Elizabeth Orme Vassilieff, ''née'' Sutton (27 September 1915 - 2007) was an Australian artist, writer and peace activist. She initially published under her first married name, Elizabeth Hamill, and later also wrote as Elizabeth Vassilieff-Wolf.

Life

Elizabeth Sutton was born 27 September 1915 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, the daughter of A. Leslie Sutton, a Methodist businessman. While still a teenager, in 1934, she married William Hamill, an engineering student, but divorced him in the early 1940s. On 20 March 1947 Hamill married the Russian-born artist

Danila Vassilieff Danila Vassilieff (22 March 1958) was a Russian-born Australian painter and sculptor. He has been called the "father of Australian modernism". Life Danila Ivanovich Vassilieff (Данила Иванович Васильев) was born in 1897 ...

, from whom she had bought Stonygrad, the house he had built of stone and logs, and whom she had met only on 5 February. She taught modern art for the Council of Adult Education in 1948-49, and taught modern literature for the University Extension Board. Through the 1940s and 1950s she wrote on art and politics for the literary journal ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...

'', editing its poetry broadsheet and becoming associate editor in 1951. Her critique of '' Melbourne University Magazine'' led the poet

Vincent Buckley Vincent Thomas Buckley (8 July 1925 – 12 November 1988) was an Australian poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic. Life Buckley was born in 1925 in Romsey, Victoria to Patrick Buckley, a carter and sometime farm labourer, and his wife Fr ...

, whose poem 'In Time of Martydom' Vassilieff had used as an example, to complain that she was turning the journal Communist. She also wrote for ''Voice'', '' Ern Malley's Journal'' and '' Overland''. In 1952-53 Vassilieff attended the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass ...

congress in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, as a delegate of the Victorian Peace Council. with Rev. Victor James and Dr. Clive Sandy. She continued to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

as a delegate for the Writers Federation, coming back as an enthusiast for socialism in the New China. Vassilieff exhibited paintings alongside her husband, and their house in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

was a focus for left-wing artists and painters such as Nettie and

Vance Palmer Edward Vivian "Vance" Palmer (28 August 1885 – 15 July 1959) was an Australian novelist, dramatist, essayist and critic. Early life Vance Palmer was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, on 28 August 1885 and attended the Ipswich Grammar School. With ...

. Though the pair separated in 1954, Elizabeth continued to try to control his reputation after his death in 1958, claiming copyright ownership and initiating defamation suits against publishers.Richard Moore
The unknown painter who shaped the Australian arts scene
''Australian Financial Review'', July 29, 2016. Elizabeth Vassilieff married twice more, the last time to the trade unionist

Pat Mackie Pat Mackie (30 October 1914 – 19 November 2009)Queensland_Music_Festivalmusical_production_entitled_Red_Cap_(musical).html" ;"title="Queensland_Music_Festival.html" ;"title="Queensland Music Festival">Queensland Music Festival">Queensland Music ...

. Her papers are held at the

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is set ...

Works

* (as Elizabeth Hamill) ''These Modern Writers: An Introduction for Modern Writers'', Melbourne: Georgian House, 1946. * ''Peking Moscow Letters: about a four months' journey, to and from Vienna, by way of People's China and the Soviet Union'', Melbourne: Australasian Peace Society, 1953. * ''Alternative to War: principles and policies of the Australian Peace Council'', Melbourne: Australasian Peace Council, 1954. * (with Pat Mackie) ''Mount Isa: The story of a dispute'', Hawthorn, Victoria: Hudson, 1989.

References

External links

Elizabeth Orme Vassilieff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassilieff, Elizabeth 1915 births 2007 deaths Australian women non-fiction writers Australian non-fiction writers Australian women artists Australian painters 20th-century Australian journalists 20th-century Australian women