Ethel Carrick, later Ethel Carrick Fox (7 February 1872 – 17 June 1952) was an English

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

painter. Much of her career was spent in France and in Australia, where she was associated with the movement known as the

Heidelberg School The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...

Life

Ethel Carrick was born in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

, Middlesex, to Emma (Filmer) Carrick and Albert William Carrick, a wealthy

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

. The family of ten children lived at Brookfield House, Uxbridge. She trained in London at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

and at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

under

Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a caricaturist. He became an influential art teacher. He was one of the first British arti ...

(ca. 1898-1903). She married the Australian Impressionist painter

Emanuel Phillips Fox Emanuel Phillips Fox (12 March 1865 – 8 October 1915) was an Australian impressionism, impressionist painter. After studying at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne, Fox travelled to Paris to study in 1886. He remained in ...

in 1905. They moved to Paris, where they remained until 1913. She travelled widely in Europe, North Africa, and the South Pacific (Tahiti) during this period and made trips to Australia in 1908 and 1913. The outbreak of World War I brought Carrick and her husband to

Melbourne, Australia 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 metropol ...

, where they organised to raise war funds from artists and to support the French Red Cross. Emanuel died of cancer in 1915, and the following year Carrick began two decades of travels that took her through the Middle East, South Asia including India, and Europe. She returned intermittently to Australia to exhibit her work and go out on painting expeditions around the country. In the 1920s, she was recommended by the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

in Paris as a private teacher of

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

painting, and she counted a number of Australians and Americans in Paris among her students. She died in Melbourne in 1952, aged 80.

Art career and critical estimation

Mainly a painter, Carrick is known for her floral still life, landscapes and scenes of outdoor urban life in parks and on beaches. Some of these draw on her international travels, such as her paintings of outdoor markets in the Middle East and elsewhere. In the 1920s, she began painting flower studies, which overall are more conventional than her earlier work. In the 1930s, she created some

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

, and during World War II, which she spent in Australia, she painted some scenes of women war workers. Carrick began as an Impressionist

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

painter but fairly quickly moved to a more Post-Impressionist style featuring blockier compositions and sharper color contrasts. Some of the works produced around 1911-12 are distinctly

Fauvist Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

in their strong colors, high abstraction, and loose handling of the paint. Carrick first showed her work in London in 1903. She exhibited at the Paris

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

from 1906 onwards, the London

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

, the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Es ...

(from 1906 on), and various progressive galleries 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 ...

and

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

(from 1908 on). In addition to her own solo and group exhibitions, she was in dual shows with her husband at the

Melbourne Athenaeum The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is an art and cultural hub in the Melbourne city centre, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1839, it is the city's oldest cultural institution. It ...

in 1914 and again in 1944. In 1911, she became ''sociétaire'' of the Salon d'Automne, and she served as a jury member from 1912 to around 1925, both unusual positions for women to hold and marks of the high regard in which she was held by the Paris art world. Prior to World War I, she also served as the vice-president of the International Union of Women Artists. Late in her career, in the 1940s and 1950s, she exhibited with the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. In her lifetime, Carrick's reputation was eclipsed by her husband's, in part because she spent a good deal of her time promoting his career rather than her own, lobbying Australian collectors and curators to buy his work and arranging exhibitions both while he was alive and posthumously. In recent years, her reputation has been rising, and critics today consider her work more adventurous than that of her husband. In 1996, one of her paintings set an auction record of A$105,500 for works by an Australian woman artist, and the following year saw the publication of a biography, ''Ethel Carrick Fox: Travels and Triumphs of a Post-Impressionist'' by art historian

Susanna de Vries Susanna de Vries AM (born 6 October 1936) is an Australian historian, writer, and former academic. She has published more than twenty books, making her one of Queensland's most published authors. The majority of these detail the bravery and h ...

. Her ''Market Under Trees'', sold by Sotheby's in 1999 for A$266,500, was bought at auction for just over A$1 million in 2008. In 1993, the Waverley City Gallery in Melbourne held the exhibition "Capturing the Orient: Hilda Rix Nicholas & Ethel Carrick in the East", and in 2011, the Queensland Art Gallery held a joint retrospective of the work of Carrick and her husband.

Exhibitions

Solo

* 1908: Bernard's Gallery, Collins Street, Melbourne, August * 1913: 'Paintings by Mrs E Phillips Fox (Miss Ethel Carrick)', The Guildhall, Melbourne, 11 - 26 July * 1913: 'Exhibition of Pictures by Mrs E Phillips Fox (Ethel Carrick)', Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery, Sydney, 6 - 22 November * 1916: 'Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Mrs E Phillips Fox', Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery, Sydney, April * 1925: 'Exhibition of Paintings by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', The New Gallery, Melbourne, 2 -13 June * 1928: 'Exposition Ethel Carrick', Galerie de la Palette Française, Paris, 5 -19 June * 1933: 'Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox) Exhibition of Pictures', Everyman's Lending Library, Melbourne, 24 May - 7 June * 1949: 'Pictures by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', Melbourne Book Club Gallery, 20 June - 2 July * 1949: 'Exhibition of Pictures by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', John Martin's Gallery, Adelaide , 4 - 18 October * 1979: 'Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox): A Retrospective Exhibition',

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional art gallery, gallery in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collectio ...

, 30 March - 4 May 1979 ; toured to SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 11 May - 3 June; University Art Museum, Brisbane, 13 June - 5 July

Group exhibitions held during the artist's lifetime

* 1903: Society of Oil Painters, London, 19 October - 12 December * 1904: Felix Art Club (Alpine Art Club), London * 1905: International Society, London

International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers was a union of professional artists that existed from 1898 to 1925, "To promote the study, practice, and knowledge of sculpture, painting, etching, lithographing, engraving, and kindred ...

January-February, March-May, May, October-December * 1906: Institute of Oil Painters, London 15 October - 12 December * 1906: Felix Art Club, London * 1906:

, Paris * 1906:

, Paris * 1907: Institute of Oil Painters, London 14 October - 12 December * 1907: Salon d' Automne, Paris * 1907: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1907:

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, London * 1908: Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris * 1908: Societe Les Quelques, Galerie des Artistes Modernes, Paris * 1908: Salon d' Automne, Paris * 1908:

Allied Artists Association The Allied Artists Association (AAA) was an art exhibiting society based in London in the early 20th century. History The Allied Artists Association was founded by Frank Rutter, art critic of ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper, in 1908. Its purpos ...

, London, July * 1909: 'La Libre Esthetique, Catalogue de la seizieme Exposition a Bruxelles', Brussels, Belgium, 7 March - 12 April * 1909: Societe Les Quelques, Galerie des Artistes Modernes, Paris, February * 1909: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1909: Allied Artists Association, London * 1909:

Victorian Artists Society The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and gallery hire exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Academy of Arts (previously Vi ...

, Melbourne * 1910: Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris * 1910: Societe Les Quelques, Galerie des Artistes Modernes, Paris, February * 1910: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1911: Societe Les Quelques, Galerie des Artistes Modernes, Paris, February * 1911: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1911: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1912: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1912: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1913: Societe des Peintres Orientalistes Français 21e Exposition, Grand Palais, Paris, 2-28 February * 1915: 'Australian Artists War Fund Exhibition', Royal Art Society Rooms, Sydney, 9 March * 1915: 'Australian Art Association 3rd Annual Exhibition',

Athenaeum, Melbourne The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is an art and cultural hub in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1839, it is the city's oldest cultural institution. Its building on Collins Street in the East End ...

, 7-21 October * 1915: Red Cross Fund, Melbourne, March * 1916: 'Art Curio and Antique Exhibition for the French Week Appeal Fund', Town Hall, Melbourne, July * 1916: Royal Society of Oil Painters, London, November * 1917: Royal Academy, London * 1918: 'Salon des Poilus, Exhibition of Pictures for Sale', Athenaeum Gallery, Melbourne, 6-20July (in aid of the French Red Cross) * 1918: 'Exposition de l'Arc-en-Ciel', Galerie de Goupil & Cie, Paris, 8 October - 3 November * 1919: Salon d' Automne, Paris: 315 Mme de Marquette * 1920: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1921: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1921: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1921: Societe des Artistes lndependants, Paris * 1921: 'Exposition de la Societe coloniale des Artistes Français', Societe des Artistes Français, Grand Palais des Champs Elysees, Paris * 1922: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1922: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1923: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1923: Salon d' Automne, Paris * 1923: 'Group of Australian Artists', Panton Galleries, London, November * 1924: 'Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures by Australian Artists in Europe', Faculty of Arts, London, 23 June -12July * 1924: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1924: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1926: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1927: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1927: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1928: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1928: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1928: International exhibition, Bordeaux: ''Manly Beach - summer is here'' (awarded diplome d'honneur) * 1929: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1929: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1929: Societe des Amis des Arts de Bordeaux, Paris * 1930: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1930: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1930: Societe des Amis des Arts de Bordeaux, Paris * 1931: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1931: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1932: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1931: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1933: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1933: Everyman's Lending Library, Melbourne, May * 1934: 'An Exhibition by Melbourne Painters', Athenaeum Gallery, Melbourne, 27 February- 10 March (in aid of the

Hermannsburg Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the river ...

water supply, Central Australia) * 1935: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1936: Royal Academy, London * 1937: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1937: Royal Academy, London * 1937: Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1937: Royal Academy, London * 1937: Salon d' Automne * 1939: Royal Academy, London * 1939: Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris * 1943-45: Victorian Artists' Society, Melbourne * 1944: 'Paintings by Ethel Phillips Fox, Jean Sutherland and Sybil Craig', KozminskyLower Gallery, Melbourne, 21 November- 1 December * 1945:

Macquarie Galleries Macquarie Galleries was a Sydney private art gallery established in 1925 by John Henry Young and Basil Burdett. It was located at "Strathkyle", 19 Bligh Street Sydney then moved to 40 King Street in 1945. From 1991 to 1993 it was located at ...

, Bligh Street, Sydney, 14-26 March * 1945: Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery, Sydney * 1946: 'French Comfort Fund Exhibition', David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney, 20-28 February * 1946: 'French Comfort Fund', Myer's Art Gallery, Melbourne, 19 -29 March * 1947: Victorian Artists' Society, Melbourne * 1951:

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

, Edinburgh * 1951:

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

, London

Life

Art career and critical estimation

Exhibitions

Solo

Group exhibitions held during the artist's lifetime

References

Further reading