Bertha Merfield (1869–1921) was an Australian painter and muralist. She was a founding member of the

Twenty Melbourne Painters Society Twenty Melbourne Painters Society is an Australian arts organisation that was established in 1918. The group split from the Victorian Artists Society to follow the Australian Tonalist Max Meldrum. Membership is restricted to 20 and is upon invitat ...

Biography

Merfield was born in

West Melbourne, Victoria West Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Melbourne Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. West Melbourne reco ...

on 30 January 1869 to Thomas and Isabella (née Wardman) Merfield. She studied at the

Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London, England and the

National Gallery of Victoria Art School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Gallery ...

. She made generous loans of works from her collection to the inaugural exhibition of Castlemaine Art Gallery in 1913, including paintings by Tudor St George Tucker, Alexander Colquhoun,

George Clausen Sir George Clausen (18 April 1852 – 22 November 1944) was a British artist working in oil and watercolour, etching, mezzotint, dry point and occasionally lithographs. He was knighted in 1927. Biography George Clausen was born at 8 William S ...

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

and Blamire Young. She was a member of the London Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera. In 1916 her mural for the Cafe Australia in Melbourne received public acclaim. The building was demolished in 1938. Merfield was a founding member of the

. Merfield died on 20 September 1921 in Melbourne.

References

External links

Balcony and mural in the main dining hall, Café Australia, Melbourne

Catalogue of an exhibition of decorative panels by Miss Bertha E. Merfield

Resource list on ''Trove'' (National Library of Australia) for Merfield, Bertha E. (1869-1921)
1869 births 1921 deaths 19th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian women artists Australian muralists Australian women painters Australian women muralists 19th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian painters Artists from Melbourne Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art People from West Melbourne, Victoria National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni Colony of Victoria people {{australia-artist-stub