Ethel Carrick

Peta's Review 

Ethel Carrick
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
7th December 2024 – 27th April 2025

Now showing at the NGA in Canberra is a major exhibition of the life and work of the painter Ethel Carrick (1872-1952). The NGA has amassed a total of 140 of Carrick’s paintings from state art galleries and private collections to offer the first retrospective of her work in over 50 years. The exhibition is another one of the Gallery’s Know My Name initiatives, designed to highlight and celebrate the work of women artists who have contributed to Australia’s cultural history and society.

Ethel Carrick was born in Britain and lived and worked in France and Australia. In 1905 she married the Australian artist Emanual Phillips Fox; the couple lived in Paris until 1913, at which time he brought Carrick to Australia. They travelled and painted together, until Fox died after only ten years of marriage. After her husband’s death, Carrick became the custodian of his legacy, and also began two decades of travel that took her through the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. She returned intermittently to Australia to exhibit her work and go out on painting expeditions around the country, until her own death in 1952. While the painting techniques of she and her husband diverged in many ways, their work focused on women, especially working women.

I have long been a fan of Ethel Carrick, not only of her paintings but also for her pioneering work promoting women’s art and artists. One obituary noted how right till her death, Carrick maintained her keen interest in promoting and supporting the work of the younger generation of Australian artists, especially women.

A student at the Slade School of Fine Art, Carrick is one of the first post-Impressionist painters. It’s her use of colour and movement which captivates me the most. She vibrantly documents daily life, especially women at work and children at play. Two of my favourite pieces are Christmas Day on Manly Beach (1913) and The Market (1919). As Exhibition curator Dr Deborah Hart writes of the latter: This remarkable painting, with its mastery of dappled light, dress details, and depth and richness of colour convey[s] an overall sense of the joy in being alive.

Carrick’s paintings are vibrant, colourful and full of movement. Her canvasses reveal broad strong brush strokes, spacious foregrounds, clusters of people engaging in daily activities, and movement which feels like it extends beyond the parameters of the canvas. Her use of light and dappled shade shows that there is light even in the shadows.

If you have the opportunity to travel to Canberra before April, a visit to the exhibition would be an absolute treat. But if this isn’t possible, buying the accompanying publication is perhaps the next best thing. With an extensive Foreword by curator Dr Deborah Hart, seven essays by Carrick historians and hundreds of reproductions of Carrick’s paintings, it is a virtual visit to the NGA which you can enjoy from the comfort of your favourite armchair.

Publisher's Review 

Ethel Carrick explores and celebrates this remarkable artist who contributed significantly to Australian and international art for over 50 years. Carrick's work radiates with luminous light, colour and energy; predominantly focusing on crowds, in all their diversity and interconnection. This publication will accompany the National Gallery exhibition Ethel Carrick, which will be the first retrospective of her work in over 40 years, the most comprehensive to date, and will shine new light on her life and works.

Carrick (18721952) was a truly transnational artist who was born in Britain and lived and worked primarily in France and Australia. She was one of the first post-impressionist artists to exhibit in Australia, and yet her significant artistic contributions and amazing life story are not known to a wide audience.

Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art, passionately guides the reader through an absorbing, thorough and richly visual exploration of Ethel's life and art. Supported by seven focus essays, expert contributors cover such diverse topics as her affectionate and iconic portrayals of Manly Beach and the modern surfer girl, her North African travels, and her remarkable artistic records and philanthropy during World War II. This publication includes new research illuminates an artist who has been too long overshadowed.

Bursting with the vibrant colour that so characterises her work, this gorgeous volume is designed with Carrickesque modernity. Very generously illustrated large reproductions and details of paintings allow the reader to appreciate their stunning detail to full effect.