Ethel Carrick
7 Dec 2024 – 27 Apr 2025
Level 1, Gallery 12
Free
'It’s people who attract me. Crowds are to me what a magnet is to a needle. I love the colour, life, movement, and individuality of a crowd.'
About
Ethel Carrick (1872–1952) was a pioneering artist who forged new ground in the early twentieth century with her bold and vibrant post-impressionist works. She was a truly transnational artist who was born in Britain and lived and worked primarily in France and Australia.
Her art has often been considered in the light of her husband, Australian artist Emanuel Phillips Fox. However, they were married for only ten years, due to his untimely passing, and she continued to create art for several decades. This retrospective covers the full spectrum of Carrick’s career, including her rich and diverse output during her extensive travels through Europe, India and North Africa, providing an opportunity to better understand the distinctive nature of her artistic contribution, nationally and internationally.
Comprising 140 works, this will be the first retrospective of Carrick’s work for nearly half a century and an opportunity to assess her work in a new light.
The exhibition is accompanied by a significant publication led by Dr Deborah Hart, Head Curator of Australian Art, and with contributions from Angela Goddard, Denise Mimmocchi, Emma Kindred, Rebecca Blake, Jenny McFarlane, Catherine Speck and Juliette Peers.
Ethel Carrick | Anne Dangar is a Know My Name project, the National Gallery initiative celebrating the work of all women artists to enhance understanding of their contribution to Australia’s cultural life.
The National Gallery gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Exhibition Patron, the Lansdowne Foundation; Publication Partner, the Gordon Darling Foundation; Supporting Patron, Roslyn Packer AO; and Exhibition Supporters Fiona Martin-Weber and Tom Hayward.
Curator: Dr Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art
Works of Art
Events
Tours
KIDS & FAMILIES ART TRAIL
Collect your free family art trail when you visit the exhibition and delve into Ethel Carrick's works of art and create your own along the way.
AUDIO TOUR
Join art historian, curator, broadcaster and international bestselling author Katy Hessel as she leads this audio tour through exhibitions Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar.
Publication
Ethel Carrick explores and celebrates this remarkable artist who contributed significantly to Australian and international art for over 50 years. This publication accompanies the National Gallery exhibition Ethel Carrick, the most comprehensive retrospective of her work date.
Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australian Art, passionately guides the reader through an absorbing, thorough and richly visual exploration of Carrick's life and art. This is supported by seven focus essays from Rebecca Blake, Angela Goddard, Emma Kindred, Jenny McFarlane, Denise Mimmocchi, and Juliette Peers, covering such diverse topics as Carrick’s 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.
Featuring new research illuminating an artist who has been too long overshadowed, this stunning volume features a modern design and bursts with colour, complementing Carrick's oeuvre. The inclusion of very generously illustrated large reproductions and details of paintings allow the reader to appreciate their stunning detail to full effect.
PUBLISHING DECEMBER 2024
288 pages
310 x 240mm
full colour | hardback
RRP A$79.95*
ISBN 9780642335104
*Members discount available for publication purchases made at the Gallery in the Art Store only.
Ethel Carrick's circles of connection
Over the five decades of Ethel Carrick’s productive artistic career, from 1902 until 1952, she developed close friendships and connections with women artists—she exhibited with women’s groups, including Les Quelques (The Few) in France and the Melbourne Society of Women Sculptors and Painters in Australia.
Many of these women have disappeared from broad public recognition, including Martha Stettler and Alice Dannenberg, early directors of the famous art school Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.
While Canadian Emily Carr, who Carrick met in the artists' colony of St Ives in Cornwall, is known in her home country, she also deserves wider international recognition. Carrick formed enduring bonds with many Australian artists including Ethel Stephens, Sybil Craig, Violet Teague and Ola Cohn, all of whom made significant artistic contributions.
As part of the National Gallery’s Know My Name initiative, learn more about the achievements of the women artists in Ethel Carrick’s circle.
Emily Carr
Emily Carr (1871–1945) was a Canadian artist who developed a passion for the landscapes of British Columbia and a keen interest in First Nations culture.
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Edna Clarke Hall
Like Carrick, the artist Edna Clarke Hall (1879–1979) was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art. Among her significant works are strikingly expressive drawings in ink and watercolour inspired by Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights.
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Ola Cohn
Ola Cohn (1892–1964) and Carrick were both members of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (MSWPS). An exhibition of her work in 1931 established her as one of the most significant modernist sculptors in this country.
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Amalie Colquhoun
Amalie Colquhoun (1894–1974) was renowned for her portraits of women and children, which demonstrate keen observation, directness and fluency.
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Ethel Stephens
Ethel Stephens (1864–1944) developed an enduring friendship with Carrick. A keen printmaker and painter, focussing on still lifes, landscapes and portraits, Stephens was a staunch advocate for women artists.
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Violet Teague
Violet Teague (1872–1951) was a talented painter and printmaker. When Teague died in 1951, Carrick fondly recalled her as ‘my oldest Melbourne friend’.
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