STONE, ALICE (1890-1962)

"Mixed Bunch" (c.1943)
oil on board
43 x 29.5cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Melbourne
 
Alice Maud Stone is a forgotten Australian Painter. The wife of chemist & dentist, Fred, Stone began a profession as an artist relatively late, when she enrolled at the National Gallery Art School in 1941, at age 50. She also studied under the legendary, pioneering Tonalist, Max Meldrum. She introduced her son, Alfred, to painting at a young age, taking him along to Meldrum's classes, and in turn he became an established Tonalist locally and abroad. Alice enjoyed immediate success as an artist as a multiple Archibald Prize Finalist in the 1940s, and also exhibited jointly with her son. She was member of the Victorian Artists' Society, where she became particularly well known for her still life paintings. She maintained a studio in her lavish Brighton house in Melbourne, which she adorned with her paintings and a vast collection of antiques and collectibles. Alice's life as a painter only lasted two decades, and as such her works are incredibly rare and sought after. This luminous still life, which has all the hallmarks of the Meldrum School, comes from a private Melbourne collection!!