Lot 12

The Collection of David Angeloro
Davidson Auctions, Sydney, 21 July 2019, lot 138
Private collection, Melbourne

Bessie Norris Tait had her first drawing lessons, aged ten, from Jane Sutherland before studying under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria School. She sent examples of her miniatures to London and was encouraged to go there to work and study in 1905. In London, she quickly became a darling of the art society, attracting a fashionable clientele. She was admired for breaking with the ‘chocolate-box' method of miniature painting, and became a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters in 1907. She completed a number of portrait commissions in Australia, held exhibitions locally, and had her works acquired by the state galleries. She returned to London in 1911 and secured patrons including J. Pierpont Morgan and Queen Alexandra. In addition to her work being acquired by Australian state galleries, she was the first Australian woman artist to have a work purchased by an English gallery.

For her popularity at the time, she is relatively unrecorded in Australian art history. This is thought less to be due to her achievements largely being overseas, but rather by her decision to predominantly paint miniatures, an art form traditionally deemed too twee or ‘feminine' for academic recognition.

Olivia Fuller
Head of Art