WATERHOUSE, PHYL (1917-1989)

“Exhibition Gardens, Melbourne” (1949)
Oil on board
66 x 91cm
Signed lower left
*exhibited at John Martin Art Gallery, Adelaide, 1949
*special mention in ‘The Mail’ & ‘News’, Adelaide, 1949
*ex Art Gallery Of South Australia Collection
 
Waterhouse studied drawing and painting under W. B. McInnes and Charles Wheeler at the National Gallery School. Here she met fellow student, and future husband, artist Charles Bush. Waterhouse had her first one-woman exhibition at Georges Gallery in 1946. She was twice winner of the Crouch Prize and Women's Weekly Prize. Waterhouse is widely represented in most Australian National Galleries and other important private institutions. 
 
This substantial oil was completed in the Exhibition Gardens in Melbourne, and one can see the Hochgurtel Fountain outside the Royal Exhibition Building in the background right of the painting. It was exhibited at John Martin Art Gallery in Adelaide in November 1949, and received accolades from 'The Mail' and 'News' Newspapers in Adelaide, who dubbed her 'The Australian Utrillo': "Exhibition Gardens (is painted) in shimmering sunlight by the judicious use of an interesting technical device which does not unduly obtrude". Also, "Exhibition Gardens... is an excellent experimental study in the early style of the 19th century French School”. As a result, this work was acquired by the Art Gallery Of South Australia alongside a work from her husband, Charles Bush.