MIDDLETON, ELSIE (1876-1950)

"Little Miss Prim" (1918)
oil on canvas
116.5 x 59.5cm
signed on verso
*exhibited at the Society Of Women Painters, 1918
*private collection, Southern Highlands
 
Elsie Esther Middleton is a forgotten Australian Painter. Very little is known about her, except that she was a longtime exhibiting member of the Royal Art Society, the NSW Society Of Arts & Crafts and the Society Of Women Painters during the 1910s to 1930s; the latter she exhibited alongside the likes of Mabel Barling, Frank Payne, Mary Edwards, Hilda Rix Nicholas, Ethel Stephens, Alice M. Parsons, Violet Bowring, Laura Booth & Alice Norton. In 1926, she held a solo exhibition in the Pandora Library in Maitland. In 1927 she also contributed works to the short-lived Artists' Society Of Canberra, exhibiting alongside Jessie Traill, Ethel Spowers & Eveline Syme, . In 1931, The Telegraph called her on of the 'Top-of-the-basket exhibitors" for the Society Of Women Painters, reflecting her established, and revered reputation in her time. This is her first major work to come to market. Rediscovered in the Southern Highlands, this stunning portrait was originally exhibited at the Society Of Women Painters in March 1918. 
 
"Little Miss Prim" (No.81), depicting a serious-looking youngster sitting up and wearing an expression of "I mustn't get my dress dirty", is Elsie Middleton's contribution in oils, and shows character and tone" (The Sun, 12 March 1918)
 
"In the oil section, Elsie Middleton's "Little Miss Prim", a life-sized portrait of a charming, long-legged little girl, seems to dominate in an innocent, childish way the whole room." (The Australiasian, 23 March 1918)