Karna Maria Birmingham (3 December 1900 – 5 July 1987) was an Australian artist, illustrator and print maker. She was best known for her numerous illustrations of children's books.

Life and training

Birmingham was born in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of Mosman, the daughter of Irish doctor and published black & white artist. Herbert Joseph Birmingham, and Karn Marie Nielsen, a Dane and her father's live-in maid. After completing school at Loreto, Kirribilli, Birmingham went on to study at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney from 1914 - 1920. Birmingham married twice, however both husbands died in tragic circumstances. Her first husband, John Robert Torney, who Birmingham married in 1934 died from suicide in 1935. Birmingham was married to botanist Arthur Alva Livingstone from 1940 living in Gosford until his death in 1951 by self inflicted gunshot wounds. In 1938, Birmingham contracted an eye disease, trachoma, which limited her sight and her career. After her husband's death, Birmingham returned to the Sydney suburb of Turramurra until moving to a nursing home in nearby

Neutral Bay Neutral Bay is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is around 1.5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Neutral Bay takes ...

shortly before her death.

Works

From her time at Art School, Birmingham was hailed for her pen and ink work and identified as a student with promise. Birmingham exhibited work at the

Anthony Hordern Anthony Hordern & Sons was a major department store in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With 52 acres (21 hectares) of retail space, Anthony Hordern's was once the largest department store in the world. The historic Anthony Hordern building, w ...

Fine Art Gallery in 1921 along with other notable women painters such as

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, Myra Cocks,

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, Olive Crane,

Grace Crowley Grace Adela Williams Crowley (pr: as in "slowly") (28 May 1890 – 21 April 1979) was an Australian artist and modernist painter. Early life and education Grace Crowley was born in May 1890 in Barraba, New South Wales. She was the fourth chi ...

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, Marlon Ferrier, Georgina Hughes, and Bell Walker. She also featured her linocuts at numerous exhibitions In 1934, Birmingham wrote and illustrated a children's book of verse ''Skippety Songs'' and illustrated numerous others. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham, Karna Maria 1900 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists Australian illustrators Australian women illustrators Artists from Sydney Julian Ashton Art School alumni