Agnes Goodsir
Encyclopedia
Agnes Noyes Goodsir was an Australia
n portrait
painter
who moved within lesbian circles in Paris
in the 1920s and 1930s.
Goodsir was one of eleven children born to David James Cook Goodsir, Commissioner of Customs at Melbourne
, and Elizabeth Archer (née Tomlins).
Her early art training started with Arthur T. Woodward at the Bendigo School of Mines
in the 1890s, and in 1899 some of her work was raffled in Bendigo to partly finance her study in Paris. The years following World War I
saw a virtual exodus of Australian artists on a sort of Grand Tour
to Paris, all intent on being part of the explosion of the arts taking place there. Painters like Rupert Bunny
, Stella Bowen
and Max Meldrum
were drawn there by the appeal of the Left Bank
. Others like Margaret Preston
and Grace Crowley
were inspired to develop in new directions by post-war Parisian art.
Goodsir attended the Académie Delécluse, the Académie Julian
and then the Académie Colarossi
. From about 1912 she shuttled between London and Paris, but finally settled in Paris at 18 rue de l'Odéon
. Her constant companion was Rachel Dunn, depicted in several of her paintings, such as The Chinese Skirt 1933, Girl with Cigarette 1925, The Letter 1926 and Morning Tea 1925.
Her work was acclaimed and exhibited at the New Salon, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts
in Paris as well as at the Royal Academy
and the Royal Institute
in London. On a short visit to Australia in 1927 she exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries
in Sydney and the Fine Arts Gallery in Melbourne. In 1938 four of her oils were shown at the sesquicentennial exhibition at the NSW National Art Gallery.
On her death in 1939, her paintings were left to her companion Rachel Dunn, who sent some 40 to Agnes's family in Australia and others to Australian galleries.
Goodsir's work showed strong composition and technique, favouring oils over watercolours. Despite turning out a large number of still lifes and interiors, her forté was in her portraits, including Katharine Goodson
, Leo Tolstoy
, Ellen Terry
, Banjo Patterson, Bertrand Russell
, Dame Eadith Walker, Countess Pinci and, reportedly, Italian leader Benito Mussolini
. The Goodsir Scholarship of the Bendigo Art Gallery
is named in memory of her.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
painter
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who moved within lesbian circles in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the 1920s and 1930s.
Goodsir was one of eleven children born to David James Cook Goodsir, Commissioner of Customs at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and Elizabeth Archer (née Tomlins).
Her early art training started with Arthur T. Woodward at the Bendigo School of Mines
Bendigo School of Mines
Bendigo School of Mines is located in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia and was established in 1873.-Notable past students:* John Scaddan, c.1889-1895, later Premier of Western Australia* Edward Heitmann c.1896, later Australian M.P....
in the 1890s, and in 1899 some of her work was raffled in Bendigo to partly finance her study in Paris. The years following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
saw a virtual exodus of Australian artists on a sort of Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
to Paris, all intent on being part of the explosion of the arts taking place there. Painters like Rupert Bunny
Rupert Bunny
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny was an Australian painter, born in St Kilda, Victoria. He achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in fin-de-siècle Paris....
, Stella Bowen
Stella Bowen
Esther Gwendolyn "Stella" Bowen was an Australian artist, born in North Adelaide in the southern part of the country. As a young girl, Bowen enjoyed drawing and convinced her mother to allow her to study with Margaret Preston...
and Max Meldrum
Max Meldrum
Duncan Max Meldrum was a Scottish born Australian painter. He is known as the founder of Australian Tonalism, a representational style of painting, as well as his portrait work, for which he won the Archibald Prize in 1939 and 1940.-Early Life and Training:Meldrum was born in Edinburgh, Scotland,...
were drawn there by the appeal of the Left Bank
Rive Gauche
La Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....
. Others like Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston was a well-known Australian artist. She was highly influential during the 1920s to 1940s for her modernist works as a painter and printmaker and for introducing Aboriginal motifs into contemporary art.-Early life:...
and Grace Crowley
Grace Crowley
Grace Crowley was an Australian artist and modernist painter.-Early life:She was born Grace Adela Williams Crowley in 1890 on May 28, at Forrest Lodge, Cobbadah, in North-Western New South Wales. She was the fourth child of Henry, a grazier, and Elizabeth...
were inspired to develop in new directions by post-war Parisian art.
Goodsir attended the Académie Delécluse, the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
and then the Académie Colarossi
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi is an art school founded by the Italian sculptor Filippo Colarossi. First located on the Île de la Cité, it moved in the 1870s to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France....
. From about 1912 she shuttled between London and Paris, but finally settled in Paris at 18 rue de l'Odéon
Rue de l'Odéon
The rue de l'Odéon is a street in the Odéon quarter of the 6th arrondissement of Paris on the Left Bank. Because of the presence of two bohemian bookstores, and the coterie of emergent Anglophone writers surrounding them, James James nicknamed it "Stratford-on-Odéon".- History :This street was...
. Her constant companion was Rachel Dunn, depicted in several of her paintings, such as The Chinese Skirt 1933, Girl with Cigarette 1925, The Letter 1926 and Morning Tea 1925.
Her work was acclaimed and exhibited at the New Salon, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts
Société Nationale des Beaux Arts
Société Nationale des Beaux-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....
in Paris as well as at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
and the Royal Institute
Royal institute
Royal Institute may refer to the following, among other institutions:* Royal Institute of Technology* Royal Institute of British Architects* Royal National Institute of Blind People* Royal Institute of Thailand* Royal Archaeological Institute...
in London. On a short visit to Australia in 1927 she exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries
Macquarie Galleries
Macquarie Galleries was a Sydney, Australia 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....
in Sydney and the Fine Arts Gallery in Melbourne. In 1938 four of her oils were shown at the sesquicentennial exhibition at the NSW National Art Gallery.
On her death in 1939, her paintings were left to her companion Rachel Dunn, who sent some 40 to Agnes's family in Australia and others to Australian galleries.
Goodsir's work showed strong composition and technique, favouring oils over watercolours. Despite turning out a large number of still lifes and interiors, her forté was in her portraits, including Katharine Goodson
Katharine Goodson
Katharine Goodson was an English pianist.Born in Watford, Goodson studied the piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London; she also worked with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. Her London debut took place on January 16, 1897. The tours of Europe which followed placed her in the front rank of...
, Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Ellen Terry
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, Banjo Patterson, Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, Dame Eadith Walker, Countess Pinci and, reportedly, Italian leader Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. The Goodsir Scholarship of the Bendigo Art Gallery
Bendigo Art Gallery
Bendigo Art Gallery in Bendigo, founded in 1887, is one of Australia’s oldest and largest regional art galleries. The Bendigo Art Gallery hosts Australia's richest open painting prize, the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, worth $50,000, which was launched in 2003.- Prizes :* Arthur Guy Memorial...
is named in memory of her.