Margery Withers

Born in England to Fanny Flinn and noted Australian landscape artist Walter Withers, Margery was brought back to Australia to live at Charterisville estate at East Ivanhoe, Victoria.[1] Her father worked as art master at various schools in Melbourne such as Presbyterian Ladies College, Ruyton Girls School, Melbourne Grammar School, and Emma Bartlett Cook's Private Girl's School.[1] She studied art at the National Gallery School and the Working Men's College.[2]

While at the National Gallery School Withers won nine prizes and was awarded a special prize of £50 by the National Gallery Trustees for her picture "The Letter."[3]

Withers was engaged to fellow student, World War I soldier John Martin Paterson, who dedicated a sketch of a kitten he drew while there to her.[4] He was killed in action at Villers-Bretonneux in August 1918.[4]

Withers painted figures and landscapes in both oil and watercolours, and taught art at Swinburne College for several years.[5] Her work has been described as "finding charm in every shadow and light under her brush."[6]

She painted at Tawonga,[7] Diamond Creek, and Heidelberg,[8] and exhibited with the Victorian Artists Society[9] and Twenty Melbourne Painters Society.[10] She also showed with artists such as Polly Hurry, Jo Sweatman, and A.M.E. Bale.[11]

Withers has works in collections of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Castlemaine Art Museum, the University of Western Australia, and State Library Victoria. Her portrait of her second husband and fellow artist Richard McCann was shortlisted for the Archibald Prize in 1939.[12]

• 

  Miss Margery Withers, The Herald, 1928
  1910, Early Eltham looking towards Montmorency
• ca. 1913–1922, Nude study of a young woman
• ca. 1913–1922, A Warrandyte Farm, near Frank Crozier's
• 1920, Kit Turner's Cottage, Eltham
• 1920, Souter's College, Eltham
• 1920, Studley Park
• ca. 1920–1940, Christ Church, South Yarra
• 1924, Bridge and piers
• 1932, Yarra floods and North Balwyn from Ivanhoe-Boulevard
• 1935, Portrait of unidentified young woman
• 1945, Orchard country, North Eltham

• Walter and Margery Withers, Collins House, 1915[13]
• [[File:Paintings by Margery Withers.jpg|thumb|583x583px|Catalogue of paintings by Margery Withers, 1922 [State Library Victoria]]]Walter and Margery Withers (watercolours), Athenaeum Hall, 1916[14]
• Solo exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1919[15]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Hall, 1921[16]
• Group exhibition (Margery, Nancy & Meynell Withers), Athenaeum Hall, 1922[17]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Hall, 1923[18]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Hall, 1925[19]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters 8th annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1926[20]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Hall, 1927[21]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters 10th annual exhibition, Athenaeum Hall, 1928[22]
• Solo exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1929[23]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1929[24]
• Exhibition by Mr Ernest Buckmaster, Athenaeum Gallery, 1930[25]
• Solo exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1932[26]
• Warrandyte Art Exhibition, Penleigh Boyd Studio, 1932[27]
• Rookwood Gallery opening, 1933[28]
• Heidelberg Art Show, 1934[29]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters 16th annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1934[30]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1935[31]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters 18th annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1936[32]
• Heidelberg "Inspiration of Landscape Art" exhibition, Heidelberg Town Hall, 1937[33]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1938[11]
• Heidelberg 3rd art exhibition, Ivanhoe Town Hall, 1940[34]
• Launceston Art Society (Twenty Melbourne Painters), Queen Victoria Museum, 1943[35]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters 26th annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery, 1944[36]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1945[37]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1947[38]
• Twenty Melbourne Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1948[39]

• Papers of Margery Withers, ca. 1900-1966 [manuscript], State Library Victoria
• Margery Withers: Australian art and artists file, State Library Victoria

• images of Withers' art on Invaluable