Esther Gwendolyn "Stella" Bowen (1893–1947) was an Australian artist and writer.

Early career

Bowen was born in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

, an inner suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia, and educated at

Tormore House School Tormore School was a private boarding and day school for girls in North Adelaide, South Australia. History Tormore House had its origins in a small school for girls set up by Elizabeth McMinn (c. 1840 – 26 December 1937) and her two sisters Sa ...

. As a young girl, Bowen enjoyed drawing and convinced her mother to allow her to study with

Margaret Preston Margaret Rose Preston (29 April 1875 – 28 May 1963) was an Australian painter and printmaker who is regarded as one of Australia's leading modern art, modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national art", ...

. However, her desire to pursue art training in Melbourne was thwarted by the ill health of her mother and the latter's reluctance to let her daughter follow such a career. When her mother died in 1914, Bowen left for England with a return ticket and an allowance of £20 per month. In cosmopolitan London, she studied at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...

and mixed with a company of writers, artists, poets and political activists. Early in 1918, Bowen met and fell in love with the writer

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

. She was 24, he was 44. The couple fled to rural England where their daughter Julia was born in 1920. However, by 1922, the family were fed up with the hardships of life in the English countryside and moved temporarily to France. They soon decided to remain in France and moved to Paris. Caught up in the bohemian café society of Paris, Ford started a literary magazine and was a leading figure among the expatriate writers. Bowen, meanwhile, found her first studio but managed little time for painting in between attending to the needs of Ford and their daughter.

Later years

Bowen separated from Ford in 1927. It was a difficult time for her but it did give her the time and space to pursue her art. She began to gain some portrait commissions but still struggled to earn enough money. In 1932, she went to the United States at the invitation of the poet Ramon Guthrie, who helped her in finding commissions including, among others, with

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

. When she returned to France she found she could not afford to remain in Paris and returned to England on her fortieth birthday. – She described her month-long stay of 1936 in

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

with Ross and Tusnelda Sanders in her autobiography, ''Drawn From Life'' and also painted depictions of her life there. Although Bowen continued to paint she did not earn enough from painting and commissions to make ends meet and for many years supplemented her income by writing an art review column in the ''News Chronicle'' and teaching. Because of her relationship with Ford Madox Ford she was given an advance to write a biography and produced ''Drawn from life: a memoir''. This book came out to glowing reviews.

World War II – war artist

The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

brought a new chapter in Bowen's career. In 1944, she was appointed an official war artist by the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

. Theaden Brocklebank, a producer with the Pacific service of the BBC and wife of

William Keith Hancock Sir William Keith Hancock, (26 June 189813 August 1988) was a prominent Australian historian. Early life and education He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Archdeacon William Hancock. At the age of nine, he won the Royal Humane ...

, had arranged for Stella Bowen to record regular talks for Australian audiences about her wartime experiences. These talks provided Bowen with additional income during a difficult time and they resulted in the offer of the position of war artist. Bowen's brief as a war artist was to depict the activities of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) stationed in England. She also painted portraits of military commanders and Australian prisoners of war who had recently been repatriated from Europe. One of the early women artists to be appointed, Bowen completed her last painting in 1947. She died later that year of breast and liver cancer, having never returned to Australia. Two portraits by Bowen are in the National Portrait Gallery collection,

George Douglas Howard Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, and historian. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production organised ...

and Dame Margaret Isabel Cole. Her portrait of Ramon Guthrie done in Paris in the 1920s is in the collection of the Hood Museum of Dartmouth College. A painting of Admiral Sir

Ragnar Colvin Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, (7 May 1882 – 22 February 1954) was a long-serving Royal Navy officer who commanded the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the outbreak of the Second World War. Early life and background Colvin was the son of C ...

painted in 1944 is held by the Australian War Memorial.

Publications

''Drawn from Life : A Memoir '' (1940) (reprinted Pan Macmillan, 1999, )

Stella Bowen Park

Stella Bowen Park is located within

Park 26 The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the surro ...

of the

Adelaide Park Lands The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the surro ...

between the

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

and

References

External links

Rebels, Stella Bowen
Interview by George Negus with Suzanne Brookman, Stella Bowen's niece, and Lola Wilkins, Curator of the Australian War Memorial exhibition, 21 October 2002

Canadian War Museum (Retrieved 18 December 2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Stella 1893 births 1947 deaths 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian women artists Alumni of the Westminster School of Art Australian expatriates in England Australian war artists Australian women painters Australian women writers Australian writers Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from colorectal cancer Writers from Adelaide Artists from Adelaide World War II artists