The first Australian Exhibition of Women's Work was held for five weeks in 1907 in Melbourne. It featured the decorative arts and those associated with women. Contributors included Susanne Vilhelmine Gether and The Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW, solo violinist Gertrude Healy, painter and potter Flora Annie Landells, designer Eirene Mort, Tasmanian wood carver Ellen Nora Payne, composer and conductor Georgette Peterson, kindergarten expert Emmeline Pye, and painter and interior designer Daisy Rossi. The exhibition opened on 23 October and closed on 30 November at the Royal Exhibition Building.[1]
 Souvenir catalogue of the Women’s Work Exhibition | |
| Date | 23 October – 30 November 1907 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Royal Exhibition Building |
| Location | Melbourne |
| Patron(s) | Queen Alexandra |
| Organized by | Alice, Lady Northcote |
Origins
editThe exhibition was created by committees of women across Australia, and around the British Empire e.g. in London, Madras and Bloemfontein, South Africa.[2] It was considered a catalyst for further change, as contributors saw what others had made, when they came to see their own work.[3]
Poster
editThe exhibition's poster was chosen in open competition and designed by H.L. Atkinson from Bendigo, Victoria. It showed six craftswomen being welcomed at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building.[2]
Content of the exhibition
editThe exhibition featured the decorative arts and those associated with women. However women were receiving education and training in several areas, and the exhibition was seen as the harvest of original and applied novel work. Women had always created art but the exhibition hoped to show how these skills could be turned into a business as designers or trained draughtswomen. Needlework art had over 1,000 entries.[4]
Eirene Mort who had already completed work for Liberty's was one of the exhibitions supporters. She designed the certificates given to class winners.[3] She had hundreds of entries herself in a variety of classes. Her designs were noted for her use of Australian flora and fauna as subject matter.[4]
Music was one of the arts - Georgette Peterson's music featured in a book by Ida Sherbourne Outhwaite and her sister[5] and Peterson conducted a choir of 1,300 women.[6] Florence Maud Ewart served as co-conductor for the exhibition, and she won first prize for her composition "God Guide Australia".[7]
Prizes and medals were given for exhibits and for essays. The medals were bronze, and they included the motto "The Cross of Christ is My Light".[8]
The exhibition has been credited with being "the most complete expression of the state of decorative arts at the start of the century".[4]
Notable contributors
edit- Susanne Vilhelmine Gether and The Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW organised 60 people to carve a rosewood dining set.[9]
- Gertrude Healy won the first place for solo violin at the exhibition.[10]
- Flora Annie Landells (1888-1981), painter and potter[11]
- Eirene Mort, designer
- Ellen Nora Payne, Tasmanian wood carver[12]
- Georgette Peterson, Hungarian-born composer and conductor
- Emmeline Pye, kindergarten expert
- Daisy Rossi, painter and interior designer[13]
Impact
editThe exhibition's impact was very high. The national parliament, and all the state parliaments, had a day off in honour of the exhibition's opening. The driving force for the exhibition had been Alice, Lady Northcote, wife of the UK Conservative politician and Denmark's Queen Alexandra was the patron.[2] It was opened by Alice, Lady Northcote and Pattie Deakin who were the wives of Australia's Governor General and its Prime Minister. Fifteen thousand people attended on the first day for the opening ceremony, and over the five weeks there were 250,000 visitors.[8]
The exhibition was intended to celebrate women's work and to educate.[8] However, in 1907 the women of Melbourne were not yet allowed to vote in state elections.[2] Deakin organised a creche,[8] and there were demonstrations of kindergarten teaching by Emmeline Pye from Melbourne Teachers' College.[14]
References
edit- ^ "First Australian Exhibition of Women's Work, 1907 : Second Class Diploma awarded to Miss A.M.E.... - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d Britishness Abroad: Transnational Movements and Imperial Cultures. Academic Monographs. 1 January 2007. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-522-85392-6.
- ^ a b c "Diploma - Second Class, First Australian Exhibition of Women's Work, 1907". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ a b c Sayers, Andrew (2001). Australian Art. Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-284214-5.
- ^ Langmore, Diane, "Ida Sherbourne Outhwaite (1888–1960)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 20 February 2024
- ^ Patton, Faye E., "Georgette Augusta Christina Peterson (1863–1947)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 20 February 2024
- ^ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ a b c d "WOMEN'S WORK EXHIBITION, MELBOURNE 1907". 4 April 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ Hunt, Jane E., "Susanne Vilhelmine Gether (1857–1911)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 3 October 2023
- ^ Lynch, Peter, "Gertrude Healy (1894–1984)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 18 February 2024
- ^ Erickson, Dorothy, "Flora Annie Landells (1888–1981)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 18 February 2024
- ^ Dufour, Mary, "Ellen Nora Payne (1865–1962)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 19 February 2024
- ^ Erickson, Dorothy (2005). "Rossi, Daisy Mary (1879–1974)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ Factor, J., "Emmeline Pye (1861–1949)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 17 February 2024