Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors

The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors is the oldest surviving women's art group in Australia.

Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors
Formation1902
HeadquartersMelbourne, Australia
Websitemswps.com.au

History

The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (MSWPS) began in 1902 as a monthly gathering of eight former students of Frederick McCubbin from the National Gallery School which members called the Students' Art Club. It is known that among these founders were Daisy Stone, Tina Gowdie, Annie Gates, Kate Allan, Ella Thorn, Henrietta Maria Gulliver and a Miss Stock (otherwise unidentified, who died in 1906).[1] In 1905 they added the indigenous word "Woomballano" (meaning either 'everlasting beauty' or 'search for beauty') to identify their Art Club, changing its title to The Women's Art Club in 1913 then to the Melbourne Society of Women Painters in 1930. The present designation was adopted in 1954.[1]

Many of its early members were plein air painters and identified with the Heidelberg School, which was regarded widely as a male group but which involved many women. The interest in the decorative arts at the opening of the twentieth century attracted other members who were significant craftspeople. By the 1920s, the Society was assimilating the generation of professional women artists emerging from the Melbourne National Gallery School, with significant women artists, representatives of both the Meldrum tonal school and modernism, being invited to join. The Society was less overtly feminist than its counterpart The Sydney Society of Women Painters (later named Women’s Industrial Art Society) which was founded in 1910 in reaction to the discrimination of male-dominated juries of art institutions and societies.[2] During the Second World War the MSWPS opened volunteer headquarters at Grosvenor Chambers (9 Collins Street, Melbourne) where they made and sold handcrafts and art to raise money for the war effort.[3]

MSWPS has met at heritage-listed Ola Cohn House 41-43 Gipps Street, East Melbourne since the sculptor's death in 1964. She was President of the Society from 1948 to 1964.

Notable members

Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors members included:

Selected artworks

References

  1. Juliette Peers (1993), More than just gumtrees: a personal, social and artistic history of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors in association with Dawn Revival Press, ISBN 978-0-646-16033-7
  2. Gaze, Delia; Mihajlovic, Maja; Shrimpton, Leanda (1997), Dictionary of women artists, Fitzroy Dearborn, p. 126, ISBN 978-1-884964-21-3
  3. Taylor, Alex; State Library of Victoria (Melbourne) (2007), Perils of the studio : inside the artistic affairs of bohemian Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, p. 25, ISBN 978-1-74097-149-2
  4. Hammond V and Peers J 1992, Completing the picture: women artists and the Heildelberg era, Artmoves, Hawthorn East, pp. 32-33.
  5. Joyce McGrath, 'Bale, Alice Marian Ellen (1875–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bale-alice-marian-ellen-5113/text8543, published in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  6. "Alice Marion Ellen Bale :: biography at". daao.org.au. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  7. Ken Scarlett, 'Baskerville, Margaret Francis Ellen (1861–1930)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baskerville-margaret-francis-ellen-5153/text8637, published in hardcopy 1979, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  8. Forwood, Gillian; Bryans, Lina (2003), Lina Bryans : rare modern, 1909-2000, Miegunyah Press, ISBN 978-0-522-85037-6
  9. Peers, Juliet. "Fox, Ethel (Carrick)". In Dictionary of Women Artists: Artists, J-Z, ed. Delia Gaze. pp. 545-46.
  10. Woollacott, Angela (2001), To try her fortune in London: Australian women, colonialism, and modernity, Oxford University Press, p. 210, ISBN 978-0-19-514268-6
  11. Ritchie, John; Langmore, Diane (2000), Australian dictionary of biography. Volume 15, 1940-1980, Kem-Pie, Melbourne University Press, p. 261, ISBN 978-0-522-84219-7
  12. Speck, Catherine (2014), Beyond the battlefield : women artists of the two World Wars, London Reaktion Books, p. 161, ISBN 978-1-78023-374-1
  13. "Maude Edith Victoria Fleay, biography at Design and Art Australia Online". www.daao.org.au. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  14. "Frances Margot Freeman, biography at Design and Art Australia Online". www.daao.org.au. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  15. "May George :: biography at". daao.org.au. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  16. Keith Bradbury, 'Grant, Gwendolyn Muriel (1877–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grant-gwendolyn-muriel-10342/text18309, published in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  17. Alisa Bunbury, 'Mahood, Marguerite Henriette (1901–1989)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mahood-marguerite-henriette-14706/text25849, published in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  18. Tom Frame, 'Paterson, Esther (1892–1971)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/paterson-esther-10701/text18233, published in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  19. Jennifer Phipps, 'Plante, Ada May (1875–1950)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/plante-ada-may-8062/text14067, published in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  20. Sue Backhouse, 'Rodway, Florence Aline (1881–1971)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rodway-florence-aline-8251/text14449, published in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  21. State Library of Victoria, Aitken, Richard (2007) The Art of the Collection: Issue 94 of Miegunyah Press series. Melbourne University Publishing
  22. Geoffrey Serle, 'Serle, Dora Beatrice (1875–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/serle-dora-beatrice-8555/text14725, published in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  23. Anne Duke, 'Southern, Clara (1860–1940)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/southern-clara-8590/text14999, published in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  24. Stephen Coppel, 'Syme, Eveline Winifred (1888–1961)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/syme-eveline-winifred-11814/text21139, published in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  25. Mary Alice Lee, 'Traill, Jessie Constance Alicia (1881–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/traill-jessie-constance-alicia-8840/text15511, published in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  26. Juliet Peers, 'Tweddle, Isabel May (1875–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tweddle-isabel-may-8891/text15617, published in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 17 November 2014.
  27. Mary Alice Lee, 'Wilson, Dora Lynnell (1883–1946)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wilson-dora-lynnell-9134/text16113, published in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 17 November 2014.
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