Ethel Campbell Louise Anderson (née Mason; 16 March 1883 – 4 August 1958) was an early twentieth century Australian poet, essayist, novelist and painter. She considered herself to be mainly a poet, but is now best appreciated for her witty and ironic stories. Anderson has been described as "a high-profile author, artist, art commentator and emissary for

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

Life

Ethel Anderson was born in Lillington, a suburb of Leamington, in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, England, of Australian born parents Cyrus Mason and Louise Campbell on 16 March 1883. Her family soon moved back to Australia and she grew up in Sydney and at her grandfather's property, Rangamatty, near

Picton, New South Wales Picton is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire, in south-western Sydney. The town is located approximately 90 kilometres south-west of Sydney, close to Camden and Campbelltown. It is a ...

. She was educated both at home and at Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School (now

SCEGGS Darlinghurst , motto_translation = Let Your Light Shine , established = , type = Independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglicanism , oversight = , educational_authority = New South Wales Departme ...

).''Australian Verse: An Illustrated Treasury'', edited by Beatrice Davis, https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ocrdrt/ADLIB110055838 Library of New South Wales Press], 1996 On 8 October 1904 she married Brigadier-General Austin Thomas Anderson (1868 - 1949) in Ahmednagar,

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

where she had accompanied him on his posting. In 1907 they had a daughter, Bethia. At the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

her husband was posted to France and Anderson moved to

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

, where she studied drawing at

Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

and exhibited some of her work. While in England (1914 - 1924) Edith Anderson joined the Cambridge Group and mixed with artists such as Sir William Rothenstein. She painted murals for English churches and founded the Young Worcestershire Arts and Crafts Club. The Andersons later lived in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, and on her husband's retirement from the army in 1924 the family moved to Australia and lived at

Turramurra, New South Wales Turramurra is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. It shares the p ...

. From 1927 Brigadier Anderson became secretary to several State Governors. In Sydney she became an important supporter of modern art and the modernist painters

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Australian artist and pioneer of modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. Examples of her work are held by every ...

Dorrit Black Dorothea Foster Black (23 December 1891 – 13 September 1951) was an Australian painter and printmaker of the modernism, Modernist school, known for being a pioneer of Modernism in Australia. In 1951, at the age of sixty, Black was killed in a ...

Roland Wakelin Roland Wakelin (17 April 1887 – 28 May 1971) was a New Zealand-born Australian painter and teacher. Early life Roland Shakespeare Wakelin was born on 17 April 1887 in Greytown, New Zealand. He studied at Wellington Technical School from 190 ...

and

Roy de Maistre Roy De Maistre CBE (27 March 18941 March 1968) was an Australian artist of international fame. He is renowned in Australian art for his early experimentation with "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abs ...

, by writing about their work, holding exhibitions in her home, organising exhibitions in other venues and opening exhibitions. She wrote articles on modern art and artists in various Australian publications. An exhibition of

's work was held at her home. In 1930 she cleared her house of furniture to hold an exhibition of Wakelin's paintings. In Turramurra, Ethel Anderson founded the Turramurra Wall Painters Union in 1927. She was asked by the rector of

St James' Church, Sydney St James' Church, commonly known as St James', King Street, is an Australian heritage-listed Anglican parish church located at 173 King Street, in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales. Consecrated in February 1824 and named ...

to help decorate the Children's Chapel and designed a mural scheme for it which was executed by her artists group in 1929.Speer, Anne. (1994). ''Anne Speer - Ethel Anderson: Pioneer Supporter of Sydney's Post-Impressionists, 1994''. State Library of New South Wales. MLMSS 5951 On 16 March 1932, she opened the inaugural exhibition of the Modern Art Centre established by Dorrit Black in Margaret Street, Sydney, to teach and promote the Cubist ideas learned during Black's study trip to France. Anderson also wrote about contemporary artists' work for magazines such as ''Art in Australia'' and ''Home'', while her poetry and stories were published in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'', ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', the ''

Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictiona ...

'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' and '' The Bulletin''. Her poetry was influenced by her knowledge of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

and

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

work, with considerable formal and metrical experimentation. Her poem ''The Song of Hagar'' was set to music by

John Antill John Henry Antill, CMG, OBE (8 April 190429 December 1986) was an Australian composer best known for his ballet ''Corroboree''. Biography Antill was born in Sydney in 1904, and was educated and trained in music at Trinity Grammar School, Syd ...

. The death of her husband in 1949 meant that she had to support herself, which she did through her writing, serialising her first novel ''At Parramatta'' in ''The Bulletin''. She died on 4 August 1958 in Sydney.

Works

Poetry *''Squatter's Luck and Other Poems'' (1942) *''Sunday At Yarralumla: A Symphony'' (1947) *''The Song of Hagar to the Patriarch Abraham'' (1957) Non-fiction *''Adventures In Appleshire'' (1944) *''Timeless Garden'' (1945) *''Joy of Youth: The Letters of Patrick Hore-Ruthven'' (1950, ed.) Fiction *''Indian Tales'' (1948) *''At Parramatta'' (1956) *''The Little Ghosts'' (1959) *''The Best of Ethel Anderson'' (1973, ed. by J. D. Pringle) Painting *Murals in the Children's Chapel of

(with others)

References

Bibliography

*Adelaide, Debra (1986) ''Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide'', London, Pandora *Foott, Bethia, ''Ethel and the Governors' General, a biography of Ethel Anderson (1883-1958) and Brigadier-General A.T. Anderson (1868-1949)'', Rainforest, NSW *E. Morris Miller & Frederick T. Macartney (1956), ''Australian Literature'', Angus and Robertson, Sydney, p. 37. *Speer, Anne (1994) ''Ethel Anderson: pioneer supporter of Sydney's Post-Impressionists''. *William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton & Barry Andrews (1986) ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', OUP, Melbourne, p. 25.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ethel 1883 births 1958 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian poets 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century essayists Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Australian essayists Australian muralists Australian women essayists Australian women novelists Australian women painters Australian women poets People from Leamington Spa Women muralists 19th-century Australian women