Artistic Identity in the Published Writings of Margaret Thomas (C1840-1929)
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1993 Artistic identity in the published writings of Margaret Thomas (c1840-1929) Lynn Patricia Brunet University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] ARTISTIC IDENTITY IN THE PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF MARGARET THOMAS (cl840-1929) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree MASTERS (HONOURS) from THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by LYNN PATRICIA BRUNET B.C.A. (Hons) SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS 1993 CERTIFICATION I certify that this work has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference has been made in the text. Lynn P. Brunet 30 December 1993 ARTISTIC IDENTITY IN THE PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF MARGARET THOMAS (c!840-1929) ABSTRACT Margaret Thomas (c 1840-1929) practised painting and sculpture in a professional capacity in both Australia and England. She was the first woman in Australia to practise sculpture professionally and has been recorded as such in the annals of Australian art history. Her published writings provide insight into the subjective experience of a woman artist at a point in history when women were beginning to emerge into the professional practice of art. Her writings span a number of literary genres, from poetry, biography and short stories to travel and art historical writing. This thesis uses her published writings, together with a brief oudine of her career, as a case study of the emergence of women into the professional practice of art. It focuses on the development of her artistic identity. The study reveals that the woman artist’s shift from an amateur to a professional status was not accomplished in a single decisive step. It suggests that the woman artist did not immediately abandon her historical link with her role as an accomplished amateur but that while tentatively placing one foot in the professional sphere she wove her traditional role meaningfully together with her new role. The thesis argues that the woman artist of the late nineteenth century used the framework of the amateur tradition to create a support matrix of identity from which to venture into the unknown of art as profession. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Plates 1. Introduction 1 2. Amateur or Professional? Margaret Thomas’ Cultural Milieu 16 3. Charles Summers, “A Hero of the Workshop” 41 4. The Lady Artist and “The Story of a Photograph” 62 5. The Wandering Professional: Travel and the Lady Artist 80 6. Writing About Painting and Sculpture: Margaret Thomas’ Art Manuals 104 7. Poetry: A Painter’s Pastime 123 8. Conclusion 140 Appendix 1 145 Appendix 2 147 Bibliography 149 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For inspiration, encouragement and support over the lengthy period of research and writing I am indebted to the following people: to my supervisor, Sue Rowley, for her patience, calm assurance and support over the long and sometimes emotionally trying period of searching for and articulating a thesis, and for her wonderful example as a professional woman; to Christine Downer for her generous offer of material pertaining to Margaret Thomas; to Associate Professor Dorothy Jones for allowing me to try out my ideas on students in her women’s studies classes, and for the chance to discuss feminism as a tutor with her students; to Professor Barry Conyngham for my ongoing employment while I pursued this task; to Sheila Hall for her assistance with many aspects of the documentation; to Lindsay Duncan for shared experiences of the trials of thesis writing; to Merlinda Bobis for her stimulating discussions of feminism; to Kate Morris for her example of persistance in the face of difficulties; to Donna Marcus for valuable and relevant material; to Deborah Edwards and Amanda Hart who gave me their time before I knew where I was going; and to the staff of the State Library of Victoria and the State Library of New South Wales. Lastly, to my family members, Monica and Kevin McSweeney for their continual support and Alice and Daniel Brunet, who were so happy when it was over. And, in a retrospective acknowledgement, to Margaret Thomas herself, who has inspired me, frustrated me, angered me, disappointed me, become part of me, and taught me about the complex experience of being both an artist and a woman. LIST OF PLATES “Jerusalem by Evening Light with the Mount of Olives to Left” from Two Years in Palestine and Syria 8 Portrait of Charles Summers 40 “The Jaffa Gate, or Babel Khalil, the Gate of the Friend of Hebron” from Two Years in Palestine and Syria 85 “A Spanish Peasant” from A Scamper Through Spain and Tangier 88 “Snake Charmer” from A Scamper Through Spain and Tangier 90 “The Wailing Place of the Jews at the Ancient Wall of the Temple” from Two Years in Palestine and Syria 90 “Moses ben Abraham, the Rabbi of the Karaite Jews” from Two Years in Palestine and Syria 90 “Fountain, Patio de las Naranjas, Cordoba” from A Scamper Through Spain and Tangier 94 “A Spanish Girl” from A Scamper Through Spain and Tangier 95 “Paca” from A Scamper Through Spain and Tangier 102 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Margaret Thomas (cl840-1929) was the first Australian woman to practise sculpture in a professional capacity and the first woman to win the silver medal for modelling at the Royal Academy. She was also a professional painter and later in her career she became a published writer producing a number of books ranging from biography, poetry and short stories to travel writing and art history. During her lifetime she saw major changes in the colonial Australian and British societies in which she lived. Among the changes most relevant to her artistic practice was that involving a shift in public intellectual life from an amateur to a professional base. The negotiation of her identity in these shifting conditions was complex, involving confusing adjustments between contradictory values. Her published writings provide insight into her subjective experience as a woman artist and reveal much about her process of identity formation. They suggest the degree and depth of the adjustments made by a woman to compensate for the internalised barriers imposed by a patriarchal construction of the role of the artist. This dissertation will investigate Margaret Thomas’ published writings as a case study of the emergence of women into the professional practice of art. The study reveals that the woman artist’s shift from an amateur to a professional status was not accomplished in a single decisive step. It suggests that the woman artist did not immediately abandon her historical link with her role as an accomplished amateur but that while tentatively placing one foot in the professional sphere she wove her traditional role meaningfully together with her new role. The thesis will argue that the woman artist of the late nineteenth century used the framework of the amateur tradition to create a support matrix of identity from which to venture into the unknown domain of art as profession. This identity matrix could also act as a buffer if her projected professional success (the fame that many women artists craved and which the future canon of art history would deny) were not achieved. The span of Margaret Thomas’ career from her early training in the 1850s until the 1920s parallels a marked shift, not only in the position of women in the artistic professions, but also in the development of the professions in general. In the 1850s the amateur intellectual or artist was accorded a prominent position in the 2 formation of colonial Australian culture and also in Victorian culture as a whole. However, from the 1870s the well respected amateur was beginning to be supplanted by the trained professional. As Deirdre David notes, towards the end of the century “intellectual life itself became a profession where before it had been a gentlemanly hobby.”1 The middle class notion of the professions, as it was emerging in the latter half of the nineteenth century, as a single-minded pursuit of a discrete area of knowledge, was not a useful model for the woman artist.