists. In 1898, two of her flower paintings, one portrait and one bird painting were

selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Grafton Gallery in London. She was also an

exhibitor at the Paris Salons in France. In 1907, she exhibited oil (flower paintings) and pastel

paintings at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. At the time of her death, it was noted

that Emily Meston was Sydney’s best-known portrait painter and an exhibition of more than 200

of her paintings were exhibited posthumously at Hordern’s Fine Art Gallery.

Emily Meston was primarily a portrait painter (including full-length representations) whose

subjects included prominent politicians and academics, but it was her still-lifes of flowers that

garnished the greatest attention. In Sydney, she was a member of the Royal Art Society and a

foundation member of the Society of Artists (1895-1901). In 1910, she was one of the founders of

the Society of Women Painters, serving as its Honorary Treasurer, on its Council and Exhibition

Committees. In Adelaide, she exhibited at the Royal South Australia Society of Arts' Federal

Exhibitions.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; QAG; Sydney University.


Heritage; Design & Art Australian Online; Sydney Morning Herald (17th September 1892); Daily Telegraph (28th

September 1895); numerous other newspaper articles.

[134] Roses 1893; oil on canvas; 32.0 x 57.0 cm;

signed: “ E. Meston ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: 1893 Royal Art Society;


Emily Meston was primarily a portrait painter (including full-length representations) whose subjects included prominent politicians and academics, but it was her still-lifes of flowers that garnished the greatest attention. Even though Meston was a more significant portrait painter than a painter of still-lifes, the Art Gallery of NSW rarely acquired large oil portraits by women, preferring small still-life studies which conformed to the ‘decorative’ stereotype attached to 'women’s art'. When Meston’s Portrait of Rev G McInnes was shown alongside her Study of Grapes at the 1895 inaugural exhibition of the Society of Artists, it was called “the strongest portrait, so far as The Bulletin knows, yet painted in Australia by a woman”. However, the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW purchased Study of Grapes instead.



MOSER, MARION CONSTANCE [ New South Wales; UK, Europe ]

BORN: 1869 at Mudgee, New South Wales

DIED: 27th August 1934 at North Sydney, New South Wales

Constance Moser was a painter and craftsperson. She was the second of the eight children

of Thomas [1831-1900; pastoralist- commission agent of Mudgee and Armidale] and Jane Sarah

[-1932; nee Brown] Moser, by 1871 having moved to North Sydney. During her artistic career,

Constance Moser lived with her extended family at the Sydney suburbs of Ashfield and North

Sydney (1920-1934: "Keewong" Bent Street).

In Sydney, Constance Moser exhibited at the Society of Artists and Society of Women

Painters, serving as its Vice-President and on its Exhibition Committees. In 1929, she was

awarded the Society of Women Painters’ £25 Prize for Best Painting. In the 1920s, she was well-

known for her “Sunshine Sketches” filled with sunlight and executed in an impressionist manner.

In 1929, she travelled to London and Europe where she continued her artistic studies for eighteen

months before returning to Sydney. In 1910s, she was also a prominent member of the Women’s

Handicraft Association, serving as its Honourary Secretary.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sydney Mail and NSW Advertiser (9th November 1901); Daily Telegraph (21st September 1921;

28th April 1922; 11th May 1929); Sydney Morning Herald (5th December 1929); Evening News (21st February 1931);

numerous newspaper articles.

[135] Road Through the Valley 1920s; oil on board; 16.0 x 21.0 cm;

signed: “ Constance Moser ” (lower right)

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: early 192s0 as a ‘Sunshine Sketch’;

PURCHASED: 1994 from Raffan Kalaher & Thomas.



MUNTZ-ADAMS, JOSEPHINE MARGARET (NEE MUNTZ; MRS SAMUEL ADAMS) [ Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Europe, UK ]

BORN: 30th March 1862 at Barfold (90 kilometers northeast of Ballarat), Victoria DIED: 18th November 1949 at East Malvern (Windsor), Victoria

Josephine Muntz-Adams was a professional painter, art teacher and gifted pianist. She was

eldest of the ten children of Thomas Bingham [1835-1908; Irish immigrant; civil-mining engineer

and land speculator] and Jane [1836-1901; nee Jamieson] Muntz. In 1871, the family moved from

country Victoria to Prahran (Melbourne), her father being elected a Councilor and later Mayor. On

25th August 1898, Josephine married Samuel Howard Adams [1866-1903; manufacturer’s agent]

at Malvern, Victoria, afterward moving to Brisbane where the couple had no children.

Josephine Muntz initially studied art at the Prahran School of Design (1876-1880), where she

was awarded First Prize for Landscape Painting, First Prize for Flower Drawing, Special Prize for

Superior Excellence and Mayor’s Prize for Oil Painting. Afterward she continued her artistic

studies at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1882; 1884-1889) under Follingsby where she

was awarded a number of prizes. Fellow students included David Davies, Jessie L. Evans, Clara

Southern, Jane Sutherland, May Vale and Arthur Streeton, who became a life-long family friend.

Between 1890 and 1896, Josephine Muntz travelled overseas to continue her studies in Paris

at Académie Colarossi (1891) and Académie Julien (1893) and in England, portrait painting at

Herkomer's Art School (1894-1896) under Hubert von Herkomer. At Brisbane’s International

Exhibition, she was awarded First Prizes for both Oil Portraits and Oil Genre Paintings. In August

1897, she visited and painted in Adelaide and Perth. In 1898, her genre painting, Care, was the

first artwork by an Australian to be included in the Queensland Art Gallery’s Collection. In 1899,

she was awarded the Gold Medal for Portraiture at the Great Britain Exhibition (London).

In 1907, Josephine Muntz-Adams exhibited oil (portraits, a flower painting, a genre painting

[90 guineas] and a figure painting [30 guineas]) and black-and-white (figure study) pictures at the

Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. In the first decade of 20th century, Muntz-Adams

became a well-sought-after portraitist and demanded £150 per portrait and earned £1,000 per

year. Between 1900s and 1910s, she also taught privately. Between 1917 and May 1922, she

took up a teaching post at Brisbane’s Central Technical College. Afterwards, she returned to

Melbourne where her eyesight began to deteriorate, her studio filling with unsold artworks.

In 1926, she was a finalist in the prestigious Archibald Prize for Portraiture. In 1936, the

National Gallery of Victoria purchased her portrait, Italian Girl's Head. In Brisbane, she exhibited

at the Queensland Society of Artists, in Melbourne at Victorian Artists’ Society and in Sydney at

the Society of Artists. In 1949, she died age 87-years, leaving an estate valued of £31,000.

COLLECTION: AGNSW, NGV, QAG, Australian Parliament House; university and regional galleries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of

Australian Art; Completing the Picture; Heritage; Telegraph (20th 1877); Ballarat Star (24th July 1877); Argus (22nd December 1880; 14th September 1898); Australasian (22nd December 1877); Leader (27th December 1879); Prahran Telegraph (24th June 1893); Table Talk (24th November 1894; 2nd October 1896); numerous newspaper articles.

[136] Study for ‘Sleep’ circa 1920; oil on canvas; 16.5 x 24.5 cm;

signed: “ J. Muntz-Adams ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE


Josephine Muntz-Adams preferred using friends and relatives in her paintings, usually posed reading, sewing or relaxing, evocative of the ‘upper-class kept woman’. However, she lived through her art, her marriage in 1898 only lasting five years before her husband’s death.



MUSKETT, ALICE JANE [ Victoria, New South Wales, UK, France ]

BORN: 28th April 1869 at Fitzroy (Melbourne), Victoria DIED: 16th July 1936 at North Sydney, New South Wales

Alice J. Muskett was a professional painter, illustrator, war & art journalist, poet and author. She was the only daughter of Charles [1830-1873; bookseller] and Phoebe [1831-1886; nee Charlwood; bookseller) Muskett; her brother Phillip Edward Muskett [1857-1909] became a well-known medical practitioner in Sydney. In 1885, Alice and her dying mother joined her brother in Sydney, living with him until his death.

From 1886, Alice Muskett received her initial artistic training under Julian R. Ashton (his second student and occasional model) and between 1891 and 1892, studied at the Sydney Technical College. In January 1891, she was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s First Prize for a Life-Size Portrait by a Student and started to exhibit with the Royal Art Society. In early April 1895 and with the support of her brother, she boarded the Thermopylae for London, proceeding to Paris where she continued her studies at Académie Colarossi (1895-97). While in Paris, she exhibited at the Paris Salon and in 1898, three of her paintings were included in the Exhibition of Australian Art in London. In 1898, her Study of Roses was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW.

In late-1898, Alice Muskett returned to Sydney, where she studied at the Sydney Art School (1896-1901) under Julian R. Ashton. In 1907, she was on the Executive Committee for the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work and was also an exhibitor. After her brother’s death in 1909, Alice was assigned a living allowance and after her death, a Prize in Landscape was to be established. In April 1910, she boarded the Marmora for London and painted in Egypt on the way home in 1911. In Sydney, she shared a studio with Florence Rodway and became an active member of the Society of Women Artists. In April 1914, Alice Musket boarded the Mongolia for London, and during World War I, devoted her time to war work, sent reports back to Australian newspapers and worked in a canteen in London. In April 1919, she departed taking 14 weeks aboard the Niagara via Panama Canal and Vancouver for Sydney where she lived frugally in Neutral Bay but was always the first to donate a few pounds to a worthwhile cause. She authored a semi-autobiographical novel, Among the Reeds (1933) just three years before her death.

Alice Muskett was a painter in oil and watercolour whose subjects included still-life, genre, decorative figure compositions and architectural studies. Her canvases were seldom large but gave the idea of space necessary to best view the subject. The Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased two of her paintings, The Dying Salute You (1898; 1946 de-accessioned and sold) and Cumberland Street (1902; with another twenty of her paintings were transferred from the Mitchell Library in 1920). In Sydney, she was a member of the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council, a foundation member of the Society of Artists, serving on its Council and in Adelaide, exhibited at Royal South Australian Society of Arts.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; NGV; Ballarat AG; Manly AG; ML; Launceston Art Gallery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Art & Design Australia Online; Sydney Morning Herald (9th January 1891; 22nd April 1891; 9th February 1895); Daily Telegraph (14th January 1892; 13th September 1928); Western Australian (19th February 1910); Sunday Times (5th April 1914); Table Talk (3rd April 1919); Sun (6th July 1919).

[137] “ Horse Ferry, (Sydney Harbour) ”

1908; oil on board; 18.5 x 34.0 cm;

signed: “ Alice J. Muskett 1908 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: (1908) Society of Artists Spring Exhibition, Queen Victoria Markets, Sydney October 1908 (cat no 51); copy of catalogue entry included.


From 1886, Alice Jane Muskett received her initial artistic training under Julian R. Ashton (his second student and occasional model) and between 1891 and 1892, studied at the Sydney Technical College. In January 1891, she was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s First Prize for a Life-Size Portrait by a Student and started to exhibit with the Royal Art Society but joined the Society of Artists when it broke away. In early April 1895 and with the support of her brother, she boarded the ‘ flying clipper ’ Thermopylae for London, proceeding to Paris where she continued her studies at Académie Colarossi (1895-1897). She again visited Europe 1910-1911 and 1914-1919. While in Paris, she exhibited at the Paris Salon and in 1898, three of her paintings were included in the Exhibition of Australian Art in London. In 1898, her Study of Roses was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW. She authored a semi-autobiographical novel, Among the Reeds (1933) just three years before her death of a cerebral hemorrhage.



NICHOLAS, (EMILY) HILDA RIX (nee Rix; Mrs George N. Nicholas; Mrs Edgar P. Wright)

[ Victoria, New South Wales, UK, Europe, North Africa ] BORN: 1st September 1884 at Ballarat, Victoria DIED: 3rd August 1961 at Bombala (Tombong), Eden Monaro, New South Wales

Hilda Rix Nicholas was a professional painter, miniaturist and illustrator. She was youngest of the two children of Henry Finch [1848-1906; Inspector of Schools] and Elizabeth [1855-1916; amateur painter and musician; nee Sutton] Rix. On 6th October 1916, Hilda married Major George Nicholas [1887-1916], but he died six weeks later. On 2nd June 1928, she married Edgar Percy Wright [1891-1979; pastoralist], the couple having one son.

Hilda Rix received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1902-1905) under Fred McCubbin. In 1907, she travelled with her mother and sister to London where she studied under John Hassall and later at Paris’s Atelier Delécluse and the Académie Colarossi. She exhibited at Paris’s Salon and in 1912, had a solo exhibition from which one of her pastels was purchased by French Government. She travelled and painted throughout Europe and in 1912 and 1914, she visited Morocco. In addition to maintaining a studio in Paris, she also had one in Etaples where she benefited from critiques of Jules Alder. After the outbreak of war, she fled to London leaving most of her paintings behind. In 1914 and 1916, her sister and mother died, leaving Hilda alone. In 1916, Major George N. Nicholas A.I.F. discovered her Etaples studio and returned the paintings to the grateful artist. In October 1916, they married, but he was killed in action six weeks later.

In May 1918 (6 months before the end of the War), Hilda Rix Nicholas returned to Australia, splitting her time between Melbourne and Sydney. She toured through country New South Wales and Victoria, the paintings being exhibited at a solo exhibition in Paris after she returned to Europe in 1924. In 1926, she was elected an Associate of Paris’s Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Between February 1926 and August 1928, her Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings of Australian Life and Landscape toured provincial English galleries. In 1926, she returned to Melbourne where in 1928, she married Edgar P. Wright and moved to ‘Knockalong’, Tombong, N.S.W. In 1950s, ill-heath prevented her from painting, and she died in 1961.

Her Australian landscapes are characterized by broad critical concept of national identify that sustained a rural ideal. She was perceived by critics as standing apart from contemporary Australian women artists, her images demonstrating strength and vigour. The National Gallery of Victoria purchased two of her oil paintings, In Picardy (1918) and Canberra from Red Hill. In 1919, the Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased her painting, Grand Mere. From 1918, Hilda Rix Nicholas was a member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and in Sydney, exhibited at the Society of Artists and Society of Women Painters, serving as its Vice-President, on its Council and Exhibition Committees.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; NGV; QAG, AWM, Musée National du Luxembourg (Paris); and regional art galleries

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design & Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[NAS] “The Great Snowy River,

N.S.W.” 1932; oil on canvas; 50.0 x 60.0 cm;

signed: ‘ Hilda Rix Nicholas ’ (lower right).

PROVENANCE


Between 1907 and 1918, Hilda Rix Nicholas lived in the United Kingdom and Europe where she studied art in Paris and London and painted in the French art colonies. In 1918, she returned to Australia, but in early-1920s, returned to Europe. A 1925 exhibition in Paris led to the sale of her work In Australia to the Musée du Luxembourg. In the 1926, Hilda Rix Nicholas was made an Associate of Paris’s Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1926, she returned to Australia, and in 1928, married Edgar Percy Wright, whom she had met during her travels in the early-1920s. The couple settled at Delegate in Southern New South Wales where Hilda Rix Nicholas continued to paint the New South Wales countryside.



NORRISS TAIT, BESS (ELIZABETH) MAY (NEE NORRISS; MRS J. NEVIN TAIT) R.M.S. (Royal Miniature Society)

[ Victoria, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 17th May 1878 at Melbourne, Victoria

DIED: 9th January 1939 at Chelsea, London, England

Bess Norriss Tait was a professional painter and miniaturist. She was the youngest of the two

daughters of Thomas William [1843-1923; scientific chemist] and Mary Yeandle [1849-1908; nee

Cann] Norriss (a.k.a. Norris). On 27th July 1908, Bess married James Nevin Tait [1876-1961; well-

known Australian musical impresario] at London, the couple having no children.

From the age of ten-years, Bess Norriss received her artistic training privately under Jane

Sutherland, later studying at the National Gallery of Victoria School and at the Slade Art School in

London. While still a teenager, she taught herself to paint portrait miniatures on ivory, already

being well-known in the technique by 1897. By 1900, she worked as a professional artist from a

studio in Flinders Street, which she shared with Clara Southern. It reputedly took her six years to

earn enough money to continue her studies in London.

In 1905, Bess Norriss travelled to the United Kingdom where she studied at the Slade School

of Art. She undertook miniature portrait commissions, receiving 100 guineas for her miniature of

J. Pierpont Morgan and also was honoured with Royal patronage. In 1907, she was elected a

member of the prestigious Royal Society of Miniature Painters. While overseas, she exhibited at

the Royal Academy, Paris Salon, Royal Society of Miniature Painters, British Watercolour Society,

and Brussels Exhibition (1914). In December 1909, she departed London aboard the Waimer

Castle destined for Capetown, South Africa where she painted several miniatures of important

people. By mid-1910, she had established a Collins Street studio and held a number of exhibitions

of her miniatures and paintings. In 1910, the National Gallery of Victoria purchased two of her

miniatures, Coralie and Judie. Between 1907 and 1930s, she was considered to be one of the

leading miniaturists in the United Kingdom and also had a strong following in Europe. In early-

1911, she returned to the United Kingdom, staying there until her death in 1939.

In Melbourne, Bess Norriss Tait exhibited at the Victorian Artists' Society and Yarra Sculptor

Society and in Sydney, exhibited at the Society of Artists.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; NGV; Tate Gallery (London); Royal Collection at Windsor; Toronto AG; Liverpool AG.


Artist; Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Art in Australia (November 1922; The Work of Bess Norris); numerous newspaper articles.

[138] Miniature Portrait

of Young Girl circa 1907 (in 1908, Bess Norris married and

became Norriss-Tait); watercolour- gouache in

gold locket; 3.5 x 2.5 cm;

signed: “ Bess Norriss ” (centre left).

Provenance

PAINTED: circa 1907 (she learned miniature painting in circa 1906 and married in 1908 becoming Norriss-Tait);

Purchased: 1993 from Leonard Joel’s (jewelry auction).



NORTON, ALICE ELIZA (MRS FRANCIS A.Q. STEPHENS) [ New South Wales, Victoria; South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia,

UK, Europe, North Africa, Canada, India, Japan, Java ]

BORN: 13th November 1865 at Sydney, New South Wales

DIED: 19th March 1948 at Warrawee, New South Wales

Alice E. Norton was a primarily a professional watercolourist. She was the youngest of the

three children of James [1824-1906; lawyer; Member Legislative Council] and Isabella [1832-

1910; nee Stephens] Norton, James having been previously married with four children. In 1912

(when she was 46 years old), Alice E. Norton married Francis Allen Q. Stephens [1872-1948;

Western Australian pastoralist], the couple having no children and dying within weeks of each

other in 1948. After the wedding, Alice and her husband lived in Western Australia for five years,

returning to Sydney in 1917. Alice was related to Ethel A. Stephens through her mother and also

by marriage. Alice lived at the Sydney suburbs of Double Bay ("Ecclesbourne") and after returning

to Sydney at Darlinghurst, Woollahra, Vaucluse, Wahroonga, Gordon and Turramurra.

Alice E. Norton’s family were closely associated with the Art Society of NSW (a.k.a. Royal

Art Society) and attended its exhibitions and social events. She received her artistic training at

the Sydney Art School (1891-1896) under Julian R. Ashton and Alfred J. Daplyn. In 1893, ‘The

Painting Club’ was established in Sydney, the first Australian art society exclusively for women

artists which followed similar societies established in the United Kingdom and Europe, meetings

and exhibitions being held at Ecclesbourne (Double Bay), Alice E. Norton’s family home.

In 1894, Alice E. Norton’s watercolour A Place of Wind and Flowers was purchased by the

Art Gallery of NSW, later acquiring another watercolour Dawn. In 1898, four landscapes and one

flower study were selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Grafton Gallery in London.

In 1907, she was on the Executive Committee for the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work

where she exhibited watercolour landscapes, a seascape; flower paintings and a still-life. In April

1912, she had a joint exhibition with Gladys Owen, exhibiting pictures painted during their recent

trip to Europe and the United Kingdom. The following year, she returned to Europe with her cousin

Ethel A. Stephens, and while in England married. On 27th August 1927, Alice E. Norton and her

husband boarded the JMS Aki Mura for Japan.

Alice E. Norton was primarily a watercolourist who painted rural landscapes. In Sydney, she

was a member of the Royal Art Society and a foundation member of the Society of Artists and

Society of Women Painters, serving as Vice-President and on its Exhibition Committees. In 1908,

she became a member of the Society of Arts & Crafts of N.S.W. In Adelaide, she exhibited at the

Royal S.A. Society of Arts' Federal Exhibitions and in Perth, exhibited at the West Australian

Society of Arts. In New Zealand, she exhibited at the N.Z. Academy of Fine Arts.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; Manly Art Gallery; Mitchell Library; Blue Mountains City Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; numerous newspaper articles.

[139] Sheep Grazing in Shade of Trees 1904 or 1909; watercolour; 18.0 x 31.5 cm;

signed: “ A.E. Norton ” (lower centre).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1995 from Lawsons.

In the first-half of the 1890s, Alice E. Norton studied under Alfred J. Daplyn and Julian R. Ashton, who instilled a passion for en plein air landscape painting in watercolours. Her family was quite wealthy (her father was a Member of the Legislative Council) and she was related to Ethel A. Stephens (first cousin) and Elsie Deane (sister-in-law). The family home, Ecclesbourne (Double Bay), was not only the meeting and exhibition venue for The Painting Club, but also a centre for Sydney’s art loving patrons. The Club met on the first Thursday of each month, paintings by members were exhibited and critiqued, prizes were awarded by popular vote, and there were ‘open houses’ held so art lovers could view and purchase the artworks. The Club was taken very seriously, a one shilling fine being levied for any member who didn’t have a good reason for missing a scheduled meeting. In 1910, Alice E. Norton was a foundation member of the Society of Women Painters, for a time serving as its Vice President.



PARSONS, (NAN) ANNIE HEDLEY (NEE NICOLL; MRS HENRY JAMES PARSONS) [ New South Wales, Fiji ]

BORN: 1870 at Morpeth, Maitland, New South Wales DIED: 1960 at Newtown, New South Wales

A. Hedley Parsons was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher. She was the

youngest of six daughters of Captain Joseph [1830-1915; ship’s captain & Maitland District

Secretary] and Jane Anne [-1918] Nicoll. On 17th September 1902, Hedley married Henry James

Parsons [1870-1935; estate agent] at Annandale (Sydney), the couple having no children. In

1930, she and her husband moved to Suva, Fiji where her husband died in 1935 of heart failure.

On 11th January 1887, A. Hedley Nicoll departed Sydney aboard the RMS Oroya for London,

returning the following January. In the late-1890s, she had received her artistic training at the

Sydney Art School under Julian R. Ashton and exhibited at the Art Society of NSW (a.k.a. Royal

Art Society). From 1899, she taught painting (including outdoor classes) and drawing from her

studio in the Paling’s Building (Sydney; adjacent to Aline M. and Edith E. Cusack) and Lyceum

Hall (Newcastle) and was a member of the Society of Artists. In 1927, she studied etching at the

Australian Painter-Etchers' Society Etching School under Sydney Long and Thomas Friedenson.

In the early-1920s, she was an art teacher at East Sydney Technical College.

During the 1890s - 1930s, A. Hedley Parsons exhibited numerous oils, watercolours and

black-and-white drawings. She taught landscape painting at the Society of Women Painters

School of Fine and Applied Art (1920-1922) with Eirene Mort and Alice M. Parsons (her sister-in-

law) and Florence Ada Fuller (Alice M. Parsons’ sister). In Sydney, A. Hedley Parsons exhibited

at the Society of Artists (from 1900), Royal Art Society) and Australian Art Society. She was also

a founding member of the Society of Women Painters, serving on its Council, as its Vice-President

and on its Exhibition Committees and Women's Industrial Arts Society, serving as its Vice-

President. In Brisbane, she exhibited with the Royal Queensland Art Society.

PORTRAIT: Sydney Mail (3rd May 1922).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Design ad Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[141] Sydney Beach with Figures 1904; watercolour; 22.5 x 38.5 cm;

signed: “ Hedley Parsons 1904 ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE


[140] Flowers in Blue Pot 1931; watercolour & gouche; 47.0 x 38.0 cm;

signed: “ Hedley Parsons 1931 ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE




PAYNE, FRANKIE (FRANCES) MALLALIEU (MRS ANDREW P. CLINTON) [ Queensland, New South Wales; UK, Europe ]

BORN: 7th May 1885 at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland DIED: 11th July 1976 at Normanhurst, New South Wales

Frankie Payne was a professional painter, commercial artist, miniaturist, potter, craftsperson and art teacher. She was the eldest of the two daughters of Arthur Peel [1854-1942; Secretary of General Hospital] and Julia Finch [1859-1947; née Batchellor] Payne. In 1921, Frankie married Andrew Patrick Clinton [1885-1951; naval officer; coal company executive] at St Leonards (Sydney), the couple having two children. She later separated from her husband and supported the family through her art. After moving to Sydney, she lived at the Sydney suburb of Woollahra (1923-1927: "Kiewa" 70 Boronia Road) and Greenwich (1928-1934: 20 Bellevue Avenue).

Frankie Payne received her artistic training at the Brisbane Technical College (1901-1904) under Godfrey Rivers. On 15th March 1905, she boarded the SS Miltiades at Brisbane with her mother to continue her artistic studies in Paris at Académie Colarossi (1905-1906), at Beaux Arts (Paris) on scholarship, black-and-white work at La Chaumiere under French-Swiss Théophile Alexandre Steinlen [1859-1923], and privately under Sir Frank Brangwyn (London), earning a scholarship. While in Paris, Frankie Payne was closely associated with Bessie Gibson and Lilian Chauvel. On 1st November 1907, Frankie Payne boarded the RMS Omrah at London and returned to Brisbane after spending three years studying, painting and travelling in Europe.

After her return, Frankie Payne became a commercial artist and drew illustrations for the Brisbane Courier and other print media, reputedly as one of the highest salaried women of her age in Australia. She also taught art privately, her drawing students included Lloyd Rees and Rubery Bennett. In 1916, she visited and painted the Island of Fiji. After marrying in 1921, she settled in Sydney where she worked through the professional societies to foster a close collaboration between industry and the art community. In 1924, she exhibited pottery with the Queensland Arts and Crafts Society, and she taught pottery to wounded ex-servicemen through the Red Cross in Sydney.

Frankie Payne was a painter in oils, watercolours and black-and-white. Her subjects varied from portraits (especially of children), still-life, landscape and genre. She often used her own children as models for her delightful studies that contain young children. She typically signed her artworks ‘Frank Payne’ to deflect any prejudice against women artists. In December 1930, she had a joint exhibition with her close friend Elaine E. Coghlan at Sydney’s Art Club.

In Brisbane, Frankie Payne exhibited with the Royal Queensland Art Society, serving on its Council, and was a foundation member of the Queensland Arts & Craft Society. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Royal Art Society and Australian Art Society and was a prominent member of the Society of Woman Painters, serving on its Council, as Vice-President and on its Exhibition Committees. She was also one of the founders of the Women's Industrial Arts Society, serving as its Vice-President.

COLLECTIONS: QAG.


Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[142] “ Child on Beach ” 1930; oil on canvas; 27.0 x 21.0 cm;

signed: “ Frank Payne ‘30 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: 1930 and subject is her daughter.

EXHIBITED: December 1930 joint exhibition with Elaine Coghlan at Sydney’s Arts Club;

COLLECTION: exchanged for an Elaine Coghlan painting at joint exhibition, then descent thru Coghlan family.

PURCHASED: 1993 purchased from Elaine Coghlan’s family.



POTTER, ANNIE E. [ New South Wales ]

BORN: 10th September 1863 at Glebe, New South Wales

DIED: 4th February 1938 at Chatswood, New South Wales

Annie E. Potter was a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Her parents were Eleanor [1826-1911]

and Charles [1827-1901] who was the Superintendent of Government Printing [from at least 1864]

and later Government Printer and Inspector of Stamps at the Government Printing Office (Phillip

Street) until his retirement in 1896. Annie was the sixth of at least eight children (Charles W. [1853-

1909], Edith E. [1855-1883], Emma A [1857-1918], Alfred R. [1859-?], Jessie M. [1861-1924],

Walter E. [1865-1867] and Florence Mary [1868-1944] Potter). Annie never married, giving up her

art after her father’s death and living with her youngest sister Florence in her later years.

Annie E. Potter received her artistic training (until 1882) at Fort Street Model School (Sophie

Steffanoni was a fellow student), winning a number of prizes at her graduation. In February 1880,

her exhibit, Fruit and Flowers, at the International of Public and Denominational Schools,

received “a superior talent” from artist William Henry Raworth [1821-1905]. She was pointed out

again in April 1881 at the Agricultural Exhibition for her painting Chief Mourner (a dog with his

head on his master bier), being awarded First Prize.

Between 1882 and 1891, Annie Potter was among the first art students enrolled at Sydney

Technical College under French emigrant sculptor and decorative artist Lucien Henry. In

September 1884, she was awarded third prize for freehand drawing from ornament in the South

Kensington exams. In February 1884, Annie was awarded First Prize for Etching and also Drawing

at the Parramatta Intercolonial Juvenile Exhibition. Annie was an accomplished painter in oils,

who adopted an impressionist style to her landscapes. From 1895, she exhibited at the Royal Art

Society in the company of Edith and Aline Cusack, who she knew well. It is recorded that she

painted at Mosman Bay at the time of the artists’ camps.

In 1899, Annie Potter’s oil painting Calliopsis was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW (later

deaccessioned and sold), but two years later she abandoned her artistic ambitions after her

father’s death. During the 1890s, Annie was employed at the Government Printing Office. Annie

Potter lived at (1863-1897) Kennedy Street (Glebe Point), (1898-?) “Alambie” Treatt Road

(Northcote Road, Lindfield) and later dying at Chatswood.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bohemians in the Bush: The Artists’ Camps of Mosman; Evening News (7th February 1880;

21st April 1881; 2nd May 1881; 7th March 1885); Evening News (22nd December 1882); Daily Telegraph (11th February

1884; 6th March 1885; 28th January 1887; 9th April 1891); Sydney Morning Herald (16th December 1882; 8th February

1884; 29th January 1887; 7th February 1938).

[143] Australian Farm Scene 1890s; oil on canvas; 40.0 x 60.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Potter ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 2011 at Davidson’s.

[144] Australian Bush Property 1890s; oil on canvas; 34.0 x 60.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Potter ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 2011 at Davidson’s.



REIDY, LILLA (ELISABETH MARY ANN) [ Victoria; Tasmania, New South Wales ]

Born: 28th August 1858 at Hobart, Tasmania

Died: 27th November 1933 at St Kilda, Victoria

Lilla Reidy was a professional painter, craftsperson and art teacher. She was the eldest of

the two children of Thomas Patrick [1836-1880; Irish immigrant] and Caroline Elisabeth [1839-

1869; nee Ottaway]. The Reidy family was reputedly closely related to Thomas Francis Meagher,

the Leader of the Young Ireland Movement during 1848 Irish Rebellion and the General of the

Irish Brigade during the American Civil War. Between 1857 and his death in 1880, Thomas Reidy

was Governor of Her Majesty's Goal in Hobart, afterward Lilla relocated to Melbourne. Until at

least 1930, Lilla always listed her profession as being ‘Artist’, and between 1900 and 1930,

maintain a professional artist’s studio initially in Melbourne School of Art’s studio in the Cromwell

Building and later at 473 Bourke Street from which she offered lessons in painting and drawing.

In 1870s, Lilla Reidy attended the Presentation College of St Mary’s (Hobart), where she was

awarded a number of prizes. In late-1870s and early 1880s, Lilla taught drawing, painting and

wax flower production, while her sister taught piano. In April 1883, Lilla Reidy exhibited oil

paintings at the Tasmanian Juvenile and Industrial Exhibition in Hobart.

In September 1881, Lilla Reidy moved to Melbourne to further her artistic career. She

received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1881-1882) under George

Folingsby before studying at the Melbourne School of Art (1893-1899) under E. Phillips Fox and

Tudor St George Tucker, earning several scholarships for her outstanding work. Here she learned

to paint in an impressionistic style and was awarded prizes in Landscape, Still-life and Life

painting. She was later E. Phillips Fox’s assistant (EPF p.32). In 1900, Lilla Reidy and Edward

Officer took over the Melbourne School of Art, Officer as Director and Reidy as assistant instructor,

but by July 1901 Reidy was fully in charge of the School until at least 1908. Lilla Reidy was one

of the few impressionist (Edith E. Cusack was another) who painted sympathetic pictures of

Australian indigenous people.

Between 1895 and 1910, Lilla Reidy exhibited with the Victorian Artists’ Society, Society

of Artists and Royal S.A. Society of Arts' Federal Exhibition. In 1907, she exhibited oil landscapes,

a seascape, flower paintings and still-life at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work,

winning the prestigious £15 First Prize in Genre Painting for “After the Bath”. During World War

I, Reidy applied her artistic skills to fundraising efforts on behalf of Australian servicemen.

PORTRAITS: by E.P. Fox p.32; More Than Just Gum Trees.

COLLECTIONS: Museum of Victoria/

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Artists Camps; Completing the Picture; E. Phillips Fox; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest

of a Quiet Eye; Hobart Mercury (10th April 1883; 24th January 1900; 25th March 1901); Table Talk (11th January 1895; 27th

September 1895; 7th January 1898); Sun (1st January 1897); Tatler (15th January 1898); Punch (4th July 1901); Age (23rd October

1907; 25th January 1908); Advocate (14th December 1907); Weekly Times (7th August 1915).

[145] Autumn Leaves, Fitzroy Gardens late-1890s; oil on canvas; 44.0 x 55.0 cm;

signed: “ Lilla Reidy ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: late-1890s while Lilla was E. Phillips Fox’s assistant at the Summer Art School at Charterisville; statue was removed circa 1930s.


Lilla Reidy received her initial artistic training in Hobart before attending the National Gallery of Victoria School (1881-1882) under George Folingsby and the Melbourne School of Art (1893-1899) under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker, earning several scholarships for her outstanding work. Here she learned to paint in an impressionistic style and was awarded prizes in Landscape, Still-life and Life painting. She was later E. Phillips Fox’s assistant. In 1900, Lilla Reidy and Edward Officer took over the Melbourne School of Art, Officer as Director and Reidy as assistant instructor, but by July 1901 Reidy was fully in charge of the School until at least 1908.



RODWAY, FLORENCE ALINE (MRS WALTER MOORE) [ Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 11th November 1881 at Hobart, Tasmania

DIED: 23rd January 1971 at Hobart, Tasmania

Florence Rodway was a professional painter, miniaturist, art teacher and illustrator. She was

the second eldest of the six children of Leonard R [1853-1926; dentist & government botanist]

and Louisa Susan [-1922; nee Phillips] Rodway. In 1920 (at age 39-years), she married Walter

Moore [1868-1942; civil engineer] at Sydney, the couple having one daughter (Susanne [1922-])

who also became an artist.

Florence Rodway received her initial artistic training at Hobart Technical School (1897, 1899-

1901) under Ethel Nicholls and Benjamin Sheppard. In 1902, she briefly taught art at Hobart

Technical College while Benjamin Sheppard who was on sick leave. In February 1902, she won

a five-year scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools (1903-1906) which enabled her to study

under John Singer Sargent, John H. Bacon, Solomon Joseph Solomon, George D. Leslie and

George A. Storey. On 10th May 1902, Florence Rodway boarded the RMS Ormuz for London,

Naples and Marseilles. Due to the expense of living in London, she was unable to study full-time

and in April 1906, returned to Hobart where she taught for a time at the Hobart Technical College.

In May 1907, Florence Rodway travelled to Sydney where she studied at the Sydney Art

School under Sydney Long and drew illustrations for the Lone Hand. In 1907, she exhibited oil

(still-life and figure paintings) and black-and-white (portraits and figure studies) pictures at the

Australian Exhibition of Women's Work where she was awarded 1st Prize Oil Genre, 1st Prize

Black-and-White Portrait and 1st Prize Black-and-White Figure Drawing. In 1910, the Art Gallery

of NSW purchased two of her pastels of children, A Child and Toffee, acquiring a total of ten oils,

pastels and black-and-white artworks. She was primarily a portrait and figure painter who was

especially known for her pastels. In 1921, she was a finalist in the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious

Archibald Prize with a portrait, J.F. Archibald, and was also a finalist in 1923 and 1942. In circa

1932, she returned to Hobart where she had a studio at her home and in 1950, lived in Melbourne

for a time before returning to Hobart.

Florence Rodway was one of Australia’s most original portraitist in pastels, oils and

miniatures, including portraits of Henry Lawson, Dame Nellie Melba and John F. Archibald. By the

1920s, the vigour of her earlier portraits had been replaced by a more tonal approach, closer to

painting than drawing. In Sydney, Florence Rodway exhibited at the Royal Art Society, was a

member of the Society of Artists, serving on its Council (1912-1917), and a foundation member

of the Society of Women Painters, serving on its Council and on its Exhibition Committees. In

Hobart, she exhibited at the Art Society of Tasmania, in Brisbane, the Royal Queensland at Art

Society and in Melbourne, at the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; QAG; TMAG; AWM; NLA; ML; CAGHM; regional art galleries.


Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and

Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[146] Profile of Woman in Fur Coat

a.k.a. Margaret Preston - Miniature late-1920s; gouache on ivory; 12.5 x 5.5 cm;

signed: “ F. Rodway ” (lower right).

Provenance

PAINTED: 1920s when both Rodway and Preston were active in Society of Women Painters; in 1994, an old friend of Preston’s remembered Margaret Preston parading in the embroidered coat with fur collar that was "over the top" for the fashion of the day. Compare with (1930) Self-Portrait of Margaret Preston in Art Gallery of NSW.




SCARVELL, JESSIE EMILY (MRS CHARLES W. BUNDOCK) [ New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, UK, Europe]

BORN: 1862 at Braidwood, New South Wales DIED: 12th April 1950 at Sydney, New South Wales

Jessie E. Scarvell was a professional painter. She was the eldest child of Edward Augustus

[1836-1883; barrister] and Annette Frances [1836-1923; nee Want] Scarvell who had at least four children (one dying at birth). On 30th September 1901, Jessie married Charles W. Bundock [1858-1931; operator of Queensland cattle station], the couple having at least one child.

Between 1889 and 1892, Jessie E. Scarvell received her artistic training under William Lister

Lister and was closely associated with Edith E. and Aline M. Cusack, Alice Muskett and Ethel A. Stephens. Throughout the mid-to-late 1890s, her impressionist landscapes were greatly admired. While these works owed a great deal in their composition to Lister Lister, her style and impressionistic handling of colour and brushwork is likely to have been influenced by Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts who were painting and exhibiting in Sydney while she was developing her style. It is also likely that Edith E. Cusack provided French impressionists influences when she

returned in 1894 after studying in Paris for three years. In April 1894, two of Scarvell’s watercolour landscapes were hung at the British Watercolour

Society at Dudley Gallery at Piccadilly, London, considered to be a great honour. In 1894, the Art Gallery of N.S.W. acquired her oil painting, The Lonely Margin of the Sea, which for many years

was the only impressionist painting by an Australian woman artist that was hung in its Australian Court. In 1898, five of Jessie Scarvell’s landscapes were selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art London and in 1898, one of her oil paintings was exhibited at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. At the peak of her artistic career, Jessie Scarvell ceased exhibiting, primarily because she was living on a cattle station at Beaudesert, Queensland (70 kilometers south of Brisbane).

In Sydney, Jessie E. Scarvell was a member of the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council

(1894-1899). In 1894, she was also a foundation member and prominent exhibitor of Sydney’s Women’s The Painting Club which contained women artists practicing in New South Wales.

When World War II broke out, Jessie and her daughter Alison were trapped in Europe: “ESCAPED FROM FRANCE: Always Hungry and after a train journey of seven days and five nights across France

and Spain and seven days on the Atlantic in a small Portuguese ship before reaching the United States, Mrs J E Bundock (nee Scarvell) and her daughter Miss Alison Bundock of Beaudesert, Queensland have arrived in Sydney. “We were caught in Switzerland when war broke out and made our way to Cannes," said Miss Bundock who worked for several months as a Voluntary Aid at the British hospital there. Her mother was knocked down by a bicycle in Cannes and broke a hip and as only those who could carry their own luggage were allowed to be evacuated Miss Bundock stayed with her mother. "We were always hungry, and food was very scarce when we finally got our visas in February. For breakfast we used to have a small piece of bread and substitute coffee. We were supposed to have meat three times a week, but we usually had a small piece a few Inches square once a week." said Miss Bundock “The French people are bearing up very well. They are not resentful and realise that the food shortage is not caused by the British blockade.”

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; ANL (attributed).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Design and Art Australia

Online; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Burrowa News (6th April 1894); Sydney Mail and NSW Advertiser (12th May 1894; 13th October 1894); Sunday Times (7th October 1896).

[147] Sheep Grazing (on Banks of Pages

River, Murrurundi (Upper Hunter), N.S.W.) 1898; oil on canvas; 50.0 x 89.0 cm

signed: “ J.E. Scarvell 98 ” (lower right)

PROVENANCE

COLLECTION: 1895-2006 artist and by descent through family before gifted to AGNSW;

PURCHASED: 2006 from Badgery’s.

[148] Sheep Grazing, Mount Coolangatta

Background, (Shoalhaven) N.S.W. 1895; oil on canvas; 30.0 x 50.5 cm;

signed: “ J.E. Scarvell 1895 ” (lower right)

Provenance

COLLECTION: 1895-2006 artist and by descent through family before gifted to AGNSW;

Purchased: 2006 from Badgery’s.



STEPHENS, ETHEL ANNA [ New South Wales, Tasmania, New Zealand, Europe, UK ]

Born: 1864 at Sydney, New South Wales

Died: 17th September 1944 at Woollahra (Sydney), New South Wales

Ethel A. Stephens was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher. She was the eldest

of the two children of William John [1829-1890; headmaster of Sydney Grammar School and later

Professor of Natural History at Sydney University] and Anna Louise [1829-1917; née Daniell]

Stephens. Australian artists Alice E. Norton and Delphine Stephens were related to her. Ethel

lived at the Sydney suburbs of Darlinghurst, Darling Point and Vaucluse.

Ethel A. Stephens initially received her artistic training at Sydney Technical College (1882-

1885) under Lucien Henry and later trained at the Sydney Art School (1886-1890) under Julian

R. Ashton. In early-1920s, she studied in Paris at Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Swiss

painter Martha Stettler [1870-1945], Russian-French Alice Dannenberg [1861-1948] and

Frenchman Lucien Simon [1861-1945]. In 1892, she became the first woman to be elected to the

Council of the Royal Art Society. In 1893, Stephens exhibited oil paintings at the N.S.W. Court of

the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, USA). In 1898, five of her artworks were selected

for the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Grafton Gallery in London.

From 1895, Ethel A. Stephens taught painting and drawing from her Pitt Street studio, also

holding frequent ‘At Homes’ where she showed her latest paintings. In 1907, she was on the

Executive Committee for the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work and exhibited oil

landscapes, flower paintings and figure paintings (one at 52 guineas) and was awarded 1st Prize

for Oil Flower Painting. In the 1930s, she produced a number of relief prints, primarily of flowers.

The Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased two of her paintings, Spring's Inheritance (1900) and Black

and Gold (1914), but in 1946 these were de-accessioned and sold. However, in 1930, two of her

oil paintings were purchased for the Art

Gallery of NSW’s Collection and are still

in the collection.

[150] Garden Arch

a.k.a. Garden in Bloom, Vaucluse circa 1899; oil on board; 16.0 x 21.0 cm;

signed: “ E.A. Stephens ” (lower right)

and “ EAS ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1989 purchased from private collector.

[149] Acadia Flowers circa 1930; gouache on board; 36.6 x 26.5 cm;

signed: “ EAS ” (lower left).

Provenance

COLLECTIONS: circa 1930 traded between Stephens and Coghlan at exhibition; 1930-1993 Elaine Coghlan then by descent through family;

PURCHASED: 1993 from Elaine E. Coghlan’s family.



Between 1920 and 1923, Ethel A. Stephens was painting and studying in the United Kingdom

and Europe where she exhibited at Paris’s Old Salon (1920-21; 1925) and studied at La Grande

Chaumiere. In 1925, she was a Finalist in the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Archibald Prize

with her portrait, Countess Montemerli. On 13th June 1929, Ethel A. Stephens arrived at London

aboard the S.S. Tainui via the Panama Canal and New Zealand, and in 1930, she returned to

Sydney aboard the S.S. Bendigo after a trip to United Kingdom and Europe.

In Sydney, Ethel A. Stephens was a member of the Royal Art Society (from 1883), serving on

its Council, a foundation member of the Society of Artists and a Life Member of the Society of

Women Painters, serving on its Council, as its Vice-President and President, and on its Exhibition

Committees. From 1894, she exhibited with the Queensland Society of Art and from 1898 in

Adelaide, exhibited at the Royal S.A. Society of Arts' Federal Exhibitions. In 1906, she was a

founding member of the Society of Arts & Crafts of N.S.W., serving as its Vice-President (1906-

08), on its Selection Committees and as its Honorary Secretary.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; Sydney University; Mitchell Library; Manly Art Gallery.


Artists; Ladies’ Picture Show; Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a

Quiet Eye; Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney Morning Herald (8th February 1884; 1st April 1889); Daily

Telegraph (4th October 1884); Australian Town and Country Journal (31st March 1883; 11th April 1885); Sydney

Mail and NSW Advertiser (24th April 1886).



TINDALL, AGNES (NESSIE) S. (MRS SYDNEY BROOKS LLOYD) [ New South Wales ]

BORN: circa 1887 at United Kingdom

DIED: 17th July 1976 at Mosman, New South Wales

Nessie Tindall was a professional painter, illustrator and art teacher. She was the eldest of

four children of Charles Ephraim Smith [1863-1951; famous Australian watercolourist] and Mary

[1861-1934] Tindall. Agnes and her mother arrived at Australia in August 1888 aboard the RMS

Iberia, her father Charles having arrived the year earlier. (NOTE: Phyllis Tindall is her younger

sister). On 5th January 1916, Nessie married Sydney Brooks Lloyd [1892-1952] at Lindfield, the

couple having no children. She typically worked from an inner-city studio.

Nessie Tindall received her artistic training at an early age under her father, Charles E.S.

Tindall, well-known Australian watercolourist, and at the Royal Art Society School (1906-1912)

under Dattilo Rubbo and Norman Carter. While at the R.A.S. School, she was awarded its Special

Prize and Drawing Scholarship, as well as 1st Prizes in drawing, poster design, equisse and

landscape painting. During the 1920s, Nessie Tindall contributed illustrations to the Bulletin and

is represented in the Mitchell Library's Picture Collection by Bulletin drawings. During the 1940s,

she taught art and commercial art from her Pitt Street studio and at Redland's Girls School at

Cremorne.

In Sydney, Nessie Tindall exhibited at the Royal Art Society, Society of Women Painters and

Women's Industrial Arts Society.

COLLECTIONS: Mitchell Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Design & Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper clippings.

[152] Homestead 1912; watercolour; 37.0 x 49.0 cm;

signed: “ Nessie Tindall 1912” (lower

right).

Provenance


[151] War Time Illustration circa 1919; ink & wash with white highlight;

38.0 x 28.0 cm; signed: “ Nessie Tindall ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE




TRAILL, JESSIE CONSTANCE ALICIA [ Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia,

Northern Territory, UK, Europe, Suez, Canada, USA, Indonesia ]

BORN: 28th July 1881 at Westra, Brighton, Victoria

DIED: 15th May 1967 at Emerald, Victoria

Jessie Traill was a professional painter, printmaker, art teacher and philanthropist. She was

the youngest of four daughters of George Hamilton [1831-1907; banker from Scotland] and Jessie

Frances Montague [1848-1893; née Neilley] Traill. Jessie was born into a wealthy family; her

father was the manager of the Oriental Bank in Melbourne. During her childhood, Jessie travelled

and lived in Europe, studying in Switzerland where she became fluent in French. Tom Roberts

was a friend and mentor throughout her life.

Jessie Traill received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1901-1906)

under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall and private tuition in watercolours and etching under John

Mather (1901-1903). In January 1907, Jessie Traill departed Melbourne aboard the RMS China

with her father and one of her sisters, but her father died while in Rome (Italy) in April 1907. For

the next two years, she travelled and painted in Italy, France, Netherlands and England, visiting

many art galleries. She also studied at Paris’s Académie Colarossi and London’s Stratford Studios

under Frank Brangwyn. Before returning to Melbourne in early-1909, Jessie exhibited at London’s

Royal Academy and Paris’s Old Salon. In 1909, she had her first of numerous solo and joint

exhibitions in Melbourne and the other capital cities of Australia. In 1913, Jessie purchased a

house and 6 acres at Harkaway (25 kilometers east of Mentone where she maintained a country

studio and provided accommodation to her numerous artist-friends.

On 29th December 1914 (five months after the outbreak of war), Jessie Traill boarded the RMS

Morea II for London and upon arrived offered her services as a VAD (Voluntary Aide Detachment)

nurse, serving three-and-half years initially in London but by November 1915 at the Queen

Alexandra’s Nursing Service at Rouen, France. In December 1919, Jessie returned to Melbourne

aboard the SS Niagara via the Panama Canal, Vancouver (Canada) and New Zealand to resume

her artistic work after being five years in Europe.

In 1922, Jessie Traill produced a series of etchings on the irrigation system at Red Cliffs

(Victoria) and in 1923-1924 a series on the coal mining-power complex at Yallourn. In 1925, she

again visited Paris via New York and Spain before returning to Melbourne in 1926. In 1928, she

visited Wilpena Pound (South Australia) and Alice Springs (Northern Territory) to paint the

Australian outback. She was probably the first white Australian to paint in Central Australia, later

holding an exhibition of this work (Alice Springs 1928). In 1932, Jessie returned to the area with

Violet Teague, raising money to build a pipeline to provide water to the Hermannsburg Mission

the home of Albert Namatjira who did not start painting until 1936 and is likely to have seen the

women painting. In 1930, Jessie travelled to Europe with Una Teague, especially visiting

Yugoslavia. She had a solo exhibition at Rouen, France of her Central Australian paintings and

Australian etchings. Between 1928 and 1932, she made numerous trips to Sydney to record the

progress of the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge through her etched images.

[153] Lantern Light a.k.a. The Red Lantern

circa 1928; oil on panel; 42.0 x 29.5 cm.

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1928 plein air painting during trip through outback South Australia and Northern Territory;

Collection: until late-1980s Traill family, when found in Jessie Traill’s country studio;

Purchased: 1989 from Leonard Joel’s.

The scene of an evening meal under a marquee in outback Australia is illuminated by the red lantern. Jessie Traill was one of the first artists to paint the hard to reach outback districts of South Australia and Northern Territory. The use of highlights and bold brushwork is similar to the impressionist style adopted by Josephine Muntz-Adams.



Afterward Jessie Traill painted in Tasmania (1935), New South Wales and Gulf of Carpentaria

(1936), Norway and Sweden (1937), and England (during World War II). In 1946, she returned to

Melbourne and a few years later taught etching to Arthur Boyd. Between 1949 and 1965, she

travelled extensively, visiting England, Portugal, the Cannery Islands and Europe. In 1967, Jessie

Traill died at the age of 86-years.

Jessie Traill’s impressionist influences are many. Throughout her life, she was friends with

Tom Roberts who was also her mentor and she associated with many of the artists of the

Heidelberg School. Her numerous European trips puts her in close contact with French-European

Impressionism and Frank Brangwyn was a stylistic influence. Jessie Traill also painted and

exhibited with many of the Australian women impressionists.

Jessie Traill produced a large number (over 150; probably up to 250) of intaglio prints using

etching, soft-ground, aquatint, drypoint and mezzotint techniques. In 1903, she studied intaglio

printmaking under John Mather, later receiving further instruction at Stratford Studios under Frank

Brangwyn (1907-1909). Her first lesson in etching (June 1903) is recorded along with prints of

other early etchings, in an album held by the Latrobe Library, Melbourne. In 1914, Jessie won a

Gold Medal for her very large drypoint Beautiful Victims at the Panama Pacific Exposition (San

Francisco) and a Bronze Medal for decorative work. Her best-known images included landscapes

and coastal scenes that show considerable charm and feeling. However, it is her industrial scenes

that show her total command of the etching medium. In 1927, Jessie began to experiment with

coloured printmaking using multiple plates. Le Portail, St Maclou, Rouen (2 plates) and First

Night, Turret Theatre (2 plates) are the result of these experiments. In 1920, Jessie Traill was a

foundation member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, serving as Victorian Secretary

(1928). She was also a founding member of the Australian Bookplate Club (1932). She studied

lithography at Chelsea Polytechnic under Ernest Jackson (London 1907), but only produced a few

lithographs including Antwerp, Entrance to Zoo, Boy on Bicycle, Paris and Seated Priest.

In addition to her involvement with the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, Jessie Traill was a

member of the Society of Graphic Arts (London 1926-1928), Victorian Artists’ Society (1902-

1940), Melbourne Society of Women Painters (1930-1967), Royal Queensland Art Society and

Sydney’s Society of Women Painters (1920-1934).

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW, AGSA, NGV, QAG; British Museum; and various regional art

galleries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benezit Dictionary of Artists; Australian Water Colour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian

Artists, Ladies’ Picture Show; More Than Just Gum Trees; Story of Australian Art; Heritage; Sydney University

1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and Art Australia Online;

Australian Town and Country Journal (17th April 1907); Age (24th May 1909); Australasian (29th May 1909); Daily

Telegraph (1st April 1914); Argus (19th December 1919); numerous newspaper articles.

[154] Harbour at Rouen (Normandy, France)

circa 1919; pastel; 34.0 x 23.0 cm;

INSCRIBED: {reverse side}.

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1919 after World War I and Jessie Traill’s release from her VAD nursing appointment in Rouen;

COLLECTION: Traill family;

PURCHASED: circa 1993 from Leonard Joel’s.



TUOMY, FABIOLA VERONICA [ Victoria, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 1875 at Melbourne, Victoria

DIED: 7th January 1967 at Windsor, Victoria

Fabiola Tuomy was a professional painter of oils, watercolors and pastels, craftsperson and

art teacher. Her parents were Daniel John [1833-1904; wine-spirit merchant ad grocer] and Ellen

[1841-1914; nee Price] Tuomy who married in 1859 and had a large family with Fabiola being a

middle child. Reputedly John and Lucy Tuomy owned Streeton’s Near Heidelberg, 1890

Eaglemont. For 92 years, Fabiola resided at her family’s home “The Cove” 207 Dandenong Road,

Windsor and for more the fifty years listed her profession as ‘Artist’.

After graduating from the Ladies College Presentation Convent at Windsor in December

1895, Fabiola Tuomy received her artistic training at the Melbourne School of Art (1896-1899+)

under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker before continuing her studies at the Bendigo

School of Mines under Arthur Thomas Woodward for a year and the National Gallery of Victoria

School (1901-1903).

In 1907, Fabiola Tuomy exhibited oil (flower painting and a still-life) and pastel (portraits)

pictures at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work. In April 1910, she had a joint exhibition

of paintings with Miss Gretchen Leschau at the Coles Art Gallery (Melbourne). On 30th September

1938, she boarded the Stratmore for London and toured the United Kingdom and Europe.

Between 1900 and 1926, Fabiola Tuomy exhibited at Victorian Art Society and the Yarra

Sculptors' Society.

PORTRAIT: circa 1899-1900 by E.P. Fox [E.P. Fox - His Life and Art pp.78]

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Age (16 October 1900); Table Talk (14th April 1910); numerous newspaper articles.

[155] The Harvest, Charterisville circa 1898; oil on canvas; 59.5 x 74.0 cm.

Provenance

PAINTED: circa 1898, en plein air while Fabiola Tuomy was a student at E. Phillips Fox’s and Tudor St George Tucker’s Summer School at Charterisville;

PURCHASED: 1995 from Leonard Joel’s (allegedly from family).

Fabiola Tuomy was a student of E. Phillips Fox’s and Tudor St George Tucker’s Summer School at Charterisville, nearby where this picture was painted. Harvest scenes and especially haystacks were a popular subject for the French Impressionists and several examples of haystacks by E. Phillips Fox are in Australian public collections. The rural scene is depicted with a setting sun, capturing the tree-row as almost a silhouette to emphasise the time of day and end of the growing season. While some art historian claim that women artists painted primarily domestic scenes, it has been my experience that rural scenes, harbour-coastal-river landscapes, mountain vistas and city-park settings were popular with women painters, especially those painting in an impressionistic style. Harvest scenes were also produced by Edith E. Cusack, Sophie Steffanoni, Ethel A. Stephens and other Australian women impressionists.



VALE, AMY (AMELIA) [ New South Wales; Victoria; United Kingdom ]

BORN: 2nd April 1874 at Waratah (Newcastle), New South Wales

DIED: 9th November 1951 at Drummoyne, New South Wale

Amy Vale was a professional painter, china painter, jeweler, craftsperson and art teacher.

She was the youngest child of six children of Stephen Samuel [1834-1906; mining engineer] and

Charlotte Anne [1833-1918; nee Wayte] Vale. During her art career, Amy lived at the Sydney

suburbs of Snail Bay and Drummoyne (1910-51: "Kubara" 7 Wolseley Street).

At 1891 Juvenile Exhibition, Amy Vale was awarded First Prize for Drawing. In 1907, Amy

Vale exhibited watercolour (landscapes and genre painting) pictures at the Australian Exhibition

of Women's Work where she was awarded 1st Prize for Watercolor Landscape and Special Prize.

In 1913, the Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased a porcelain bowl painted by her. During the World

Wars, Amy Vale was an active member of the Australian Red Cross, especially raising money for

the care of Australian soldiers.

Amy Vale was a painter in oils and watercolours who painted landscapes (N.S.W. bushland)

and flower studies. In Sydney, she exhibited at the Royal Art Society (from 1899) and Society of

Artists and Society of Women Painters, serving on its Exhibition Committee. She also exhibited

at the Society of Arts & Crafts of N.S.W.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Daily Telegraph (1st April 1891); Truth

(9th September 1900); Sydney Mail and NSW Advertiser (7th September 1901); Evening News (1st October 1904; 2nd

November 1907; 16th November 1910); Sydney Morning Herald (15th August 1907; 23rd October 1907).

NOTE: Her details are often mixed in with May Vale’s details.

[156] Dahlias circa 1905; oil on canvas on board

39.0 x 29.0 cm (oval) signed: “ Amy Vale ” (lower right)

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1990 from private seller.



VALE, MAY (MRS ALEXANDER GILFILLAN) [ Victoria; New South Wales; Western Australia; Europe; UK ]

BORN: 18th November 1862 at Ballarat, Victoria

DIED: 6th August 1945 at Black Rock (Melbourne), Victoria

May Vale was a professional painter (oils, watercolours, pastels and enamels), miniaturist,

craftsperson (enameller, jeweler, metal & leatherworker), sculptor (wood-chip carver) and art

teacher. Her father was Hon. William Montford Kinsey Vale [1833-1895], who had been born in

London, but arrived in March 1853 at Victoria, where he became pastoralist, land speculator,

barrister (qualified 1878) and politician, serving as a parliamentarian (Ballarat West (1864-1868),

Collingwood (1870-1874) and Fitzroy (1880-1881)). May’s mother was Rachel Vale [1834-1918;

nee Lennox], who was also born in London and married William in July 1859 at Bethnal Green,

Middlesex, England, settling in Victoria a short time later. May had five sisters (Grace [1860-1933;

doctor of medicine who practiced in Melbourne, Ballarat and Sydney], Rachel E. [1870-1871],

Elsie [1872-1952], Beatrice [1874-1945; Mrs Willet Bevan] and Faith [1879-1944]) and five

brothers (William M. [1861-1862], Henry B. [1864-1951], John B. [1866-1874], William R. [1868-

1941] and John S. [1876-1898]). In circa 1869, May’s family moved to St Kilda and in circa 1877

to Fitzroy. In 1886, the family purchased ‘Mayfield House’ in Abbotsford, the home having been

built in 1841 by Andrew and Georgina McCrae. The family were keenly interested in the arts,

William Vale being a strong supporter of the Workingmen’s College and serving as a Trustee of

the Public Library, Museums and Art Gallery between 1872 and 1895 when he died.

May Vale attended St Kilda Girls College until late 1874, exhibiting at the School of Design

where in July 1874 (age 11 years) she received an honourable mention for her landscape drawing,

a fellow student being Tom Roberts. On 17th October 1874, May Vale departed with her family to

England aboard the S.S. Durham, her father taking a position on the Board of Advice to Victoria’s

Agent-General. In London, she studied for a time at Honiton College in Devan, before receiving

artistic training at South Kensington Art School (1875-1878). On 18th June 1878, she returned to

Australia with her mother, three sisters (Grace, Elsie and Beatrice) and brother (John S.) aboard

S.S. Cuzco. In Melbourne, May Vale continued her studies at the National Gallery of Victoria

School (1879-1889) under Eugene von Guerard and George Folingsby where she was awarded

the 1888 Judge's Prize Honourable Mention. Her fellow students included future women

impressionists Jessie L. Evans, Josephine Muntz, Clara Southern and Lucy Walker.

At Melbourne’s Juvenile Exhibition in November 1883, May Vale received first prize for a

painted table. Between 1887 and 1888 and at age 25 years, May Vale had sufficient confidence

in her abilities to teach drawing and painting at Buxton’s on Swanson Street and South Yarra Hall,

advertising in the Age newspaper. In November 1889, Table Talk reported

“Miss May Vale is rapidly progressing in the direction of portrait painting, and, in the smaller studies, manages to depict an amount of human nature that will stand her in good stead in a year or two. It is probable that this talented young lady will proceed to Paris in a few months, the Hon. W.M.K. Vale having expressed his intention of allowing his daughter full opportunities for study.”

[NAS] Australian Wildflowers

a.k.a. Christmas Bush 1912-1928; oil on canvas on board;

26.5 x 25.5 cm;

signed: “ May Vale ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXIBITED: 2017-2023 at Museum of Victoria;

Purchased: ? from Deutscher~Menzies.

May Vale was a professional painter (oils, watercolours, pastels and enamels), miniaturist, craftsperson (enameller, jeweller, metal & leather-worker), sculptor (wood-chip carver) and art teacher. Between 1912 and 1928, May Vale painted the wildflowers of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, these being exhibited highly successful exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.



In 1890, May Vale took an independent study and painting tour to Italy, France and London, where she studied watercolour painting under Sir James D. Linton (1890-1891), then President of the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters. For six months in 1892, May Vale studied at Paris’s Académie Julien under Fluery and Jules Lebfevre, sharing accommodation with Sydney impressionist Edith E. Cusack [1865-1941] at Washington House (18 Rue de Milan). On 22nd September 1892, May Vale departed London aboard S.S. Thermopylae, returning to Melbourne. Aboard the ship was her long-time friend and future husband, Alexander Gilfillan [1862-1940]. This wasn’t a good time economically for the Vale family, which had speculated in Melbourne’s booming real estate market, which commenced a steep decline in value in 1888. By January 1893, Australian banks began to fail and people who were invested in speculative land typically were in dire financial situations. This was part of the worldwide panic of 1893 and economic depression that lasted for the remainder of the decade. The Vale family suffered another blow when on 23rd October 1895, William Vale (senior) died after an illness of several years. The brothers Henry and William had their own families to support and May youngest brother John was only 19-years when his father died, John dying three years later.

After settling down in her parent’s house, May Vale wanted to assist in the support of herself and the family. By February 1893, she endeavoured to establish herself as an artist and portrait painter, giving lessons from her home in Abbotsford and having a professional artist’s studio at Buxton Building (119 Swanson Street) nearby Clara Southern’s studio and later the Flinders Building near Jane R. Price’s studio.

In May 1894, May Vale was appointed an art instructress at the Working Men’s College, teaching an art class for women. Between 1893 and 1906, she took the bold step of advertising in the Age and Argus newspapers for students in painting, drawing, pastels and also portraiture at her studios in Melbourne city centre, her home in Abbotsford and from 1902 Alexandra’s Chambers on Elisabeth Street. For a number of years, she also taught at Cromarty School for Girls in Elsternwick. Between 1896 and 1898, she commuted by steam train to Castlemaine where she taught drawing and painting at the Mount Alexander Mechanics Institute and North Castlemaine School for several years. Her students included Mary Cecil Allen [1893-1962], Alice M.E. Bale [1875-1955] and Blanche Cade [1873-1958]. In April 1893 in his review of the Victorian Artists’ Society’s Annual Exhibition, the Melbourne Punch’s art critic declared

“The best picture in the whole exhibition is painted by a lady, Miss May Vale, (No. 66) in South Gallery”, an oil titled A Romance. The Table Talk critic agreed, ranking it “first place, both for the quality of the painting, the artistic treatment of the subject, and the sentiment with which she has invested it”. Male Vale was considered by many art critics one of Melbourne’s leading portrait painters.

In August 1906, May Vale boarded the S.S. Afric for London, sharing a cabin with Australian singer and former artist (Nancy) Elmhurst Goode (a close friend of Tom Roberts, who had painted her portrait). On arrival, May Vale shared accommodation with Miss Goode in London, where May took over Arthur Streeton’s studio. Melbourne newspaper proprietor David Symes [1827-1908] had also been aboard, May Vale passing the time painting his portrait, which was later exhibited in London after his death.

[157] “ New Battersia Bridge

from Cheyne Walk, London ” circa 1907; watecolour on board; 13.0 x 23.0 cm;

signed: “ May Vale ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: during May Vales second trip to London between 1906 and 1909; it is painted close by Streeton’s former studio on Cheyne Walk which Vale took over on arrival.

PURCHASED: 1990 from private seller.



In June 1907, May Vale had a solo exhibition at the Austral Club, being closely associated

with the Club’s activities for the next few years. At the 1907 Exhibition of Women’s’ Work in

London, May Vale divided a prize for her painting Wattle Blossoms. She again undertook a study

tour while in the United Kingdom, studying life painting for two years at Burbeck Institute (London)

and enameling, jewelry design and metalwork for three years at South-Western Polytechnic in

Chelsea. In London, her enameled jewelry was greatly admired and a good earner. In February

1909, she married Professor Alexander Gilfillan, a mining engineer and entrepreneur, the couple

reputedly planning to live in the United States, where he had investments and a sterling reputation

in mining circles. However, after the wedding, they parted, Alexander to United States and later

Asia, May back to Australia, afterward only corresponding by letter. On 25th August 1909, May

Vale departed London aboard the S.S. Persic, Elmhurst Goode again sharing a cabin with her.

In Melbourne, May set-up a workshop with a small muffle furnace for enameling work. After 1910,

she became more active in craftwork (enameling, metalwork and leatherwork) than she was in

painting, largely working from her studio at New Zealand Chambers on Collins Street.

May Vale exhibited extensively, having solo exhibitions annually throughout the 1920s (except

1922) at the Athenaeum, Lyceum Club and from her studio in Oxford Chambers where she also

held classes. In January 1929, she moved to a cabin at Diamond Creek close by Jane R. Price’s

cottage, where May enjoyed painting excursions and continued with her craft work. Working in

the Australian impressionist tradition, she painted plein air landscapes and decorative still-lifes. In

the late-1930s, May Vale went to live with her brother's family at Black Rock. Although not

obtrusive, her personality was vibrant and animated. Pleasant in appearance, with brown hair and

eyes, she was robust and independent in attitude. In the late-1930s, ill health from arthritis and

cataracts forced her into retirement, dying on 6th August 1945 at Black Rock, age 83-years.

May Vale was interested in the women’s rights movement and she was a member of the

Victoria Women's Suffrage Society. In Melbourne, May was a member (1883) of the Buonarotti

Society, a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society, serving on its Council, and a founding member

of the Yarra Sculptors Society, serving on its Council.

COLLECTIONS: National Gallery of Victoria; Art Gallery NSW; Museum of Victoria; Castlemaine Art Gallery; Warrnambool Art Gallery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionary of Australian Biography; Heritage; Artists Camps; Australian Watercolour Painters; Ladies’ Picture Show; Sydney University 1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Age (10th July 1874; 30th January 1888; 4th February 1893; 23rd January 1894; 1st February 1895; 5th December 1896; 11th February 1897; 5th February 1898; 13th February 1899; 12th February 1900; 28th January 1901; 21st July 1904; 11th February 1906); Argus (19th October 1874; 2nd November 1883; 6th February 1893; 2nd May 1893; 9th May 1894; 24th October 1895; 4th February 1903); Hobart Mercury (1st December 1888); Table Talk (15th November 1889; 12th May 1893; 24th April 1896; 18th March 1909); Illustrated Sydney News (7th May 1892); Melbourne Punch (27th April 1893; 20th July 1899; 6th December 1906; 15th August 1907; 11th May 1911); Mount Alexander Mail (25th February 1896; 25th July 1896; 4th February 1897; 25th April 1898); Church of England Messenger for Victoria (1st March 1897); Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (7th August 1897); Australian Town and Country Journal (22nd March 1902; 22nd August 1906); Sydney Morning Herald (19th June 1907); Launceston Daily Telegraph (18th April 1908); Australasian (13th February 1909; 9th October 1909; 12th January 1929). NOTE: Amy Vale’s details are often mixed up with May Vale’s details.



WHYTE, JANE (JANIE) WILKINSON [ Victoria ]

BORN: 21st September 1869 at Melbourne, Victoria

DIED: 7th April 1953 at Canterbury, Victoria

Janie W. Whyte was a professional painter, printmaker, miniaturist, art teacher (Certificate

South Kensington School of Art) and active feminist. She was the fourth eldest of the eight children

(three died as infants) of Patrick [1820-1893; headmaster of Central and Model Schools] and Jane

[1833-1916; nee Pullar; assistant teacher and principal] Whyte. Jane was a twin, but her sibling

died as an infant. When her father died in 1893, he left an estate valued at £2,500, afterward Mrs

Whyte was Principal of Elmbank House with Jane teaching art and drawing, and her sister

(Associate of Conservatory at Rome) teaching music. Her sister Dr Margaret Whyte provided Jane

with access to Melbourne’s mainstream women’s rights movement.

In June 1885, Jane Wilkinson Whyte graduated from Central State School when she was 17

years old, receiving her Teaching Certificate from the South Kensington School of Art. She

furthered her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1892-1895) where she

won prizes for drawing. In 1903, she received her initial training in etching from John Mather and

was later encouraged by John Shirlow, producing more than 20 intaglio prints using the etching

technique. From the mid-1890s, Jane Whyte taught painting, drawing, etching and miniature

painting at various colleges for young ladies and from her inner-city artist studio in the Flinders

Building on Flinders Street.

[159] “ The Patriarch, Wattle Park, (Melbourne) ” circa 1917; oil on canvas;

42.0 x 52.0 cm;

signed: “ Janie Wilkinson Whyte ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: shortly after Wattle Park opened in 1917 and became a popular spot for picnickers.


[158] Children on Bush Path 1903; oil on board; 34.0 x 24.0 cm;

signed: “ J.W. Whyte 1903 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: 1903.


Jane W. Whyte painted landscapes, portraits, figure studies and interiors in oils, watercolours and pastels. She was closely associated with Janet Cumbrae Stewart, Jessie C.A. Traill, May Vale and Dora Wilson. Like many impressionist artists, she almost always included figures in her landscapes, especially children and women, the costumes of the characters adding a splash of colour into the green, brown and blue scene



Jane W. Whyte painted landscapes, portraits, figure studies and interiors in oils, watercolours

and pastels. She was closely associated with Janet Cumbrae Stewart, Jessie C.A. Traill, May

Vale and Dora Wilson. In May 1911, September 1932, September 1935 and September 1946,

she had solo exhibitions of paintings and etchings at the Australian Arts & Craft Society Gallery,

Athenaeum Gallery and Melbourne Book Club.

Jane W. Whyte was a member of the Yarra Sculptors Society (1898-1910), Victorian Artists'

Society (1907-25) and Women's Art Club (1930-52), serving as its President (1920s). In Adelaide,

she exhibited with the Royal Art Society of South Australia’s Federal Exhibitions and in Sydney,

exhibited with Society of Women Painters.

COLLECTIONS: NGV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Heritage; More Than Just Gum Trees; Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney University

1997 Thesis: Harvest of a Quiet Eye; Argus (18th June 1885; 19th January 1895; 7th March 1908); Australasian (27th

June 1885); Punch (16th April 1903); Table Talk (1st September 1932); Herald (8th May 1911; 10th September 1935).



WILSON, DORA LYNNELL (A.K.A. ‘WILTZ’) [ Victoria, New South Wales, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 31st August 1883 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, United Kingdom DIED: 21st November 1946 at East Melbourne, Victoria

Dora L. Wilson was a professional painter, illustrator and printmaker. She was the daughter of James [squatter and commission agent; Scot] and Annie Marie [nee Green] Wilson, the family immigrating to Australia when Dora was one year old.

In 1900, Dora Wilson graduated from the Methodist Ladies’ College and received her artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1901-1907) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall, winning several prizes. She had been impressed by Andre Zorn’s etchings at the National Gallery of Victoria, inspiring her to produce more than 20 intaglio prints using primarily the etching technique. In 1903, she studied etching under John Mather who was also teaching printmaking to Jessie Traill and Janie W. Whyte. In 1907, Wilson exhibited etchings at the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work where she was awarded a Silver Medal for Best Etching Exhibits and 1st Prize for Etching. She also produced monotypes.

From 1910, Dora Wilson shared an artist studio at Temple Court on Collins Street with Jessie C.A. Traill and others. In 1923, she was included in the Australian Artists Exhibition in London. She was one of the most exhibited and successful artists of her day. In March 1911, November 1913, October 1920, April 1925 and November 1926, she held solo exhibitions at Athenaeum Gallery and New Gallery on Collins Street and in Sydney during August 1924 and April 1926 at the Anthony Hordern’s Gallery and Grosvenor Gallery. In March 1912, April 1913 and May 1918, she held joint exhibitions with Norah Gurdon and Ruth Sutherland at Tuckett-Styles Gallery and Fine Arts Gallery, and with Ruth Roxburgh and Percy Leason at Centreway Gallery.

By the early 1920s, Wilson’s paintings were in great demand, commanding prices equal to the most renowned artist of the day. She is best known for her paintings and pastels of street scenes which she undertook from 1925, after she was already an established artist. In 1927, Dora Wilson undertook a two-and-a-half-year trip with Pegg Clarke, a well-known photographer, to England, Belgium, France, Corsica and Italy. She exhibited at the Paris Salons and London’s Royal Institute of Oil Painters and had two solo exhibitions at London’s Beaux Art Gallery and Australia House. On her return, Wilson’s European work was highly praised. She was a master of various media, including etchings, oils and pastels, her nudes were judged comparable to Janet Cumbrae Stewart.

Dora Wilson was a foundation member of the Australian Academy of Arts and in Melbourne, exhibited with the Yarra Sculptor Society, Victorian Artists’ Society, Twelve Melbourne Painters, and Australian Art Association, Melbourne Society of Women Artists and Sculptors, and Twenty Melbourne Painters. In Sydney, she exhibited with the Society of Women Painters and in Brisbane, exhibited with Queensland Art Society.

COLLECTIONS: NGV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Waterclour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Story of Australian Art; Design & Art Australia Online; Herald (17th December 1903; 22nd October 1907; 29th April 1913; 20th October 1920); Punch (22nd October 1908; 9th March 1911); Table Talk (2nd May 1912); Australasian (8th November 1913); Sydney Morning Herald (9th August 1924)

[160] Bush Scene a.k.a. Artists’ Camp, Warrandyte

circa 1910; oil on board; 39.0 x 29.5cm;

signed: “ Dora L. Wilson ” (lower left).


Warrandyte is a hill district 15 kilometers east of Eaglemont-Heidelberg that in the early-20th century, became a popular destination for en plein air artists who sought bushland not threatened by the encroached by urban development.

[161] “ The Black Bear Inn ” circa 1928; oil on board; 31.0 x 35.0 cm; signed: “ Dora L. Wilson ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE




Dictionary of Biography - Australian Male Artists

BACKHOUSE, (ROBERT) CLARENCE [ New South Wales, UK, Europe, USA, Canada ]

Born: 10th September 1859 at Geelong, Victoria Died: 29th September 1930 at Harbord (Manly), New South Wales

Clarence Backhouse was an architect and painter in oils and watercolours. He was the fourth child of the eleven children of Hon. Benjamin [1829-1904; architect] M.L.C. and Lydia Elizabeth Warne [1830-1903; nee Johnson] Backhouse. On 28th April 1885, Clarence married Nina Kate Middlemiss [1866-1936] at St Kilda, Victoria. He received his early education at the King’s School in Parramatta and in the 1870s, he served a seven-year architecture apprenticeship with his father, before travelling to London where he worked in a number of architect offices. Afterward. he travelled extensively through England, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, the United States and Canada. On 1st December 1882, he arrived at Melbourne aboard the SS Sorata from London.

Clarence Backhouse received his artistic training at London’s South Kensington School of Art (a.k.a. Royal College of Art). In 1887, he was a foundation Academician of the NSW Academy of Arts, serving on its Council. At the Academy, he was closely associated with Girolamo Nerli, Fletcher-Watson, Mary Stoddard and Achilles Simonetti and other leading Sydney artists.

Between 1890s and 1920s, Clarence Backhouse produced landscape oils in an impressionistic style that captured the light and mood of the moment. He was particularly fond of painting beaches and the coastal areas of Sydney and its environs. In 1902, the Government purchased his painting of the Argyle Cut, Rocks. When the Society of Arts of NSW (later Royal Art Society) was formed, he became a member and exhibitor, being associated with Julian R. Ashton, Alfred J. Daplyn, William Lister Lister and others. In November 1898, Backhouse was a foundation member and Honourary Secretary of Sydney’s Bohemian Club with Lister Lister and other artists and journalists.

Between 1890s and 1920s, Clarence Backhouse was a well-known architect who operated in Sydney. In 1891, he was appointed to Henry Parkes’ City of Sydney Improvement Board. Clarence Backhouse was best known for designing theatres and was the principal architect for the Tivoli, Palace, Lyceum, Criterion and Kings Theatres in Sydney, the Bijou in Adelaide and for the designs of Melbourne’s Opera House. He also designed skating rings, the largest at Darlinghurst Hall accommodated 10,000 people and the Grand Crystal Palace Rink accommodating 5,000 spectators and 2,000 skaters. He was also responsible for the design of numerous commercial premises, residential developments and the remodeling of Queen Victoria Markets in 1910.

COLLECTIONS: Mitchell Library.

PORTRAIT: photo by J. Hubert Newman Ltd. in Cyclopedia of N.S.W.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Cyclopedia of N.S.W.; Age (11th January 1883); Sydney

Morning Herald (24th November 1884; 3rd August 1885; 4th October 1930); Sunday Times (13th November 1898); Evening News (21st March 1900); Australian Town and Country Journal (5th April 1902); numerous newspaper articles.

[176] “ Heavy Weather, Curl Curl ” circa 1893; oil on panel; 14.5 x 31.0 cm;

signed: “ Heavy Weather, Curl Curl,

Clarence Backhouse ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1893


Though primarily known as an architect of theatres, Clarence Backhouse received his artistic training at London’s South Kensington School of Art (a.k.a. Royal College of Art). In 1887, he was a foundation Academician of the NSW Academy of Arts, serving on its Council. At the Academy, he was closely associated with Girolamo Nerli, Fletcher-Watson, Mary Stoddard and Achilles Simonetti and other leading Sydney artists.



BYRNE, HAROLD [ New South Wales, Tasmania; Victoria ]

BORN: 1900 at Cullerin (40 kilometers west of Goulburn), New South Wales

DIED: 1966 at Melbourne, Victoria

Harold Byrne was a professional painter in oil and watercolours, printmaker, and art teacher.

As a youth, he was educated at Christian Brothers’ School in Goulburn. After graduation, he left

Goulburn at age 16-years, and settled in Sydney where he developed an interest in painting.

Harold Byrne received his artistic training at the Sydney Art School (1926-1931) under Julian

R. Ashton and Henry Gibbons. During this time, Byrne shared an apartment-studio with William

Dobell and was a member of the ‘Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’ with Douglas Dundas, John

Brackenreg and Mickey Carter. While studying etching under Sydney Long, Byrne developed an

impressionistic treatment in aquatints, watercolours and oils.

In 1931, Harold Byrne travelled to Tasmania where he taught etching at the Hobart Technical

College under supervision of Lucien Dechaineux. Throughout the 1930s, Byrne returned to

Tasmania to visit his close friend Charles H. Robinson with whom he collaborated to produce

Hobart - Eight Etchings in Facsimile (1932). Byrne later published The Spirit of the Ballet

(Fragonard Press, Sydney 1937, limited to an edition of 30) containing nine impressionistic ballet

images and a portfolio of seven ballet etchings Homage to the Ballet (Fragonard Press, Sydney,

limited to an edition of 45).

Even though Harold Byrne showed entrepreneurial skill in his publishing of limited editioned

books-portfolios and arranging solo exhibitions of his watercolours and prints, he spent most of

his life as an impoverished artist, living in small studios in the inner-suburbs of Sydney. He

maintained a meagre existence primarily from his artwork, often trading an etching or watercolour

for the essentials to exist. During business hours, he would canvass for work among the legal and

medical fraternity and at night, he regarded the Public Library of N.S.W. as his office, usually

working until 10:00PM. Afterward, he’d meet friends at Repin’s Inn in Hay Street where they would

inevitably pay for his coffee.

During the late-1930s and 1940s, Harold Byrne’s favourite theme was the ballet for which he

produced numerous impressionistic images in oil, watercolour and aquatint. These were exhibited

at the Industrial Arts Society Gallery (Sydney November 1937) and at solo exhibitions in Sydney,

Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. In his final years, Harold Byrne moved to Melbourne, where

he frequented the Wine and Cheese Society (a venue for the sale of paintings). He was a devote

Catholic and heavy smoker who developed a drinking problem in his later years. He was well

liked by all that met him, his close friends included William Dobell, Bim Hilder, Austin Platt and

Charles H. Robinson.

[177] Garden Party circa 1931; monotype; 20.5 x 17.0 cm;

signed: “ Harold Byrne ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

COLLECTION: Gift by Harold Byrne to Girlfriend in

early-1930s.

PURCHASED: 1990 from Harold Byrne’s Girl

Friend.



HAROLD BYRNE’S PRINTMAKING (1928 - 1940s)

Harold Byrne produced more than 70 intaglio prints (probably at least 100 different images)

using the aquatint, drypoint and etching techniques and also produced a small number of relief

prints using the woodcut technique. In 1928, he studied intaglio printmaking under Sydney Long

at the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society’s School of Etching. Harold Byrne was always willing to

share his expertise with other etchers including Austin Platt, Roma Hopkinson and Charles H.

Robinson.

Even though Harold Byrne spent most of his life as an impoverished artist, he possessed his

own large etching press on which he did his own printing. In the 1940s, he had to sell his press,

afterward using Austin Platt’s etching press to print his editions. Byrne is primarily known for his

impressionistic aquatint images of ballet themes, inspired by the Russian and Monte Carlo Ballet

Companies in the late-1930s and early-1940s. He also produced architectural studies, cityscapes

and portraits. In 1931, he was elected a member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society. Harold

Byrne was one of a few Australian etchers to produce impressionistic intaglio prints.

In 1933, Harold Byrne designed and printed his first etched bookplate and by 1936 had

produced over thirty-six bookplate designs and reputedly more than 100 by the end of his career

in the early-1950s. Many of his bookplates were for leading musical and dance talents of the era.

In 1936, he published two limited edition (25 copies) portfolios, Harold Byrne’s Etched

Bookplates, one of which contains a short biographical forward by John Lane Mullins. He was

the only Australian to be an Honourary Member of the American Bookplate Society.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; QAG; NLA; Mitchell Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Masterpieces of Australian Printmaking; Daily Telegraph (20th July 1926); Catholic Press (28th

February 1935); Catholic Weekly (28th September 1950); Victor Harbour Times (8th December 1950); numerous

newspaper articles.

[178] “ Covent Garden Ballet:

Carnival – Swan Lake – Les Sylphides ” 1940; watercolours;

signed: “ Harold Byrne ”

Provenance

PAINTED: 1940 at Theatre Royale when Colonel de Basil’s Covent Garden Ballet Company was

touring Sydney.

PURCHASED: 1990 from former girlfriend of Harold Byrne.



CHRISTMAS, ERNEST WILLIAM (R.B.A.) [ South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, New Zealand, UK, USA, South America ]

Born: 28th January 1863 at Yankalilla, Point Wakefield, South Australia

Died: 29th July 1918 at Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, USA

Ernest William Christmas was a professional painter, illustrator, art teacher, scenic artist and

gold prospector. He was the eldest of the eleven children of John James [1838-1902; farmer,

baker, storekeeper and mining agent] and Martha [1839-1925; nee Leeke] Christmas. In his youth,

Ernest was more interested in bicycle racing and football than painting. In the early-1880s, he

started to exhibit at local agricultural shows in rural South Australia while working as a baker and

prospecting for gold at Wallaroo (150 kilometers northwest of Adelaide) and other remote

diggings. At the (1884) Yorke Peninsula Show, he was awarded for First Prize for Oil Painting

for his 7.5 by 5.5 foot oil painting Moon Light Scene in Norway, painted from a photograph, an

effort that was beyond his youth and amateur status. In 1887, he was awarded First Honors in

Oils at the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition. He was greatly influenced by the large landscape

canvases of Adelaide artist Henry J. Johnstone [1835-1907], Ernest’s pictures often being

mistaken as copies but were all original artworks. In 1889, Christmas started teaching painting in

Broken Hill, New South Wales. In 1890, he moved to Adelaide where he held his first solo

exhibition in August 1890. His sister Ethel Christmas was a well-respected West Australian artist.

Between 1890 and 1894, Ernest W. Christmas fascinated the art critics in Adelaide with his

finely painted large landscapes. He regularly exhibited at the Art Society, had paintings for sale

at various venues and conducted art unions, being noted as one of South Australia’s most

industrious artists. In July 1891, he held an art union to sell 100 paintings and in 1892, auctioned

20 plein air oil landscapes of remote areas along the Murray River to finance a trip to the Europe

to further his artistic career. While it is often claimed that he received his artistic training in

Adelaide, Sydney and London, there is no evidence that he wasn’t entirely self-taught except for

some guidance from Edward William Belcher, a professional photographer.

By the mid-1890s, Ernest W. Christmas was considered one of South Australia’s leading

artists who often demanded high prices for his oil paintings. Throughout his career Christmas

travelled widely, painting the areas he visited and often sending the work back to Australia for

exhibition. In his later career, it was claimed that he had travelled more than 250,000 kilometers

across Austral-Asia, Europe, and North and South America to find subjects for his brush.

In early-1894, Ernest W. Christmas departed for South Australia on a painting trip that lasted

twenty-four years, only returning for short visits. In 1894, he was in Sydney where he taught art

at the St Leonards’ School of Arts and painted the scenic spots around Sydney Harbour, the Blue

Mountains and Hawkesbury River. After a short time, he continued his travels to New Zealand

where he painted until 1899 when he visited Tasmania.

[179] “ Where Still Waters Lie ” 1894; oil on board; 36.5 x 30.0 cm;

signed: “ E.W.C. ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

EXHIBITED: 1894 at Art Society of NSW.

PURCHASED: 1900 from antique shop in Roseville.

Ernest W. Christmas had previously painted the Upper Murray River and when he settled in Sydney in the early-1890s, he gravitated to the Hawkesbury River in search of its wetlands. The location is believed to be near the Brooklyn Dam where even today, waterlilies flower in abundance.



At the turn of the century, Ernest W. Christmas travelled to England to allegedly continue his

artistic studies. In 1902, he sent 100 paintings (valued £700) of Scotland for exhibition and sale

in Melbourne. In 1904, he returned to South Pacific, visiting New South Wales, South Australia

and New Zealand. In 1908, he again visited England where in 1909, he was elected to the Royal

Society of British Artists. While in the United Kingdom, he exhibited with the Royal Academy

(1910-1911), Royal Society of British Artists (1909-1918), Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal

Institute of Painters in Watercolours and Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.

In 1910, Ernest W. Christmas visited South America where he primarily painted mountain

and lake scenes in Argentina, Chile and Peru. He later illustrated W.H. Koebel’s Argentina Past

and Present. Afterward, Ernest returned to England where he exhibited his South American

paintings. In 1915, he exhibited Christo de Los Andes at the Panama Pacific International

Exposition in San Francisco, being awarded a Bronze Medal. In February 1916, he arrived in

Honolulu, Hawaii where he held a number of successful solo exhibitions and painted Pacific island

scenes and dramatic volcano landscapes. In July 1918, Ernest William Christmas died of heart

disease while planning a trip to New York.

Ernest W. Christmas was a post-colonial painter, primarily known as an oil painter, but who

also produced fine watercolours. His subjects were primarily landscapes of rural areas, wetlands

and mountains that were not of grand scenes but representative scenery. His early work often

shows hard sunlight and smoky horizons, while his later paintings are firmer in composition with

a developed appreciation of light. In South Australia, he particularly favoured the Murray River

area and he also painted in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, New

Zealand, England, Wales, Scotland, Morocco, Argentina, Peru and Chile. He very well may have

been Australia’s most travelled artist.

In Adelaide, Ernest W. Christmas was a member of the Royal South Australian Society of

Arts and exhibited at their Federal Exhibitions. In Sydney, he was an exhibitor at the Royal Art

Society, while in New Zealand he exhibited with the N.Z. Academy of Fine Arts (Wellington),

Auckland Society of Artists (Auckland), Canterbury Society of Arts (Christchurch) and New

Zealand International Exhibition. In 1906, he won the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts’ First

Prize for a Wellington Streetscape.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; QAG; Dunedin Public Art Gallery; Hocken Library; Bishop Suter Art Gallery;

Turnbull Library.

PORTRAIT: photo (Adelaide Register (5th September 1918)).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, numerous newspaper articles;

http://ernestwilliamchristmas.com/ .

http://ernestwilliamchristmas.com/



COFFEY, ALFRED ROLAND LEOPOLD [ New South Wales; New Zealand; UK, Europe, USA, Indonesia ]

Born: 13th September 1868 at Michals, County, Limerick, Ireland

DIED: 19th November 1950 at Sydney, New South Wales

Alfred R. Coffey was a professional painter, printmaker and art teacher. He was the youngest

of the four children of Patrick William [1813-1891; an Irish National who immigrated to United

State but returned to Ireland after ten years] and Julia Maximillia [1835-1895; nee Goggin] Coffey.

On 31st July 1882, Alfred’s family immigrated to Sydney when he was 14 years old but returned

to England and Ireland by 1890s. Alfred Coffey never married.

In early-1880s, Alfred R. Coffey spent some time in San Francisco and New York but returned

to Australia by late-1880s. After his return, Alfred Coffey attended St Aloysius College in Auburn

and in 1884 was awarded a Silver Medal in Physics and Honours in Mathematics in 1887. He

received his artistic training at the Royal Art Society School (1888-1892) under Alfred J. Daplyn,

taking prizes in every section and winning its President’s Prize (1892). He later studied at Sydney

Art School (1897) under Julian R. Ashton.

From April 1898, Alfred Coffey taught art at a number of Technical Colleges (Sydney,

Waverley and Granville) and for a time at Abbotsleigh Girls School (circa 1900s) on the North

Shore where Grace Cossington Smith was among his pupils. In late-1900, he travelled to the

United Kingdom and Europe, where he painted in Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Spain and

Italy. On his return in late-1901, he was appointed an art instructor at the East Sydney Technical

College and later taught art and lectured (1919-1922) in drawing and art history at the School of

Architecture at Sydney University.

Alfred Coffey was an accomplished oil painter and watercolourist, as well as being a

printmaker of some skill. His early paintings show the influence of Alfred J. Daplyn and the artists

of the Heidelberg School and as a whole his work involves the rich subtle palette of the early

Australian impressionists.

Alfred Coffey produced more than 50 intaglio prints using the etching technique. In 1889, he

experimented with etching using P.G. Hamerton's book. At the age of twenty, he etched four

plates, publishing an edition of five prints of the image Berowra Point (1889). Afterwards he

concentrated on his painting, not taking up etching again until 1908. His most important images

are a series of large plates (49.5 x 32.5 cm) of Sydney’s foreshores and Rocks area. In 1921, he

was a foundation member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, serving on its Council.

Alfred Coffey was a fellow of the Royal Art Society, serving as its Vice-President and on its

Council. In 1912, he was Australia’s official representative at the International Art Congress at

Dresden, travelling via San Francisco aboard the RMS Tahiti to visit his brother. In 1921, he gave

up art teaching to devote all his time to painting. In 1922, he travelled through Indonesia where

he painted a large number of works, later exhibiting these at the Blaxland Gallery (Sydney).

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; NGV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Water Colour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, Masterpieces of Australian Prints, Story of Australian Art; Catholic Press (17th December 1898); numerous newspaper articles.

[180] Blue Mountain Vista, 1892 a.k.a. “ Mountain View, Colo River ”

1892; oil on canvas; 60.0 x 29.0 cm;

signed: “ A.R. Coffey, 1892 ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: 1892 executed in same year as Coffey won the Royal Art Society's President's Prize. Shows the influence of Australia's pioneer impressionists, who were in Sydney at the time.

EXHIBITED: (1892) Royal Art Society’s Annual Exhibition (illustrated in catalogue);

EXHIBITED: (2000) Alfred Coffey Retrospective (Sydney University 2000)




CONDER, CHARLES EDWARD [ New South Wales, Victoria, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 24th October 1868 at Holly Cottage, Tottenham, Middlesex, England DIED: 9th February 1909 at Virginia Water, Surrey, England

Charles Conder was a professional painter, lithographer, fan-designer and art teacher. He

was the third eldest of the six children James [1839-1910; railway engineer] and Marie Ann [1841-

1873; née Ayre] Conder, Charles also having seven stepsiblings. In 1872, the Conder family

moved to Iddagonge North Kanara (a.k.a. Kantaka; south of Goa on west coast), India where

James Conder was appointed executive railway engineer. A year after the death of his mother in

May 1873 from tuberculosis, Charles (aged five-years) returned to England, but his father stayed

in India until 1896. Charles was educated at boarding school at Eastbourne (1877-1883), England

and in 1884 he was sent to New South Wales to work under his uncle, William Jacomb Conder

[1831-1890], an official in the Lands Department who had immigrated to Sydney in 1851.

On 13th June 1884, Charles Conder arrived in Sydney from London aboard the Windsor

Castle, the trip having took 79 days around the Cape of Good Hope. In Sydney, he worked for

the Lands Department which sent him on surveys in New South Wales country areas, where he

combined surveying with sketching. In 1886-1887, Charles Conder became a lithographic

apprentice to Gibbs, Shallard & Co. where he provided illustrations to Illustrated Sydney News

and was associated with Albert Henry Fullwood, Frank Mahoney and Benjamin E. Minns.

In Sydney, Charles Conder attended painting classes at the Art Society of NSW (later Royal

Art Society) under plein-air landscape painter, Alfred J. Daplyn, who had been trained in Paris,

Rome, New York and London. Conder was awarded several prizes for landscape and was popular

among the artists of the Art Society, including Julian R. Ashton, Victor Mann, Girolamo Nerli and

others who he occupied on sketching and painting trips to the beauty spots of Sydney and its

environs. At the end-1887, Conder befriended a visiting Tom Roberts, the two artists sharing

views about Impressionism. In September 1888, Conder’s The Departure of the SS Orient was

purchased by the trustees for the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

“The most striking work in the pictures that follow is certainly that of Mr Charles Conder, and this not at all because of the accuracy of this artist’s drawing, or indeed for any mechanical qualification, but for the tone and colour his pictures show, their sentiment and composition, and in most cases for their sunny brightness, although this last feature is not evidenced in the fine picture purchased for the National Gallery. Mr Conder has studied the impressionist school and has succeeded in producing work full of the suggestiveness that gives the lay observer whose eyes are open to the sentiment of art something to grasp and hold on by. "The Departure of the Orient, Circular Quay” (No. 140), is one of the most character-marked pictures in the exhibition this year - misty and dim in tone, showing the scene on a drizzling morning, with groups of figures moving rapidly away, and the effect losing itself in the dull grey and mirk of a lowering sky. The contrast between the tone of this picture and that of others by Mr Conder, as for example the one called " A Taste for Literature" (No. 130), is very distinct and bold. As we shall see later on, the caractère of these others is all very much of a piece, and the one named may perhaps be taken as the most noticeable example.

[NAS] All on a Summer’s Day, Coogee 1888 –

Impressionist (Tom Roberts) painting on the Hill

April 1888; oil on cedar panel; 13.0 x 14.5 cm.

Provenance

Purchased: 1980 from house sale in Woollahra, NSW

NOTE: I purchased this painting only knowing that it was a well-executed Impressionist painting in a “9 by 5 Impression” frame. It wasn’t until I viewed Lauraine Diggins 1982 Exhibition that I was able to (with some apprehension) attribute and date the artwork to Charles Conder.



There is a stretch of blown grass, bright with dashes of blossomy colour; some way off a female figure at gaze, and in the foreground, occupying her attention, a calf playing with a newspaper. All this is simple enough, but there is such a feeling of brightness and sunshine over all, and a palpable suggestion of the open air about everything, and such a mellow effect produced by the softening off of the warm atmospheric effect in the foreground of the picture to the tender rose-flush of distance, that one cannot look at this artist's work without feeling all that the apparently rapid and careless dashes of the artist's brush were intended to convoy. Other equally effective bits from the same brush will occupy us again…”

On Easter weekend April-1888, Charles Conder and Tom Roberts painted together at

Coogee Beach, resulting in Conder’s All on a Summer Day, April 1888; Coogee Beach, Easter

1888 and Roberts’ Holliday Sketch, Coogee, April 1888. Between October 1888 and April 1890,

Conder lived in Melbourne, initially sharing a studio with Roberts before renting his own in the

Melbourne Chambers on Collins Street and later Gordon Chambers. Conder attended a few

classes at the National Gallery of Victoria School under Fred McCubbin. Nicknamed ‘K’, Conder

during the summers and on many weekends frequented the artists’ camps at Eaglemont, Box Hill

and Heidelberg in the company of ‘Bulldog’ (Roberts), Spike (Streeton) and other artists who

would later be dubbed the ‘Heidelberg School’. Conder joined Roberts, Streeton, Charles D.

Richardson, Frederick McCubbin, Roger E. Falls and Herbert J. Daly in the exhibition of 9 by 5

Impressions at Buxton Galleries, Swanston Street in August 1889, also exhibiting at the Victorian

Artists Society as well as sending work back to Sydney. His friend and mentor Girolamo Nerli also

settled in Melbourne for a time, further influencing the development of the young Conder.

An investment in silver mines4 and monies from his dying uncle William Jacomb Conder

enabled Charles to travel to Europe to further his artistic studies. On 26th April 1890, he departed

aboard the Austral for London where he stayed only three days before leaving for Paris in the

company of three American artists. He studied at Académie Julien under Benjamin Constant and

Jules Lefebvre and at Atelier Cormon, and he was influenced by Louis Anquetin [1861-1932] and

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [1864-1901]. In 1894, Charles Conder took up residence in London

and frequently visited Paris, Normandy and Dieppe where he visited his friends. After 1895, he

was increasingly preoccupied with fan designs painted in watercolours on silk which laid the

foundations of his fame. He was encouraged by William Rothenstein [1872-1945] to make

lithographs. On 5th December 1901, Charles married Stella Maris Belford [1870-1912; née

MacAdams; a wealthy Canadian widow] at the British Embassy in Paris, giving him financial

security and high society social contacts. From 1907, Charles Conder was often confined to a

sanatorium, dying of syphilis in 1909.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; NGV; AGSA; AGWA; TMAG; Mitchell Library; Art institute of Chicago.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: extensive; numerous newspaper articles.

4 Table Talk (11th April 1890); the investment was a recommendation from his close friend Herbert J. Daly (see below).



CRISP, JAMES ALEXANDER [ New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, New Zealand, USA ]

BORN: 1879 at Sydney, New South Wales DIED: 25th June 1962 at Sydney, New South Wales

James A. Crisp was a professional painter, printmaker, illustrator and sign-writer. He was the third eldest child of the eleven children of Elisabeth Theresa [1850-; nee Armstrong] and Henry James (Senior) [1844-1926; operator general store] Crisp. On 18th October 1911, he married Marie E.W. Walther [1889-1951] at Newtown, the couple having two daughters. James was the brother of Henry J. Crisp [1886-1951], who was also a painter and prominent Council member of the Royal Art Society. The two brothers operated a successful sign-writing business ‘Crisp Bros.’ that greatly reduced the amount of time that they could devote to their art.

James A. Crisp received his artistic training at J.S. Watkins’ Art School and privately under Harry Garlick. Throughout most of his life James was good friends with Sydney Long. In the early 1900s, he worked as an illustrator for the Bulletin with Norman Lindsay. On 31st July 1905, James Crisp arrived at San Francisco aboard the S.S. Sonoma. He worked for the Sunset and Wasp publications in San Francisco, but family affairs and the San Francisco earthquake precipitated his early return to Australia the following year.

After his return, James A. Crisp contributed drawings and cartoons to the Bulletin, Lone Hand and Town and Country Journal magazines. He was close friends with Henry Lawson for whom he illustrated several poems. By 1911, Crisp was producing oils, watercolours and black-and-white art of Australian fauna. After World War I, he favoured oils as a medium and his subject matter widened to include marine paintings, portraits, still-lifes and landscapes. He frequently exhibited oil, watercolour and black-and-white art at the Royal Art Society (1902-1933). In 1930s, a number of his images were stenciled onto ceramic items produced in the United Kingdom.

James A. Crisp is primarily remembered for his paintings, illustrations and etchings of Australian fauna. He drew from subjects he kept as pets in his backyard where he had kookaburras, cockatoos, magpies, wallabies and possums. From these subjects, he captured not only the image but the character of his subjects. In Sydney, he exhibited at the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council. In Melbourne, he exhibited with the Australian Artists Society, in Brisbane with the Royal Queensland Artists Society and in Adelaide with the Royal S.A. Society of Artists.

From 1922, James A. Crisp produced more than 60 intaglio prints using the etching and drypoint techniques, having learned the etching process from J. Barclay Godson. Crisp possessed his own large press on which he printed his own editions. He is best known for his images of Australian fauna (kookaburras, cockatoos, magpies, possums and kangaroos) and also landscapes and seascapes of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and California. In 1922, he became a member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, serving on its Council (1934-1937). During the 1920s and 1930s, he exhibited more images than any other Australian at the International Printmaker Exhibitions in Los Angeles, California.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; Manly Art Gallery; NLA; National Library of New Zealand; New York Public Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1994 interview with Crisp’s daughters; Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of

Australian Art; Story of Australian Art; numerous newspaper articles.

[181] Sheep Grazing circa 1912; oil on board; 27.5 x 16.0 cm;

signed: “ J.A. Crisp” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: circa 1999 from John Williams.

James A. Crisp is remembered for his paintings, illustrations and etchings of Australian fauna. He drew many of these from subjects he kept as pets in his backyard where he kept kookaburras, cockatoos, magpies, wallabies and possums. From these subjects, he captured not only the image but the character of his subjects.



DALY, HERBERT JAMES [ NSW, VICTORIA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, UK, EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA ]

BORN: 4th March 1865 at Roscommon, Mountbellew, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland

DIED: 29th December 1929 at Wicklow, Rathdrum, Ireland

Herbert J. Daly was a painter, draughtsman, surveyor, mining engineer and journalist. He

was born in County Galway to William Dawson [1825-1906; landowner] and Anna Letitia [1838-

1898; nee Digby] Daly. Herbert received his education at London’s Royal Mathematical School

(Christ’s Hospital) and Charter House School before serving in the Royal Navy. On 9th June 1888

at Victoria, he married Katherine Emily (Kitty) Mitchell [1859-1927], the daughter of the late

William H.F. Mitchell and sister to Sir Edward Mitchell. After his wife’s death, he married Dorothy

Samuels, sister of Chief Justice Samuels of the Supreme Court of Ireland.

In 1881, Herbert J. Daly immigrated to Australia, settling in Sydney where he worked as a

draughtsman and surveyor’s assistant for the N.S.W. Survey Department with Charles Conder.

In 1885, Herbert Daly moved to Melbourne where he was employed as a journalist for Table Talk.

In 1887, he travelled to Western Australia where he took out the first miner’s rights issued for the

Yilgarn goldfields. The following year, he returned to Melbourne to marry and work for the

Victorian Department of Mines. Between 1895 and 1896, he travelled widely in Australia as a

journalist, illustrator and special mining editor for the Argus. In 1896, he became the manager of

the Hannan’s Mining Company at Kalgoorlie, West Australia. Between 1897 and 1898, he

travelled and worked in South Africa and United Kingdom before returning to Melbourne where

he worked for Consolidated Mines Selection Company and also operated his own mining

consultancy practice. Between 1900 and 1908, he was a director of the North Broken Hill Silver

Mining Co. and the Jubilee Gold Mining Co. of Ballarat.

Between 1888 and 1890, Herbert Daly received his artistic training at the National Gallery

of Victoria School under Fred McCubbin and in 1889, he exhibited at The 9 x 5 Impression

Exhibition. After his retirement in circa 1909, Daly travelled and lived in Europe and was for a

time based in Paris where in 1911, he studied under E. Phillips Fox with whom he travelled and

painted in North Africa, France and England. Daly also associated and painted with Rupert Bunny

and many other leading French, British and American artists. In Europe, Herbert Daly exhibited

in Paris, at the Hibernian Society in Dublin and also in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1912, Daly had

a solo exhibition at the Fine Art Society Gallery in Melbourne which was well received.

“Mr Daly shows 30 of his own paintings gathered during his many artistic forages under eastern skies. He never hesitates in his use of colour, and as he views a scene as does he desire the spectator to view it. His brush rarely fails him when sunlight is concerned, taking for instance, `Sunlight in an Old Moorish Town, Algeria’, as one of his best examples of summer glow, while ̀ St Ives, Cornwall’, shows the painter in subdued and harmonious mood, using a palette of light brown and purple with dexterity and pleasing effect. As the work of an amateur, the collection is decidedly meritorious.”

[182] Mediterranean (Salerno) Harbour circa 1911; oil on canvas; 32.0 x 45.0 cm;

signed: “ Daly H.J.” (lower right).

Provenance


Between 1888 and 1890, Herbert J. Daly received his artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School under Fred McCubbin and in August 1889, Daly exhibited at Melbourne’s iconic 9 x 5 Impression Exhibition with Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Fred McCubbin and a few other artists, who became known as ‘The Heidelberg School of Artists’. After Daly’s retirement in circa 1909, he travelled and lived in Europe and was for a time based in Paris where in 1911, he studied under E. Phillips Fox with whom he travelled and painted in North Africa, France and England. Daly also associated and painted with Rupert Bunny and many other leading French, British and American artists. In Europe, Herbert Daly exhibited in Paris, at the Hibernian Society in Dublin and also in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1912, Herbert Daly had a solo exhibition at the Fine Art Society Gallery in Melbourne which was well received.



In 1916, Herbert Daly again exhibited at the Fine Art Society Gallery along with Ethel Carrick

Fox, Ina Gregory, Violet Teague, Alexander Colquhoun and others. In 1918, he exhibited at the

Athenaeum Gallery in support of the Red Cross and also the Australian Art Association (1920)

and in Paris (1927).

Herbert J. Daly was a member (1897-1922) of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (London)

and a member of Royal Societies Club (until 1912). After his death in 1929, he left an estate of

10,000 pounds in England and in 1943, his widow left his private collection of paintings to the Art

Gallery of Western Australian, including works by Herbert Daly, Rupert Bunny, A.W. Davidson,

Auguste Delecluse, William Laparra, William Watt Milne, Adolphe Montecelli, Sydney Thompson,

Abel Trouchet and Margurite Von Briesbroeck.

COLLECTIONS: AGWA; Witt Library (Courtauld Institute of Art, London).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Cyclopedia of Victoria, 1903; Golden Summers, Jane Clack and Bridget Whitelaw, 1986;

Table Talk (24th June 1896); Argus (10the September 1912); Australasian (4th January 1930); Perth’s Daily News (9th February 1943); numerous newspaper articles.



FULLWOOD, ALBERT HENRY [ New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland,

New Zealand, South Africa, New Guinea, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 15th March 1863 at Birmingham, United Kingdom

DIED: 1st October 1930 at Waverley (Sydney), New South Wales

Albert Henry Fullwood was a professional painter, illustrator, printmaker and art teacher. He

was the sixth eldest of the nine children of Frederick John [1832-1883; jeweler] and Emma [1831-

1895; née Barr] Fullwood. On 14th December 1883, Henry Fullwood arrived in Sydney aboard

iron barque Rialto at age 20-years. On 13th October 1896, he married Clyda Blanche Newman

[1871-1918] at Woollahra, the couple having three children (Phillip L. [1897-1911], Geoffrey B.

[1899-1973] and Marjorie C. [1903-1904] Fullwood).

Albert Henry Fullwood received his artistic training at the Birmingham Institute on a three-

year scholarship and reputedly studied at London’s South Kensington School of Art and Paris’s

academies. At the age of twenty, he arrived in Sydney where he was employed as a lithographic

draughtsman and designer for the Town and Country Journal. In the mid-1880s, he was a staff

artist for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, enabling him to travel around Australia and New

Guinea. He also contributed to the Bulletin, Illustrated Sydney News and Sydney Mail.

Fullwood became a prominent member of the Royal Art Society (from 1884) but dissatisfaction

with non-professional influences encouraged him to be a founding member of the Society of

Artists, serving on its Council. During the 1890s, he shared a studio with Frank P. Mahony and

painted with Julian R. Ashton, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and others at the artists’ camp at

Sirius Cove. Fullwood produced numerous impressionistic landscapes in oils and watercolours

of Sydney Harbour’s coves and the bushland around Sydney’s environs, especially the

Richmond District. He also made repeated painting trips to Tasmania. In 1891, his oil painting

The Station Boundary was purchased by the Art Gallery NSW and was awarded a Medal at

the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

After the bank crash of 1893, Albert Henry Fullwood suffered considerable financial

hardship. In mid-1900, he had sold his possessions and took his family to the United States via

Cape Town (South Africa), where he painted the city, the slave markets, Table Top Mountains,

and a number of Boer War related images. In January 1901, Fullwood had a sell-out solo

exhibition at the Miller’s Gallery at 293 Fifth Avenue, New York. Even though he achieved

financial success in the United States, in July 1901, he travelled to London to exhibit and work

as a freelance artist for the Graphic and other magazines. Here he became an avid disciple of

James McNeill Whistler, afterwards often freely quoting Whistler’s theories on art. In 1902,

Fullwood had three favourable exhibitions in London which were followed by solo exhibitions in

Paris, Berlin and Dresden. He was soon exhibiting paintings at the Royal Academy (1906, 1909,

1911-1915, 1919, 1926) and at Paris’s Old and New Salons. In England, he was a member of

the Chelsea Arts Club.

[NAS] “ Old Sand Sculptor, Bondi ” 1924, watercolour & gouache; 18.0 x 13.0 cm;

signed: “ A.F. ’24 ” (lower left).

A rare image of daylight swimming at beach culture at Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach. While the watercolour was most like painted en plein air, Albert Henry Fullwood also create a limited edition etching of the scene, there being a number of watercolour and etchings sets produced by Fullwood.



When World War I commenced, Albert Henry Fullwood enlisted in the Royal Army Medical

Corps, serving as an orderly with Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and George Coates. The physical

demands of working twelve-hour shifts as a medical orderly took their toll on the 52-year-old

Fullwood, who had taken ten years off his age, in order to join the R.A.M.C. After receiving a

medical discharge in 1917, he was appointed an official war artist with the Australian High

Commission in London, painting a number of war scenes in France primarily using watercolours.

Demobilized on 31st December 1919, Fullwood embarked for Sydney in February 1920. He

settled in Sydney and held solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne. During this time, he became

a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute (1924-1930). On 1st October 1930, Albert Henry

Fullwood died from pneumonia in the War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, leaving an estate valued

£844.

Albert Henry Fullwood produced a large number (over 200) of intaglio prints using the etching

and drypoint techniques. Prior to arriving in Australia, he had some experience with printmaking

techniques. In 1893, he produced his first Australian etching under the guidance of Livingston

Hopkins, but this proved to be commercially unsuccessful. In 1903, he studied intaglio

printmaking with his good friend Eirene Mort at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts

under Luke Taylor and was strongly influenced by American etcher James McNeill Whistler. While

in the United Kingdom (1902-1920), Fullwood produced numerous etchings including scenes of

English inns, villages and countryside. Upon returning to Sydney, he produced a large number of

etchings including cityscapes, landscapes and seascapes. From 1926, he taught etching at the

Australian Black and White Artists’ Club. He also produced a number of monotypes and a few

lithographs including House of Parliament and Trickenham Ferry

Fullwood’s etchings were internationally well received with a number of his prints being

purchased by the British Museum and Dresden Print Room. He was a foundation member of the

Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, serving on its Council (1921-1924) and as Vice-President

(1923-1924). He exhibited internationally with the Chicago Society of Etchers and International

Print Makers Exhibitions in California.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; NGV; Newcastle and other regional art galleries; National Library of Australia; Mitchell Library; British Museum; Museum of N.Z.; New York Public Library.

PORTRAIT: by James P. Quinn (AGNSW); by Squire Morgan (1930; Mitchell Library).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Masterpieces of

Australian Printmaking; “A.H. Fullwood”, Art in Australia, 1:8 1921; Dictionary of Australian Biography; Design

and Art Australia Online; New York Herald (22nd January 1901); numerous newspaper articles.



JONES, JOHN LLEWELYN [ Victoria, New South Wales; Queensland ]

BORN: 1866 at Melbourne, Victoria DIED: 13th December 1927 at North Sydney, New South Wales

Llewellyn Jones was a professional painter, photographer, art teacher and beekeeper. He

was a middle child of the eight children of Henry [1832-1897; railway worker] and Edith Eliza

[1837-1915; nee Wilson] Jones. Llewelyn Jones married Isabel Corbett [1871-1946; a fellow art

student and graphic artist], the couple having five children.

J. Llewelyn Jones received his artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School

(1883-1889) under George Follingsby and Fred McCubbin, being awarded the 1888 Judge's

Prize and a number of other prizes. He initially was employed as a photographer before

dedicating his time to painting. Between 1888 and 1893, he conducted a ‘Private Ladies Class’

teaching painting and drawing in Bendigo and in 1899, established a School of Design in

Prahran (Melbourne).

In late-1880s, Llewelyn Jones was one of the first artists to join Arthur Streeton and Tom

Roberts at the Eaglemont artists’ camps and is considered to be one of the Heidelberg School

painters. In 1888, Streeton gave him Impression for Golden Summer which was later exhibited

at the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition even though it was much larger (29.6 x 58.7 cm) than most

of the other paintings. In 1890, the Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased his oil, The Dry Season.

He often painted with Arthur Streeton, Fred McCubbin, E. Phillips Fox and Louis Abrahams on

sketching trips to Box Hill, Templestowe and Diamond Creek. As Streeton noted in the Argus

“Two of Follingsby’s students E.P. Fox and Llewellyn Jones, immediately began painting impressions from Nature. This exciting revelation of works painted in the open air, instead of being composed in a studio, spread rapidly through Melbourne, and later in Sydney, and this revelation and influence from Europe, through Roberts, became the foundation of what is best in Australian Art at the present time” (R.H. Croll, Tom Roberts, p.139)

After marriage and birth of his children, Llewelyn Jones applied himself to supporting his

family and between the late-1890s and 1916, reduced his time painting and exhibiting. In 1913-

1914, he taught painting and drawing at Charters Towers in Queensland. After a move to

Sydney, he tried beekeeping, worked as a commercial traveler and conducted art classes. He

exhibited at the Anthony Hordern’s Gallery and the Society of Artists.

In Melbourne, Llewelyn Jones was a member of the Australian Artists’ Association and

Victorian Artists' Society, while in Sydney he exhibited with the Society of Artists and the

Australian Watercolour Institute.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; NGV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Artists Camps; Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Art in

Australia (1:8 1921; J. Llewellyn Jones); The Art of Llewellyn Jones by Paul H. Bonnar; numerous newspaper articles.

[184] Yachts on Sydney Harbour circa 1910; oil on panel; 13.0 x 19.0 cm;

signed: “ J. Llewelyn Jones ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1910 shortly after moving to Sydney.


J. Llewelyn Jones received his artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1883-1889) under George Follingsby and Fred McCubbin, being awarded the 1888 Judge's Prize and a number of other prizes. Between 1888 and 1893, he conducted a ‘Private Ladies Class’ teaching painting and drawing in Bendigo and in 1899, established a School of Design in Prahran (Melbourne).

In late-1880s, Llewelyn Jones was one of the first artists to join Arthur Streeton at Eaglemont artists' camps and is considered to be one of the Heidelberg School painters. In 1890, the Art Gallery of N.S.W. purchased his oil, The Dry Season, which encouraged him to move to Sydney. In 1913-1914, he taught painting and drawing at Charters Towers in Queensland. After a move to Sydney, he tried beekeeping, worked as a commercial traveler and conducted art classes.



LINDSAY, NORMAN ALFRED WILLIAM LINDSAY [ New South Wales; Victoria; United Kingdom; USA ]

BORN: 23rd February 1879 at Creswick, Victoria

DIED: 21th November 1969 at Springwood, New South Wales

Norman Lindsay was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, author, cartoonist and illustrator.

Norman was the third eldest of the ten children of Robert Charles William Alexander Lindsay

[1843-1915; surgeon from Londonderry, Ireland] and his wife Jane Elizabeth [1848-1932;

daughter of Rev. Thomas Williams, Wesleyan missionary], five of the children becoming famous

artists and writers (Percival Charles [1870-1952], Sir Lionel Arthur [1874-1961], Norman Alfred

Williams [1879-1969], Ruby [1885-1919] and Sir Ernest Daryl [1889-1976]. On 23rd May 1900,

Norman married Catherine (Kate) Agatha Parkinson in Melbourne, the couple having three sons

(Jack [1900-], Raymond [1903-] and Philip [1906]) before divorcing 1918. On 14th January 1920,

Norman married Rose Soady, his longtime mistress at Strathfield, New South Wales.

Norman was primarily a self-taught artist, but he did receive some formal training from

Walter Withers. He possessed a natural genius for adapting styles and techniques to the artistic

medium that attracted him. At the age of seventeen, Norman left home to join his brother Lionel

in Melbourne where he contributed illustrations to the Hawklet, Freelance, Tocsin and

Rambler. At the age of twenty-two, Norman moved to Sydney to join the staff of the Bulletin

where he provided illustrations and cartoons. During his career, he illustrated (pen-and-ink and

prints) books by Australian authors and wrote and illustrated his own books.

Norman Lindsay was an accomplished pen-draughtsman, watercolourist, oil painter, writer

and cartoonist, as well as being a leading printmaker. He attracted acclaim and controversy in

Australia, the United Kingdom and United States. He exhibited with the Society of Artists (from

1907) and was a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute (1930-52).

PRINTMAKING (1897, 1906, 1916 - 1930s)

Norman Lindsay is considered to be one of Australia’s premier printmakers of his generation

and he is highly regarded around the world. He produced 200 published and 175 unpublished

intaglio prints using etching, drypoint and aquatint techniques, as well as a small number of

lithographs and relief prints using woodcut technique.

In 1897, Norman experimented with etching under his brother Lionel’s guidance, but at this

time Norman did not continue with the medium. In 1906, Norman again took up intaglio

printmaking with his brother Lionel undoubtedly giving him pointers on the technical aspects of

the art. It was not until 1917 that Sydney Ure Smith encouraged Norman to take up etching as

a serious artistic media, giving him instruction on intaglio printmaking. By 1917, Norman Lindsay

was publishing and exhibiting his intaglio prints which were an immediate success. Norman

disliked printing his etchings and most of his prints were printed by his wife Rose Lindsay who

was also the model for many of his images.

[183] The Model

a.k.a. Exotic Stare 1930s; oil on canvas on board; 21.0 x 17.0 cm

signed: “ N.L. ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: Sometime in 1930s at Springwood using one of his favourite models, Rita, who he used repeatedly in oils, watercolours and etchings and drawings. Rita had a Spanish mother and Asian father, giving her exotic features, including an olive complexion, oval face, almond-shaped eyes, cupid’s bow lips and long black hair.




Norman’s images are like no other Australian printmaker of his time. In fact, there is no

painter-etcher in the world whose work can be easily compared to Norman’s images. In most of

his images, Norman etched the entire surface of the plate with fine lines and texture. He

introduced to Australia an Arcadian hyperborean world inhabited by nudes, nymphs and satyrs,

modelled on the voluptuous paintings of Rubens and the Swiss artist Arnold Bocklin. The

uninhibited exotic nature of many of his images produced unparalleled controversy and censure

from religious groups and moralists in Australia and the United Kingdom. During most of his

artistic life, Norman Lindsay waged a private campaign against what he referred to as

wowserism.

While Norman Lindsay was a foundation member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’

Society, he remained detached from the controversies that surrounded his brother Lionel

Lindsay.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; AGWA; NGV; QAG; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery; Armidale Regional Gallery; NZNAG; British Museum; Fine Arts Museum San Francisco.

PORTRAIT: etched portrait by Lionel Lindsay; Caricature: October 1907 Lone Hand (Dyson)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists, Story of Australian

Art; many more.



LISTER (A.K.A. BUTTREY), WILLIAM LISTER [ New South Wales, UK, Europe ]

BORN: 27th December 1859 at Manly, New South Wales DIED: 6th November 1943 at Mosman, New South Wales

William Lister Lister was a professional painter, art teacher and marine engineer. He was the second eldest of the thirteen children of John Armitage [1819-1886] and Elisabeth Kirby [1830-1912; nee Bateson] Buttrey, who in 1874 changed the family name to ‘Lister’ by deed poll to insure an inheritance from the mother’s side of the family. After marrying, the Lister family immigrated to Sydney, arriving on the Duke of Wellington on 30th March 1852. However, in circa 1867, the family returned to the United Kingdom. In 1899, William Lister Lister married Bessie Emeline Wilkerson Waldron [1864-1935; a.k.a. Mrs Alfred M. Jenkins], the couple having one daughter and two stepdaughters.

In 1870s, William Lister Lister received his initial artistic training at the Bedford School of Art (Bedfordshire, East England) under Bradford Rudge [1813-1885] and for two-years at Pont Sainte Maxence (60 kilometer north of Paris). In late-1870s or early 1880s, he moved to Glasgow, Scotland where he joined the St Mungo Art Club, where he painted with James Guthrie and Edward A. Walton, who later formed the Glasgow Boys. Before returning to Australia in 1888, Lister Lister had exhibited at Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy of Art, Manchester Art Gallery and London’s Royal Academy, Royal Society of Painters in Oils, Royal Society of British Artists and British Empire Society of Artists. He was also reputedly a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy (Wales). In addition to studying art, Lister Lister had trained for four years as a marine engineer at the College of Science and Arts in Glasgow and at the Fairfield Engineering Works, afterwards becoming a ship’s engineer. During his four years at sea, he voyaged to Americas, the West Indies and throughout the Mediterranean.

In 1888, William Lister Lister returned to Sydney where he exhibited with the Royal Art Society and taught art from his studio at Victoria Arcade (by 1893 at the Paling’s Building) and at high schools, his students included Australian Impressionists Jessie Scarvell and Sophie Steffanoni. He soon became one of Australia's leading landscape painters and in 1889, the Art Gallery of NSW purchased his Wilberforce Oak, 1888, the first of eleven of his paintings to be acquired for their permanent collection. He was seven-times winner of the Gallery’s prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape (1898, 1906, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1925) and was also awarded the 250 guinea Commonwealth Government Prize (1913) for a picture of the Federal Capital site. He was equally accomplished in oils and watercolours, being celebrated as a painter of shimmering seascapes and coastal vistas. In 1943, he was killed in a Sydney street accident and three years later the Art Gallery of NSW held a memorial exhibition of his paintings (1946).

In 1900, William Lister Lister was appointed a trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW and from 1919, was the Gallery’s Vice-President. In Sydney, he was a Fellow of the Royal Art Society, serving on its Council, as Vice-President and as President (for more than 40 years). In Adelaide, he was an exhibitor at the Royal S.A. Society of Arts’ Federal Exhibitions.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; NGV; TMAG; QAG; NZNG; Cardiff AG (Wales); Geelong AG; Mitchell Library.

PORTRAIT: Portrait by Lawson Balfour [AGNSW];

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Story of Australian Art; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[185] “ In the Shadows (Lane Cove) ” circa 1893; oil on board; 34.5 x 44.5 cm;

signed: “ W. Lister Lister ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: circa 1893 and shows the influence of Australia's pioneer impressionists, who were painting in Sydney at the time.

Collection: Lynette Young, 13 Chastleton Avenue, Toorak;


William Lister Lister was best known for his large traditional landscapes in oil and watercolours. Between 1898 and 1940, he was 13 times a finalist in the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape, winning a record 7 times. While he generally didn’t exhibit impressionistic paintings, Lister commented to a journalist

“When Streeton and Roberts were camped at Sirius Cove, all the Sydney artists adopted an impressionistic technique for a time.”

Lister Lister taught large classes for landscape painting, including Jessie Scarvell and Sophie Steffanoni and took more than a dozen lady students to Freshwater Beach, and other sketching places. Before returning to Australia in 1888, Lister Lister had direct contact with the Scottish impressionists associated with the Glasgow Boys.



MCINNES, WILLIAM BECKWITH [ Victoria, UK, Europe, North Africa ]

BORN: 18th May 1889 at St Kilda, Victoria DIED: 9th November 1939, East Melbourne, Victoria

William B. McInnes was a professional painter and art teacher. He was the second eldest

of the five children of Malcolm [1862-1917; clerk] and Alice Agnes [1867-1937; née Beckwith]

McInnes. On 24th February 1915, William married Violet Muriel Musgrave [1892-1968; an artist],

the couple having at least six children and living at Alphington near Ivanhoe and the Yarra Valley.

At age 14-years, William B. McInnes commenced his artistic training at the National Gallery

of Victoria School (1903-1911) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall. Failing to win the

Travelling Scholarship and after a successful joint exhibition with Frank R. Crozier at the

Athenaeum Gallery, on 1st May 1912, he departed Melbourne to study in Europe for three years.

While in London, he was met and was influenced by John Singer Sargent, but this was cut short

by the outbreak of war. While in the United Kingdom, McInnes exhibited at Royal Institute of Oil

Painters in London. On his return in May-June 1915, he held a sellout solo exhibition of his

Impressions of England, Scotland, Morocco, Spain and Victoria at the Athenaeum Gallery.

In 1925, he revisited the United Kingdom and Europe.

In 1916, William B. McInnes replaced Fred McCubbin at the National Gallery of Victoria

School for a time, the teaching position becoming permanent in 1918 after McCubbin’s death.

In 1916, McInnes was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Wynne Prize for

Landscape. During his success career as a landscape painter, he was considered by many to

be the successor of Arthur Streeton, his contemporaries including Penleigh Boyd and Elioth

Gruner. McInnes was admired for his virtuoso technique in oil “a crisp, vigorous and unerring use of

the square brush in depicting air and sunlight”.

In the 1920s, William B. McInnes built a reputation as a portrait painter, receiving numerous

commissions and winning the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Archibald Prize for Portraiture

seven times (1921-1924, 1926, 1930 and 1936). In 1934, McInnes was acting director of the

National Gallery of Victoria and on Bernard Hall’s death in 1934 was appointed Head of Gallery’s

School, resigning the position in 1939. He was also appointed art advisor to the Felton Bequest.

In Melbourne, William B. McInnes exhibited with the Victorian Artists’ Society, Australian Art

Association (serving as its President), and Australian Academy of Art. Interstate, he exhibited at

most of the interstate art societies. Throughout his career, William B. McInnes suffered from

poor health, including congenital heart disorder. He died in 1939 and the following year memorial

exhibitions were held at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

COLLECTIONS: NGV; AGNSW, AGSA; regional art galleries.

PORTRAIT: self-portrait (Art Gallery of New South Wales)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Art; Story of Australian Art; Dictionary of Australian Art; Design

and Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[186] Children in Bush

a.k.a. Lost for the Moment circa 1911; oil on board; 29.5 x 22.0 cm;

signed: “ W.B. McInnes ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: circa 1911 before leaving Melbourne to study in Europe.

PURCHASED: 1995 from Joel’s.

In 1886, Fred McCubbin painted Lost at Box Hill, in 1940, the painting being acquired by the Felton Bequest for the National Gallery of Victoria. It seems that every Australian impressionist painted a similar scene of a child or children alone and lost in the Australian bush.



OFFICER, EDWARD CAIRNS R.B.A.

(“ Artist of the Never Never ”) [ VICTORIA, NEW SOUTH WALES, TASMANIA, NEW ZEALAND, EUROPE, UK; NORTH AFRICA ]

BORN: 19th September 1871 at Murray Downs, Swan Hill, Victoria

DIED: 7th July 1921 at Moonooloo, Macedon, Victoria

Edward Officer was professional painter, art teacher and a grazier, who earned the title

“Artist of the Never Never”. His family operated Kallara Station in northwest New South Wales

for decades, so he was well acquainted with outback landscapes, life and hardships. He was the

third son of Suetonius Henry [1830-1883] and Mary Lillias Rigg [1845-1931; nee Cairns; daughter

of Rev. Adam Cairns] Officer and the grandson of Sir Robert Officer [1800-1879; speaker of

Tasmanian House of Assembly for many years]. On 14th December 1908, Edward Officer married

Grace Eleanor Fitzgerald [1872-1948; daughter of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald [1838-1908] ], the

couple having no children.

Edward Officer was initially educated at Toorak College where Fred McCubbin was the Art

Master who encourage the boy to take up art as a profession. Officer furthered his artistic training

at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1893-1894) under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall,

and at the Melbourne School of Art (1893-1894) under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George

Tucker where he was awarded prizes for his landscapes.

On 4th February 1895, Edward Officer and three other members of his family boarded the

RMS Arcadia at Sydney destine for London. By mid-1895, Edward Officer was furthering his

artistic studies in Paris at the Académie Julien (1895-1896) under Jean Paul Laurens and

Benjamin Constant and later in London with Solomon J. Solomon. During the summer months,

Officer travelled to Etaples where he and American impressionist Max Bohm [1868-1923;

resident in Etaples between 1895 and 1904] organised an exhibition of student art, including

works by Australian impressionists James Quinn and Iso Rae) at Paris-Plage, a fashionable

cafe in the area. Officer later received guidance from the French landscape painter Henri-Joseph

Harpignies [1819-1916] who had been influenced by the Barbizon artists. Between 1895 and

1899, Officer continued to study in Paris and made painting trips to Etaples, Normandy, Britany

and other French scenic spots. In 1896, he exhibited with London’s Royal Institute of Painters in

Oils and between 1897 and 1899 at Paris’s Old and New Salons. In 1899, he was elected to the

Royal Society of British Artists.

In mid-1900, Edward Officer returned to Australia and took over the Melbourne School of

Art with Lilla Reidy as his Assistant. However, by mid-1901, he had settled at the family property

Kallara. In 1903, he was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW’s prestigious Wynne Prize for

Landscape Painting with an outback scene of Glenora, Tasmania. Between 1904 and 1905, he

again toured Europe and also painted in North Africa.

[187] Australian Pastoral

a.k.a. Homestead, Kallara, NSW circa 1907; oil on canvas; 37.0 x 74.5 cm;

signed: “ E. Officer ” (lower left).

Provenance

EXHIBITED: December 1908 exhibition where Edward Officer was dubbed “Artist of the Never Never”.




After his return to Australia, in October 1905, Officer had a bit of a confrontation with the

Selection Committee of Sydney’s Royal Art Society over their rejection of three of his oil

paintings, one which had been hung on the line at the Royal Society of British Artists and had

receive ‘favorable’ notice from London’s art critics. He held an exhibition of landscapes in

December 1908 at the Guild Hall, Melbourne, which included views of Kallara, Normandy,

Tasmania and Victoria, the art critics dubbing him “Artist of the Never Never”.

His pastoral interests lent veracity to his paintings of bush scenes, especially in comparison

to those painted by plein-air artists on day trips from the cities. He drew a solid and grandiose

style from the casual and poetic motifs of the Heidelberg School, retaining the lively surface but

deploying brushstrokes with self-conscious vigour: his most distinctive works bring a lyrical

vividness to the traditional Australian landscape.

After marrying in December 1908, Edward Officer and his wife visited Europe, settling in

Giverny, France for a time and travelling through Greece before returning via New Zealand and

the Pacific Islands. In January 1911, the couple returned to Melbourne where they purchased a

home (named ‘Moonooloo’) at Black Rock. In 1912, he had a highly successful solo exhibition at

the Athenaeum Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria purchasing Woolshed through its Felton

Bequest. During the First World War, Officer was declared medically unfit for military service and

instead performed activities for the Red Cross and donated the proceeds from war-time

exhibitions of his work to the organisation. In 1919, he sold his house at Black Rock and settled

on a property in the Upper Macedon District, which he also named Moonooloo.

In the United Kingdom and Europe, Edward Officer exhibited at London’s Royal Institute of

Painters in Oils and Paris’s Old and New Salons. In Australia, he exhibited in most state art

societies, and was a Council member of the Victorian Artists’ Society. On 30th August 1912,

Edward Officer was a founding member and first President of the Australian Art Association, a

closed organization with membership only by invitation. In 1916, Edward Officer was appointed

a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria, a position he held until his death. On 7th July 1921,

he died of influenza at his property at Macedon, Victoria aged 50-years, leaving an estate valued

at £18,000.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW; NGV; Library of Victoria; Sydney University; a number of regional art

galleries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; CAOP; Castlemaine; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists;

E. Phillips Fox; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney Sunday Times

(3rd February 1895); Table Talk (1st December 1899); Age (1st July 1899; 3rd December 1900); Argus (23rd December

1903; 13th November 1912; 25th June 1914; 12th April 1916; 26th June 1920; 18th October 1920); Melbourne Punch

(18th June 1896); Sydney Morning Herald (4th October 1905; 14th April 1908); Adelaide Gadfly (2nd December 1908);

Herald (8th July 1921); numerous newspaper articles.



PATERSON, JOHN FORD [ Victoria, UK (especially Scotland) ]

BORN: March 1851 at Dundee, Forfarshire, Scotland DIED: 30th June 1912 at Carlton (Melbourne), Victoria

John Ford Paterson was a professional painter, decorator and occasional poultry farmer. He

was a middle child of the ten children of John Ford [1814-1873] and Elizabeth [1813-1883; nee

Stewart] Paterson. His brothers included Charles [1843-1917] and Hugh [1857-1917] Paterson,

who were well-known Melbourne artists and decorators. His cousin was Scottish artist, James

Paterson [1854-1932], a member of the ‘Glasgow Boys, who championed Impressionism in

Scotland. In 1872, the Paterson family migrated to Melbourne. Despite being popular, J. Ford

Paterson never married, and in 1880s, built a family home at 258 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle

Park (St Kilda) which became a meeting place for many of the Heidelberg artists.

Before leaving Scotland, J. Ford Paterson had received his artistic training at Edinburgh’s

Royal Scottish Academy School and exhibited at the Academy while still a teenager. In

Edinburgh, he worked for a time as a decorator, before arriving with his family in Melbourne (1872)

where they established Paterson & Brothers,5 a firm of decorators. In 1875, J. Ford Paterson

returned to Scotland where he continued his studies in landscape painting under George Whitton

Johnstone [1849-1901] RSA and was associated with the Scottish plein air artists known as the

Glasgow Boys including William McTaggert, James Guthrie, James Lawson Wingate and James

Paterson. During this time, J. Ford Paterson exhibited in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and

Manchester. He became well-known and a bit notorious in London where he frequented the

Savage Club.

On 19th November 1884, J. Ford Paterson returned to Melbourne aboard the SS Aberdeen

after ten years in Scotland and England. After his return, J. Ford Paterson established a reputation

as a plein air landscape painter, closely associated with the Heidelberg artists but closer in style

to the Glasgow School, placing him among the important art influencers of the late-19th and early-

20th centuries. In 1900, his Bush Symphony attracted attention when exhibited at the Old Court

Studios in Melbourne and was purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1892, he returned

to Scotland for a visit.

J. Ford Paterson was closely associated with Louis Buvelot and the painters of the Heidelberg

School. His artworks were included in collections of Australian art exhibited in London in 1886

and 1898, attracting favourable comment from R.M. Stevenson and other art critics. In Melbourne,

J. Ford Paterson was a well-known character who was retiring and careless in dress, willingly

commenting on art spontaneously, his popularity suggesting an outgoing personality. He

frequented the artists’ smoke nights in Melbourne and was famed for his jovial Scottish airs and

always brought the house down with his rendition of 'We are nae fu'.

[188] “ Esplanade, St Kilda, 1893 ” 1893; oil on canvas; 39.5 x 49.5 cm;

signed: “ J. Ford Paterson ” (lower right).

Provenance

PAINTED: 1893 and is likely to have been painted from J. Ford Paterson's frontyard at 256 Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda.

PURCHASED: 1996 from Leonard Joel’s

In November 1884, J. Ford Paterson returned to Melbourne aboard the SS Aberdeen after ten years studying and painting in Scotland. After his return, he established a reputation as a plein air landscape painter, closely associated with the Heidelberg artists but closer in style to the Glasgow School, placing him among the important art influencers of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Esplanade, St Kilda was likely to have been painted from Paterson's frontyard after he had designed and built his house at 256 Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda, this residence becoming a popular meeting place for Australia's early impressionist artists. The colours are bolder and brighter than those used by Streeton and Roberts, showing the influence of the Scottish impressionists who in turn were closely aligned with the French Impressionists. J. Ford Paterson had painted with the Glasgow Boys, who were Scotland’s leading impressionist group.

5 Paterson & Brothers monopolized the decoration of wealthy homes and such public buildings as Government House, Melbourne Town Hall, the Parliamentary Library and the Prahran Public Library. In 1888, the Paterson Brothers built the Grosvenor Chambers in Collins Street East as an art centre at a cost of £9000.



In the economic depression of the 1890s, J. Ford Paterson took up poultry farming, but

continued to paint and exhibit. In 1902, he was elected president of the Victorian Artists’ Society,

and in the same year was appointed a trustee (1802-1912) of the Public Library, Museums and

National Gallery of Victoria. In 1912, he died of apoplexy after a long illness.

J. Ford Paterson was a primarily an oil painter of landscapes, but also painted fine

watercolours. His paintings are linked to the Scottish impressionistic style, exhibiting lyrical and

romantic characteristics. Better than any Australian artist, he suggested a sense of mystery in his

pictures. He always insisted that the Australian landscape had

"a new sensation to offer, a new beauty to explain”.

He possessed an in-depth understanding of the Australian countryside, a delicate sense of colour,

sound drawing, and poetical feeling. He was not a prolific painter, but he ranked among the more

important artists working in Australia at the end-19th century.

In Melbourne, J. Ford Paterson with Charles Conder, Tom Roberts and others broke away

from the Victorian Academy of Art to establish the Australian Art Association which in 1888,

amalgamated as the Victorian Artists' Society, serving as its President and also exhibiting with

the Yarra Sculptor Society. He was a Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria (1903-1912). In

Sydney, he was an exhibitor at the N.S.W. Academy of Art, Royal Art Society and the Society of

Artists. In Adelaide, he was an exhibitor at the Royal S.A. Society of Arts' Federal Exhibitions.

In November 1932, the Grosvenor Gallery (107 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne) held "Memorial

Exhibition of Picture" of his artworks, Arthur Streeton commenting

“... a pioneer artist possessing the finest convictions. He painted in his own determined fashion to

please himself,... he never diverted from the path of his own beautiful ideal.”

J. Ford Paterson was short in stature, quiet in manner, thoughtful and kindly.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; NGV; QAG; AGSA; AGWA; Ballarat AG; Bendigo AG;

Castlemaine AG; Newcastle AG.

PORTRAITS: Golden Summer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Artists’ Camps; Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Golden

Summers; Dictionary of Australian Biography; Design & Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[189] Settling the Sheep at Dusk, 1890 1890; watercolour & gouache; 16.5.0 x 21.5 cm;

signed: “ J. Ford Paterson ’90 ” (lower right).

Provenance

PAINTED: 1890 and is related to the oil painting Nearing the Camping Ground in the Art Gallery of NSW’s Collection.


In 1890, Nearing the Camping Ground was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW. Strongly influenced by the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists, J. Ford Paterson brought a colouration and mood to Australian Impressionism that was quite different from Tom Robert’s Heidelberg artists or the students and followers of E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St George Tucker. The Glasgow Boys had been disillusioned with academic painting and favoured contemporary rural scene and worked en plein air directly in front of the subject. They were strongly influenced by the realism of Dutch and French art, especially the Naturalist paintings of Jules Bastien-Lepage [1848-1884], and also by the tonal painting of the American artist James McNeill Whistler.



QUINN, JAMES PETER QUINN [ VICTORIA, UK, EUROPE ]

BORN: 4th December 1869 at Melbourne, Victoria DIED: 18th February 1951 at Prahran, Victoria

James P. Quinn was a professional painter, art teacher and official war artist. He was the third son of John Frederick [1833-1881; born at Antigua, Canary Islands] and Ann Fawcett [1838-1881; née Long] Quinn, James being the fourth of at least six children. John Quinn had been a restaurateur and publican at 60 Bourke Street for several decades and lived at Prahran when he and his wife died in 1881 within months of each other, afterward the children living with guardians. On 29th September 1902 at Putney in England, James Quinn married Blanche Louise Guernier [1882-1961; French art student] who had given birth to his son earlier in the year and gave him a second son two years later. James P. Quinn’s guardians apprenticed the 16-year-old to an engraver and between 1886 and 1903, Quinn studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School under Frederick McCubbin, George Folingsby and Bernard Hall. Quinn was awarded a number of student prizes before being awarded the School’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship in December 1893. On 17th March 1894, James Quinn departed Melbourne aboard the RMS Ophir destined for London but upon arrival proceeded to Paris. Between 1894 and 1901, he continued his artistic training at Académie Julien, Académie Colarossi, Académie Delacluse and Ecole des Beaux Arts under Jean Paul Laurens. He also spent time painting at Etaples with Rupert Bunny, Hilda Rix Nicholas and Iso Rae, and at other French scenic locations. In 1902, Quinn married and moved to London where he exhibited at the Royal Academy and also at Paris’s Old and New Salons, being awarded an ‘Honourable Mention’ in 1912 for his oil painting Mother and Sons. Quinn became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil and Royal Society of Portrait Painters. During World War I, Quinn was appointed an official Australian war artist and in 1919 was appoint an official artist for the Canadian War Records Sections. After the war, he established himself as a portrait painter of the aristocracy, politicians and military. His reputation was occasionally tarnished by his bon vivant lifestyle and his occasional larrikin behavior. His successful London career was ended with the tragic illness and death of his son, Rene, which caused a family breakdown. In 1937, James P. Quinn returned to Melbourne where he became a prominent member of the city’s art community. He opposed the formation of the Australian Academy of Arts (which brought him into conflict with Prime Minister Robert Menzies), was a member of the Savage Club, was appointed to the National Theatre Arts Festival’s steering committee, and undertook numerous portrait commissions. Between 1937 and 1951, he taught art and was President of the Victorian Art School and taught briefly at the National Gallery of Victoria School where his students affectionately called him ‘Jimmy Quinn’. He continued to live a bohemian life often appearing to border on poverty, this often obscuring his importance as a painter.

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; AGSA; QAG; AWM; Ballarat AG; Bendigo AG; Castlemaine AG, Fremantle AG; Geelong AG; Hamilton AG; Shepperton AG.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia Australian Artists; Melbourne Punch (21st December 1893); Herald (16th March 1894); Dictionary of Australian Biography; Design and Art Australia Online; numerous newspaper clippings.

[190] “ View of Heidelberg ” 1901; oil on canvas board; 25.5 x 33.5 cm;

signed: “ J. Quinn ” (lower right).

Provenance

PAINTED: 1901 while living at Charterisville before returning to Europe and marrying; exhibited in Australia after return his in 1934 for 15 and later 25 guineas;

PURCHASED: 2008 from William’s.

In December 1893, James Peter Quinn was awarded the National Gallery of Victoria’s prestigious Travelling Scholarship, which enabled him to further his artistic studies in Paris and London. Though best-known for his portraits, Quinn developed a landscape style closely associated with the French Impressionists. While James Quinn’s portraits are quite academic in their approach, his landscapes demonstrate an impressionistic flair that he adopted in the Victorian artists’ camps in the late-1880s and early-1890s and later continued to develop while panting in Estaples alongside Rupert Bunny, E. Phillips Fox and Iso Rae in France.



ROSE, HERBERT GEORGE [ Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand, UK, Europe, North Africa, Middle East; India ]

BORN: 1st February 1889 at Malvern, Victoria DIED: 15TH January 1937 at Delhi, India

Herbert Rose was a professional painter, printmaker and photographer. He was the eldest of the two sons of George [1861-1942; photographer] and Elisabeth Willis [1859-1929; nee

Wickham] Rose. His father was a pioneer photographer in Melbourne and the founder of the Rose Stereograph Company where Herbert assisted in the photographic department.

Herbert Rose received his artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1913-

1919) under Bernard Hall, Fred McCubbin and William B. McInnes, being award a number of

prizes. Between 1924 and 1926, Rose travelled through the United Kingdom, Europe and North

Africa where he continued his studies in London and Paris for three years. Herbert Rose travelled extensively (more than 38 countries) taking pictures for his family’s

company, as well as painting, drawing and etching the places he visited. On 24th February 1924, Rose arrived in London aboard SS Hobson Bay after travelling and painting in New Zealand. On 22nd September 1926, he arrived in Melbourne from London aboard SS Esperance Bay, after

two-and-a-half year furthering his artistic training and painting in England, France, Italy and North Africa. On 26th September 1932, Rose returned to Melbourne aboard the SS Ormonde after

spending three years travelling and painting in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and North Africa. He was traveling in Europe again by the end-1934 and died in the following January on his way back to Australia. He had exhibited at the Royal Academy (1932, 1933, 1935 and 1936),

New Salon (1935, 1936) and in the United States. In August 1927, March 1930, November 1932, June 1937 and May 1952 (post-humorously), he held highly successful solo exhibitions at the Sedon Gallery in Melbourne.

Herbert Rose produced more than 50 intaglio prints primarily using the etching and drypoint techniques. His images were mainly cityscapes (Melbourne and Sydney) and foreign scenes

(France, Italy, Spain, North Africa and the Middle East). While in Paris, he became friendly with a group of Americans, who promoted his paintings and prints in the United States. In 1921, he was a foundation member of the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society, serving as its Honorary

Melbourne Secretary (1922-1924). Herbert Rose was the “Painter of the Picturesque” and “Painter of Sunlight”, sunshine

and effects of light fascinated him, and he faithfully painted the sunlit villages, towns and

landscapes that he witnessed on his travels. He travelled extensively touring and painting in Europe, United Kingdom, America, North Africa, Syria, Persia and India. While travelling by motor

vehicle from Paris to India on a sketching and painting trip, he contracted diphtheria in Delhi and died at the age of 47 years. He was a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society (1915-1933).

COLLECTIONS: NGA; AGNSW; NGV; AGSA; LaTrobe Library; and regional art galleries.

PORTRAIT: photo (Table Talk (17th December 1929); Bulletin (11th August 1927); Caricature (Star 28th April 1934).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Design and Art

Australia Online; numerous newspaper articles.

[191] “ Summer Pastoral at Harrietville

(near Mount Buffalo, Victoria) ” circa 1910; oil on canvas board; 24.5 x 33.5 cm;

signed: “ Herbert Rose ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: circa 1910;


Herbert Rose was the “Painter of the Picturesque” and “Painter of Sunlight”, sunshine and effects of light fascinated him, and he faithfully painted the sunlit villages, towns and landscapes that he witnessed on his travels. He offered a more refined style than the Heidelberg School or even followers of E. Phillips Fox. Herbert Rose faithfully painted the sunlit villages, towns and landscapes that he witnessed on his travels. He travelled extensively touring and painting in Victoria, Europe, United Kingdom, United States, North Africa, Syria, Persia and India.



TAYLOR-GHEE, ROBERT EDGAR [ Victoria ]

BORN: 23rd September 1869 at Ballarat West, Victoria

DIED: 10th July 1951 at Kalorama (Dandenong Ranges), Victoria

Robert Taylor Ghee was a professional painter, art teacher and later optician. He was the

only child of John [1834-1896; metallurgist] and Rosanna [1827-1911; nee Edgar] Taylor Ghee,

who had been Irish immigrants. On 7th December 1914, Robert married Ethel Rose Donne [1888-

1916] and on 1st May 1923, married Sophia Wehle [1892-1981], both couples having no children.

He lived at the Melbourne suburbs of Healesville (1895-1905), Richmond (1905-1911) and

Toorak (from 1912). From circa 1912, he commenced a career as an optician, but continued to

paint and exhibit, retiring from optometry in 1939 after a heart attack.

Robert Taylor Ghee received his initial artistic training at the Ballarat School of Mines and

Industry (1886-1887) before enrolling at the National Gallery of Victoria School (1889-1892) under

Fred McCubbin, George Folingsby and Lindsay Bernard Hall, being awarded a number of prizes.

Here Taylor Ghee became good friends with David Davies and a number of the other Heidelberg

School artists. Between 1910 and 1930, he held a number of solo exhibitions of his paintings at

the Block Arcade, Queens Hall and Athenaeum Gallery on Collins Street. From 1895, he taught

painting and drawing in Healesville.

[192] “ South Wharf, Melbourne ” before 1925; oil on board; 18.0 x 28.0 cm;

signed: “ R. Taylor Ghee ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: before 1925;

EXHIBITED: August 1925 at Solo Exhibition in Queen’s Hall Gallery on Collins Street” (Argus 25th August 1925) “bold in treatment and interesting in colour schemes”.


[193] “ Through the Forest, Fernshaw, Victoria ”

a.k.a. Wool Wagon through the Giants, Gippsland

1908; oil on canvas; 29.5 x 45.5 cm;

signed: “ R. Taylor-Ghee ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: 1908; related to Hauling the Logs in the National Gallery of Victoria Collection.

PURCHASED: 1993 from Goodman’s.



Robert Taylor Ghee was a follower of the Heidelberg School of Impressionism. He painted

almost exclusively in oil and even though his canvases were usually small in size he commanded

generally high prices compared to other leading artists of the period. In 1903, his artistic talent

was officially recognized when the National Gallery of Victoria purchased his impressionist oil

painting, Donnelly's Creek, Healesville, and acquired three other of his oils for its permanent

collection ( Hauling the Logs, From Duke’s Dock and Evening at Hazeldene, Church Street,

Richmond ).

Robert Taylor Ghee was an impressionist oil painter of bush genre, cityscapes, river-harbour

scenes and still-lifes. His palette was generally more restrained than the Heidelberg School

artists, usually using somber colours. His painting, Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1905, invites

comparisons with Tom Roberts' painting of the same subject.

In Melbourne, Robert Taylor Ghee was a member of the Victorian Artists' Society (from 1895)

and Melbourne Art Club. In September 1995, he was honoured by a retrospective exhibition of

his art at the Old Treasury Building (Melbourne).

COLLECTIONS: NGV; M&AGNT; La Trobe Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Design and Art Australia; Ballarat Star (10th July 1886; 19th

July 1887; 21st March 1912); Age (13th November 1889; 13th November 1890); Argus (13th November 1889; 18th November 1891; 26th August 1925); Telegraph (13th November 1890); Table Talk (14th November 1890); Healesville Guardian (17th My 1895); Herald (17th November 1895); Fitzroy City Press (13th February 1903); Australasian (10th September 1910).

[194] Australian Bush Camp before 1910; oil on board; 20.5 x 29.5 cm;

signed: “ R.T. Ghee ” (lower left).

Provenance

PAINTED: before 1910 around Healesville.

EXHIBITED: “Picturesque Healesville” September 1910 at solo exhibition at Block Builds on Elizabeth Street (Herald (13th September 1910))

“The artist paints the many phases of bushland life about the homestead, the mail coach seen through the trees, and drover following his sheep through a cloud of dust.”




TINDALL, CHARLES EPHRAIM SMITH [ New South Wales, UK (especially Scotland), China, Japan ]

BORN: 10th July 1863 at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland DIED: 8th July 1951 at Mona Vale (Sydney), New South Wales

Charles E.S. Tindall was a professional painter (primarily a watercolourist), lithographer, illustrator and art teacher. He was the youngest of the seven children of James [1824-1913] and Jean [1822-1879] Tindall. In circa 1886, he married Mary [-], the couple having two daughters ((Agnes) Nessie [circa 1887-1976; Mrs Sydney B. Lloyd; an Australian artist) and Phyllis [1898-1950; Mrs Oswald Piper]) and two sons (Murdoch Charles [1889-1943] and Conrad Lindsay [1892-1948; lost leg during World War I]). In 1887, Charles Tindall immigrated to Australia, his wife Mary and daughter Agnes arriving in August 1888 aboard RMS Iberia.

Having initially trained as a lithographer in Glasgow, Charles E.S. Tindall enrolled at Sydney Technical College (1887-1888) under Lucien Henry but by 1889, had transferred to the Art Society of NSW’s classes (1889-1892) under Alfred P. Daplyn, winning a number of prizes. Tindall claimed to have had his first lessons (1887-1888) in colour from Charles Conder and was strongly influenced by British watercolourist Henry S. Hopwood. In September 1889, Tindall was elected a member of the Art Society of NSW, serving on its Council (1896-1922) and as an officer of its Brush Club [1888-1897]. From 1896, Tindall presented art classes in watercolour painting and by the 1920s offered lessons in marine painting.

Charles E.S. Tindall was best known for his watercolours of Sydney Harbour, other marine images and ships portraits (many in oil), but also painted fine watercolour landscapes. In 1898, A Westerly – Circular Quay, Sydney was exhibited at the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Grafton Galleries, and in 1923, at the Exhibition of Australian Art at the Royal Academy. In 1902, the Art Gallery of NSW purchased his Gone are the days, the first of seven of his watercolours to enter the collection.

On 8th July 1903, Charles E.S. Tindall boarded the Empire for Japan via Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, exhibiting paintings of this trip in September 1904. In 1936, he visited his homeland of Scotland and in 1939, again visited the United Kingdom, arriving at London aboard the SS Automedon on the 10th June 1939, but departed on the 14th November (10 weeks after outbreak of World War II) aboard the SS Largs Bay. In August 1923, Sydney’s prominent watercolourists, including Joseph H. Bennett, Alfred J. Daplyn, Albert Henry Fullwood, Sydney Long, Benjamin E. Minns, Martin Stainforth and Charles Tindall established the Australian Watercolour Institute [1923-present]. At the its first exhibition in 1924, Tindall exhibited fifteen works, mainly of Sydney Harbour and the Snowy Mountains and continued with the group until his retirement in 1945. In February 1921, December 1927 and September 1928, he had solo exhibitions at Anthony Hordern Gallery and Rubery Bennett’s Australian Fine Art Gallery. in 1928, he was appointed Associate of the Royal Art Society, and in 1935 he was promoted to Fellow of the Royal Art Society.

COLLECTION: AGNSW; Australian National Maritime Museum; Aberdeen Art Gallery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolour Painters; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Story of Australian Art;

Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney Morning Herald (23rd January 1888; 30th July 1891); Daily Telegraph (8th January 1891; 7th January 1892); Evening News (8th July 1903); numerous newspaper articles.

[195] “ Whale Beach (Sydney) ” circa 1918; watercolour; 27.0 x 35.0 cm;

signed: “ C.E.S. Tindall ” (lower left).

PROVENANCE

PURCHASED: 1990 private collector.

Charles E.S. Tindall was primarily a watercolourist, one of a group of Sydney-based artists who relied on watercolour sales instead of oil paintings. Tindall claimed to have his first art lessons from Charles Conder and was a member of the Art Society of NSW’s Brush Club [1888-1897] along with Julian R. Ashton, Albert Henry Fullwood, Livingston Hopkins, Henry S. Hopwood (British watercolourist), George W. Lambert, William Lister Lister, Sydney Long, Frank P. Mahony, G.V.F. Mann, Benjamin E. Minns, David H. Souter, Percy Spence, David G. Reid, John W. Tristram and John S. Watkins; Marion Eliza Drewe (a.k.a. Drew) being the only lady of the nearly 100 artist membership. After the split between the Royal Art Society and Society of Artists, the Brush Club faded and was finally wound up in November 1897.



WATKINS, JOHN SAMUEL (A.K.A. ‘ WATTIE ’) [ New South Wales, Europe, United Kingdom ]

BORN: 8th November 1866 at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England

DIED: 25th August 1942 at Woollahra (Sydney), New South Wales

John S. Watkins was a professional painter, art teacher and photographer. He was the eldest

of the five children of Joseph William [1842-1909; iron foundry owner] and Hannah [1846-1943;

nee Fowler; family of yeoman farmers] Watkins. In May 1916, he married Emily (Emmie) Griffin

Cave [1890-after 1976] at Marrickville (Sydney), the couple having no children. After marrying,

the Watkins lived at 7 Pockley Ave, Roseville, but after his retirement in 1938 the couple moved

to a house at 141 Queen Street, Woollahra.

In Wolverhampton, John S. Watkins initially studied at Dudley Road School and later

attended the local branch of the South Kensington School of Art, where despite his youth was

allegedly appointed to an art teaching position. In 1882 (aged 16-years), he immigrated to

Brisbane, where he worked for a short time before proceeding to Sydney where he worked as a

photographer. He continued his artistic training at the Royal Art Society School (1890-1893) under

Julian R. Ashton, Alfred J. Daplyn and

Frank P. Mahony and where he was

awarded 2nd Prize Nude Study from

Life (1891 & 1892), 1st Prize in Antique

(1893), Life Class (1893) and Painting

and Drawing (1893).

[NAS] “ In the Pink ” oil on board; circa 1900; 36.0 x 32.0cm;

signed: “ J.S. Watkins ” (lower left).

Provenance Comment: model was Watkins’ wife.

Purchased: 1990 at Sotheby’s.

[196] Path to Harbour

a.k.a. Blue Harbour, Sydney circa 1910; watercolour; 27.0 x 17.0 cm;

signed: “ J.S. Watkins ” (lower left).

Provenance

PURCHASED: 1992 private collector.



In 1892, John S. Watkins was elected a member of the Royal Art Society, the following year being elected to its Council and Vice-President of its Brush Club. However in 1895, he joined the

breakaway Society of Artists and was immediately elected to its Council. In 1901, Watkins deserted the Society of Artists a year before its last exhibition and rejoined the now Royal Art

Society, being immediately elected to its Council (1902-1939). When the Society of Artists reformed in 1907, Watkins remained loyal to the Royal Art Society, becoming a Fellow in 1922 and Vice-President in 1924.

On 21st April 1894, John S. Watkins departed aboard the RMS Orient for London but proceeded to Paris where he studied at Académie Colarossi and later at London. In June 1895, he returned to Sydney where he shared a studio in the Beaumont Chambers with Sydney Long.

In 1898, Watkins had nine artworks selected for the Exhibition of Australian Art at London’s Grafton Gallery. In 1903, his oil Delores was purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW, although this

work was later exchanged for The Mirror (1906). In 1898, John S. Watkins established the Watkins Art School [1898-1939] at his studio at 88

King Street (floor above Julian Ashton’s Art School) and within a short time had more than twenty

students. Watkins taught drawing and painting, as well as a life and outdoor painting class. Over

the following forty years, he relocated a further five times around the northern parts of central

Sydney, including 26 Hunter Street (1899-1908), corner of Jamieson and George Streets (1911-1920); 38a Pitt Street (1921-1923), 56 Margaret Street (1924-1936) and 76 Pitt Street (1937-

1938). His School continued to grow, and he employed a number of assistants, including Alan D. Baker. By the time of his retirement in the late-1930s, he had taught approximately 5,000 students, including John Muir Auld, Normand H. Baker, John Banks, John Eldershaw, Henry

Garlick, Henry Hanke, James R. Jackson, Walter L. Jardine, Sir Erik Langker, Fred Leist, Peter H. Lindsay and Frank W. Mahony, William E. Pidgeon and John Salvana.

During World War I, John S. Watkins designed a recruiting poster titled Women of

Queensland – send a man to-day to fight for you (1917). In 1932, he was appointed Trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW and later a member of its Marshall Bequest Committee, a trust that

purchased Australian art for the Art Gallery of NSW. John S. Watkins was an all-round artist, proficient in oils, watercolours, pastel, charcoal and

pencil. During June 1943, a loan memorial exhibition of sixty-two works was held at the National

Art Gallery of NSW. Perhaps inspired by fellow art teacher Julian R. Ashton, Watkins began to write his memoirs, the whereabouts of this unfinished document remains unknown. After years of poor health, Watkins died at his Woollahra home on 25th August 1942. In April 1976, his widow

sold her collection at the Bloomfield Galleries, Paddington, Sydney. A portrait of Emily Watkins purchased from the 1976 exhibition was later sold at Christies, Melbourne (2nd April 2003, lot 51)

for $29,375, a record price for his work.

COLLECTIONS: AGNSW.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Watercolor Painters; Story of Australian Art; Encyclopedia of Australian Artists;

Design and Art Australia Online; Sydney Morning Herald (7th January 1892; 21st April 1894; 15th June 1895; 12th

August 1895); Daily Telegraph (23rd April 1894); Brisbane Courier (25th June 1932); numerous newspaper articles.

[197] Old Pymble, Sydney Oil on board; circa 1900; 28.5 x 38.5cm;

signed: lower right.

Provenance




WHYTE, DUNCAN MACGREGOR [New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, UK, Europe, USA & Canada ]

BORN: May 1866 at Oban, Innis Cail, Argyllshire, Scotland DIED: 3rd December 1953 at Argyllshire, Scotland

Duncan MacGregor Whyte was a professional painter and art teacher. He was the youngest of six children of Rev. Charles [1817-1899] and Elizabeth [1828-1899; nee Farquharson] Whyte. He was married to Mary Bernard [1870-1946; an artist], the couple having two sons and living in Oban, Scotland. In the early-1900’s, he built ‘The Studio’ at Balephuill on the Isle of Tiree (off west coast of Scotland), living there with his wife who had studied at Paris’s Académie Delecuse under Georges Callot and Paul Delance and was a highly regarded artist in her own right.

Duncan MacGregor Whyte received his artistic training at Glasgow before studying at the State School at Antwerp (circa mid-1890s) under Pieter van Havermaet [1834-1897] and at Paris’s Académie Delecluse (late-1890s) under Auguste Joseph Delecluse [1855-1928], Georges Callot [1857-1903] and Paul Delance [1848-1924]. Whyte received numerous portrait commissions that enabled him to travel widely. From 1900, he lived in Glasgow and Isle of Tiree. On 18th November 1911, he departed Scotland aboard the SS Caledonia for New York via Moville (Ireland), arriving on 27th November 1911, leaving his wife and family behind in Oban, Scotland. He was on his way to Toronto, Canada, where he worked primarily as a portrait painter.

On 10th May 1913, Duncan MacGregor Whyte arrived in Sydney from Vancouver (Canada) and Hawaii aboard the RMS Marama, his plans being to visit his four brothers. Within two months, he was advertising ‘Outdoor Sketching Classes’ in Sydney and is known to have painted around Coogee. The following year, he travelled to St George, Queensland where he stayed for two years. In September 1916, he travelled to Perth via Sydney, staying for nearly five year. In Perth, he was associated with James Linton and John Horgan and received numerous portrait commissions including Captain Hugo Throssell, the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross during World War I, and Dr. Riley, the Archbishop of Perth. Whyte also taught ‘Outdoor Painting Classes in Oils and Watercolours’ at Leadersville (Perth). In September 1916 and March 1919, he held solo exhibitions at St George House and Webb & Webb Gallery in Perth. He was known to love swimming and diving, and he had a reputation as being a bit of a bohemian. While Whyte was well-known as a portrait painter, he also produced numerous beach scenes, landscapes and paintings of everyday life that are highly prized today. In Perth, he was a member of the West Australian Society of Arts, serving as its Vice President and President.

On 21st March 1921, Duncan MacGregor Whyte arrived in London from Perth aboard the SS Ormonde having come via Fremantle, Colombo, Suez, Port Said, Toulon, Gibraltar, Plymouth and Devon. In the United Kingdom, he exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours, Royal Academy (London), Walker Gallery and the Paris Salons. In 1947, he was awarded the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts' prestigious James Torrance Memorial Prize for his painting, The Last Rays of the Day.

COLLECTIONS: AGWA; Robert Holmes à Court Collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Encyclopedia of Australian Artists; Sydney Morning Herald (26th July 1913); West Australian

(27th September 1916); WA Sunday Times (15th October 1916); numerous newspaper articles.

[199] The Road Home circa 1914; oil on canvas; 44.0 x 36.0 cm;

signed: “ McG Whyte ” (lower right).

PROVENANCE

PAINTED: circa 1914 during Duncan MacGregor Whyte’s ten years in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.


On 10th May 1913, Duncan MacGregor Whyte arrived in Sydney from Vancouver (Canada) and Hawaii, planning to visit his four brothers. Within two months, he was advertising ‘Outdoor Sketching Classes’ in Sydney, but the following year, he travelled to St George, Queensland where he stayed for two years. In September 1916, he travelled to Perth, staying for nearly five year. In Perth, he was associated with James Linton and John Horgan and received numerous portrait commissions Whyte taught ‘Outdoor Painting Classes in Oils and Watercolours’ at Leadersville (Perth). While Whyte was well-known as a portrait painter, he also produced numerous beach scenes, landscapes and paintings of everyday life that are highly prized today. In 1921, he returned to Scotland.

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