“This work is one of two smaller portraits that I was inspired to paint after researching and learning so much about the women artists of the time who were painting and practicing here in Mosman, but unable to be members of or even visit the “Artists Camps” (which were for the boys only!). Two of these women artists were particularly very impressive to me, Hilda Rix Nicholas and Ethel Carrick Fox, both with very strong connections to other women artists throughout their lives and they themselves celebrated the work and lives of women that was often overlooked. They were both such intrepid adventurers and “modernists” and I was inspired as a fellow female ‘expressionist/colourist’ painter by their wonderful skill, technique and beautiful, fresh and vivid paintings. They are also such artistic role models, ahead of their time, for their fearlessness, determination, commitment and achievements, despite their life circumstances, tragedies and the odds stacked against them. Such
interesting and courageous women! I was lucky to access the Mosman & State Library archives and to visit the current retrospective exhibition at the NGA of Ethel Carrick’s work.
Unfortunately, there are very limited photos of either woman, so I of course took artistic licence and “invented” my portraits based on the information & images available. I really wanted to celebrate them, bring them back into the Mosman context and focus on the female perspective especially their hidden, clandestine presence and the constraints that they were subjected to here.” – Jo Bertini