BARKER, CAROLINE (1894-1988)

"Girl In Evening Dress" (c.1940)
oil on board
70 x 46cm
signed upper right
*likely exhibited at the Royal Queensland Art Society.
*private collection, Brisbane
 
Barker is a forgotten, influential, award-winning Australian Portraitist & Instructor (Margaret Olley's muse). Barker studied painting at the National Gallery Art Schools under Bernard Hall and drawing with Frederick McCubbin. There she was awarded second prize for her monochrome painting in 1917, which provided her with a year's free tuition, enabling her to complete her studies in 1919. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, London under Frederick Cayley Robinson & Charles Sims, where she also studied anatomy and the chemistry of painting, & then at the Byam Shaw School of Art under Vicat Cole. During this period her works were added to the collections of the Royal Academy, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Paris Salon and the Byam Shaw. On her return to Australia, initially she worked in the studios of Vida Lahey & Daphne Mayo before establishing her own studio in George Street, Brisbane. She became one of the premier Portrait painters in the country, commissioned by high society, politicians & celebrities, & she was a multiple finalist in the Archibald Prize. She also became an influential instructor, teaching art to the likes of Margaret Cilento, John Rigby, Betty Churcher & Hugh Sawrey. Her most acclaimed student was Margaret Olley, whom she played a major role in the artist's development, & supported her early career. Her works are represented in several Major collections, particularly the Museum of Brisbane. This stunning example of Orientalism was likely exhibited at the Royal Queensland Art Society.