Ethel Spowers

Ethel Louise Spowers (11 July 1890 – 5 May 1947) was an Australian artist associated with the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. She was especially known for her linocuts, which are included in the collections of major Australian and British Art Galleries. [1][2] [3] She was also a founder of the Contemporary Art Society, promoting modern art in Australia.[4]

Ethel Spowers
Ethel Spowers (photographer unknown)
Born
Ethel Louise Spowers

(1890-06-11)June 11, 1890
South Yarra, Melbourne
Died5 May 1947(1947-05-05) (aged 56)
EducationNational Gallery Art School, Melbourne
Grosvenor School of Modern Art, London
Notable work
Wet Afternoon (1930)
StyleGrosvenor School (linocut sub-category)
MovementModernism

Early life

Ethel Louise Spowers was born on 11 July 1890, in South Yarra, Melbourne, daughter of a New Zealand father and a London-born mother. Her father, William Spowers, owned a newspaper. Spowers trained as an artist in Melbourne, with some study in Paris as well (most notably with André Lhote).[1] She was educated at Melbourne Girls Grammar School in Melbourne. Wealthy and cultured, her family owned a mansion in St Georges Road, Toorak. Ethel continued to live there as an adult and maintained a studio above the stables.[1]

Career

Spowers had her first solo exhibit in Melbourne at age 30, showing fairy-tale illustrations as those of Ethel Jackson Morris.[5] Two further solo shows (1925 and 1927) at the New Gallery, Melbourne, confirmed her reputation as an illustrator of fairy tales, though by then she was also producing woodcuts and linocuts inspired by Japanese art and covering a broader range of subjects.[6]

Her style and artistic focus changed in 1928–29 when she studied linocut printmaking with Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London.[7] She was one of several Australian women artists at the Grosvenor School, including Dorrit Black and Eveline Winifred Syme.[8] Further classes followed in 1931, during which Spowers absorbed modernist ideas of rhythmic design and composition from the principal of Grosvenor School Iain Macnab.[1]

In the 1930s her linocuts attracted critical attention for their bold, simplified forms, rhythmic sense of movement, distinctive use of colour and humorous observation of everyday life, particularly the world of children. They were regularly shown at The Redfern Gallery, London.[1]

Spowers mounted an exhibition of Australian linocuts in Melbourne in 1930. In 1932, she became a founder of the Contemporary Art Society, promoting modern art in Australia.[4]

Selected Works
  • Yallourn (1933)[9]
  • Bank holiday (1935)[10]
  • Resting models (1933)[11]
  • Wet afternoon (1930)[12]
  • Gust of Wind (1931)[13] Bank Holiday (1935)[13]

Spowers died on 5 May 1947, after a long illness from cancer, in Melbourne, age 56.[1] She was buried at Fawkner Memorial Park.

Legacy

A children's book illustrated by Spowers, Cuthbert and the Dogs, was published the year after her death.[14] Editions of the book are still available from antique book vendors.[6]

The Art Gallery NSW holds several of her works, some from an early period of realistic illustrations, others showing the marked influence of her time at the Grosvenor School.[3]

The National Gallery of Australia holds 47 of her prints executed in the 1920s and 1930s.[2]

Her prints are also held in the National Gallery of Victoria and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria.[1]

The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum purchased a number of her linocuts.[1]

Spowers apparently destroyed some of her original works late in life;[1] the surviving prints are now especially valued by collectors. In 2011, Ethel Spowers' Wet Afternoon sold in New York City for £51,650, much higher than any of her previous works had brought at auction.[15] The next year, Spowers' The Gust of Wind more than doubled that mark, selling for £114,050 in April 2012, a record price for any Grosvenor School print up to that date.[16][17]

References
  1. Stephen Coppel, "Ethel Louise Spowers," Australian Dictionary of Biography 16(2002).
  2. "NGA collection search results". artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  3. Works by Ethel Spowers, Art Gallery NSW, http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=spowers-ethel
  4. Helen Topliss, Modernism and Feminism: Australian Women Artists, 1900-1940 (Sydney: Craftsman House 1996).
  5. "The Fairy Dance by Ethel SPOWERS on Rare Illustrated Books". Rare Illustrated Books. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  6. "Cuthbert and the Dogs by SPOWERS, E.L.: Very Good Hardcover (1948) First Edition. | Michael Treloar Booksellers ANZAAB/ILAB". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  7. "Modern Australian Women: Works from a Private Collection". National Gallery Victoria. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  8. Stephen Coppel, "Claude Flight and his Australian Pupils," Print Quarterly2(4)(December 1985): 263-283.
  9. "The works, Yallourn | Ethel SPOWERS". National Gallery Victoria. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  10. "Bank holiday". National Gallery Victoria. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  11. "Resting models". National Gallery Victoria. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  12. "Wet afternoon | Ethel SPOWERS | NGV | View Work". National Gallery Victoria. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  13. "NGA collection search results". artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  14. Juliet O'Conor, Bottersnikes and Other Lost Things: A Celebration of Australian Illustrated Children's Books (Miegunyah Press 2009).
  15. Colin Gleadell, "Little Known 1920s Artwork Surprises Christie's Experts," Telegraph (3 May 2011).
  16. Nicholas Forrest, "Australian Artist Ethel Spowers Claims Grosvenor School Crown," Blouin ArtInfo (2 May 2012).
  17. Nicholas Forrest, "Six Rare Ethel Spowers Prints Head to Auction in London," Blouin ArtInfo (1 April 2013).
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