Patricia Larter (1936–1996) was an Australian artist who worked across

mail art Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondence Schoo ...

, video, photography, performance and painting. She was "one of the leading figures in the movement known as 'international mail art'". She is credited with coining the term "femail art" that was taken up by other mail artists around the world.

Life

Born 8 July 1936 in

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

, Essex Patricia Florence Larter (Née Holmes) the elder of two daughters Pat and her family lived at

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office ...

. Her father died of TB when she was young and her wages were needed to support the family. Pat met her long time collaborator and husband

Richard Larter Richard Larter (19 May 1929 – 25 July 2014) was an Australian painter, often identified as one of Australia's few highly recognisable pop artists. Larter also frequently painted in a Pointillist style. He took advantage of unusual techniques w ...

at Perfect Lambert & Co where they were both employed. They married on 18 February 1953 when Pat was just sixteen and migrated to Australia in 1962. They had five children Lorraine, Nicholas, Derek, Diane and Eliza. Settling in Luddenham, New South Wales the Larter's stayed until 1982 when they moved to

Yass Yass may refer to: People * Catherine Yass (born 1963), painter * Yazz, a British pop singer from the 1980s and 1990s * Jeff Yass (born 1956), options trader, managing director and one of the five founders of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna I ...

, New South Wales. Pat died on 6 October 1996, an untimely death from cancer.

Art

Larter's art aimed to "parody what she described as 'malegiven sexual stereotypes', largely focusing on the ephemeral forms of performance and mail art". She "exchanged art with an enormous range of international artists and represented Australia in all major exhibitions of postal art". "Her collection of mail art (now held in the research library of the

AGNSW The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

) is the most comprehensive one accumulated in Australia." "Her foray into painting was brief, interrupted by her death in 1996." Femail Art’, her "feminist answer to mail art" was taken on by female mail artists worldwide including

Anna Banana Anna Banana (born February 24, 1940 as Anne Lee Long in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian artist known for her performance art, writing, and work as a small press publisher. She has been described as an "entrepreneur and critic", and p ...

who used the term "in the title concept of VILE magazine vol. 6, no 3"

Pat and Dick

Larter features in many of Richard's paintings and is frequently described as his muse. The boundaries between their individual practices often overlap. "Under Pat’s direction, Richard took the photographs of her that she used in her work but he also used those photographs as sources for his paintings. The pair also produced many collaborative super-8 films and prints." Their individual work shares themes and motifs. In her mail art all correspondence and mailings posted by Larter, that included works made individually or in collaboration, were signed "Pat & Dick" or "Pat and Richard Larter".

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2015, ''Femail Art,'' Mailbox Art Space, Melbourne * 2013 ''Paintings'',

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

, Sydney * 2011 ''Paintings'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 2009 ''Abstract and Figurative Paintings'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2005 ''Paintings'', Legge Gallery, Sydney 2003 Abstract and Figurative Paintings, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2002 ''Paintings'', Legge Gallery, Sydney 2001 Paintings (unexhibited work 1992-1994), Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1999 ''Patricia Larter 1936-1996'', Legge Gallery at Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1997 ''Pat Larter'', Legge Gallery, Sydney 1996 Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1995 ''New Paintings and Super Scans With Glitter'', Legge Gallery, Sydney 1994 Allusions and Illusions, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1993 ''Bedazzled'', Legge Gallery, Sydney 1992 Rhapsody in Colour, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1991 ''Laser Prints,'' Manfred Stirnemann Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland * 1986 ''Mail Art Show'', Artists' Union, Osaka, Japan

Selected group exhibitions

* 2015 ''See You At The Barricades,'' Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney * 2014 ''Glitter: Pat Larter vs Lola Ryan,'' Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery,

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

* 2013 ''Like Mike'', Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne * 2011 ''Frank's Flat'', Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW * 2010 ''Art Month Sydney'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 2010

Melbourne Art Fair The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are ow ...

Royal Exhibition Building The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage-listed building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, built in 1879–1880 as part of the international exhibition movement, which presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851 and 1915 around the glo ...

, Melbourne * 2010 ''Summer Exhibition'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 2009 ''Summer Exhibition'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 2008 ''Richard Larter: A Retrospective'',

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Canberra * 2008 ''Melbourne Art Fair 2008'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 2007 ''Summer Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2007 ''Art Sydney '07'', Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park, Sydney * 2006 ''Larter Family Values'', Travelling exhibition : University of Tasmania Centre for the Arts; Queensland University of Technology & Liverpool Regional Museum * 2006 ''Group Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2006 ''Summer Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2006 ''Melbourne Art Fair 2006'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 2005 ''Summer Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2004 ''Melbourne Art Fair 2004'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 2003 ''Summer Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2002 ''Stripperama: The Work of Richard Larter'',

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 ...

, Melbourne * 2002 ''Melbourne Art Fair 2002'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 2002 ''Group Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2002 ''Summer Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2000 ''Ten Years'' , Legge Gallery, Sydney Sixth Australian, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 2000 ''Summer Exhibition'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1999 ''Exploratory Behaviour'',

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

* 1999 ''10Th Summer Exhibition'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1998 ''Christmas Show'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1997 ''Sanguine Valediction'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1996 ''Mellow Down Easy (Dedicated to Pat Larter)'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1996 ''5Th Australian Contemporary Art Fair'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 1996 ''Richard Larter and Pat Larter Super Scans'', Watters Gallery, Sydney * 1996 ''Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art,'' Art Gallery of South Australia * 1995 ''Ironsides'', Powerhouse Museum, for Armidale Regional Gallery * 1995 ''Summer Exhibition'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1994 ''Fourth Australian Contemporary Art Fair 2002'', Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne * 1994 ''Artists Don't Believe in Sanity Clause'', Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1993 ''After the Field...'', Utopia Gallery, Sydney After the Field..., Manly Art Gallery, Sydney * 1993 ''Pat Larter's Rhythms & Peter Maloney's Blues'', Rom Gallery, Sydney Tempest, Legge Gallery, Sydney * 1992 ''Abstract: The Non-objective'', MOCA, Brisbane * 1992 ''Thisness'', Legge Gallery, Sydney

Publications

Selected bibliography

* ACT 1: The Arts Council of Australia, catalogue and publication, November 1978 * Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, catalogue 1996 * Australian World Theatre Exchange: The Theatre Board of Australia Council, * Binns, Vivienne: Art & Australia, obituary 1996 * Foster, Ernest : A Public of Individuals, Vol.1 No.2 Sept/Oct 2002 * Gellatly, Kelly: Stripperama, catalogue to exhibition, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne * Hart, Deborah : artonview, Issue 54, Winter 2008 * Hart, Deborah : Richard Larter: A Retrospective, National Gallery of Australia publication, 2008 * Heary, Monica: Liverpool Leader, 'Arts or tarts', 22/8/2007 * Heary, Monica: Liverpool Leader, 'Frankly, it's a studnasium', 28/8/2007 * Hynes, Victoria: The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Metro Arts', 5/7/2002 * James, Bruce: Sydney Morning Herald, 'The Picture's in the Mail' mailart review AGNSW archives, 7/8/99 * James, Bruce: Richard Larter: A Retrospective, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra * Liverpool Leader, 'Larter-day eccentrics live in art', 8/8/2007 * Liverpool City Champion, 'Larter Family Valuest', 1/8/2007 * Lobley, Katrina: The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Larter Family Values, 9/8/2007 * McDonald, John: The Sydney Morning Herald, Obituary, 17/10/1996 * McKenzie, Robyn: The Age, 'A colourful, well-stocked Larter * Mendelssohn, Joanna: The Australian, 4/8/1995 * Mendelssohn, Joanna: The Australian, 'Joy through Liberated Art' 18/10/1996 * Mendelssohn, Joanna: Art & Australia, 'Exposing Pat Larter' Vol. 42 No.3 2005 * Mendelssohn, Joanna: Larter Family Values, exhibition catalogue, Liverpool City Gallery, 2006 * Mendelssohn, Joanna: Liverpool Leader, 'opiniont' 12/9/2007 * 'Muse and partner unveiled': Daily Telegraph, 18/8/2007 * Tarasov, Anne : Liverpool City Champion, 'Larters launch their Art' 8/82007 * Tarasov, Anne : Liverpool City Champion, 'Beholder beware' 22/82007 * Tsoutas, Nicholas: Larter Family Values, exhibition catalogue forward 2006

Collections

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

* Allen Arthur Robinson *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larter, Pat Australian women artists 1936 births 1996 deaths Visual artists in late 20th-century Australia