Dora Beatrice Serle (1875–1968), was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

painter. She was the president of the

Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, established in Melbourne, Victoria in 1902, is the oldest surviving women's art group in Australia. History The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (MSWPS) began in 1902 as ...

from 1933–1934.

Biography

Serle was born on 2 September 1875 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia. She studied at the National Gallery school where she was taught by Phillips Fox, Jane Sutherland, and

Walter Withers Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists. Biography Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the s ...

. She attended the Gallery School with her sister Elsie Barlow. In 1902 Serle travelled to Paris, France, where she was exposed to the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

, which influenced her subsequent work. In 1910 she married the scholar

Percival Serle Percival Serle (18 July 1871 – 16 December 1951) was an Australian biographer and bibliographer. Early life Serle was born in Elsternwick, Victoria to English parents who had migrated as children and for many years worked in a life assurance ...

(1871–1951). In 1922 she gave birth to their third child,

Geoffrey Serle Alan Geoffrey Serle (10 March 1922 – 27 April 1998), known as Geoff, was an Australian historian, who is best known for his books on the colony of Victoria; ''The Golden Age'' (1963) and ''The Rush to be Rich'' (1971) and his biographies of J ...

, an historian and Rhodes Scholar. Serle was a member of the

Victorian Artists Society The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and gallery hire exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Academy of Arts (previously Vi ...

, the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors and the Lyceum Club. She died on 10 September 1968 at Hawthorn, Melbourne. Hacke Place in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in her honour and that of her younger sister Elsie Barlow, the misspelling of their maiden name being gazetted in 1988.

Exhibitions

* 1943, from 1 December; Inclusion in a group show of ninety-one paintings and etchings with

Arnold Shore Arnold Joseph Victor Shore (5 May 1897, Windsor, – 22 May 1963, Melbourne) was an Australian painter, teacher and critic. Biography Shore was the youngest of seven children of John Shore, a coachsmith, and his wife Harriett Sarah, née McDo ...

Max Meldrum Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwa ...

, John Rowell, Jas. Quinn, John Farmer, Mary Hurry, Allan Jordan, Margaret Pestell,

Dora Wilson Dora Lynnell Wilson (31 August 1883 – 21 November 1946) was a British-born Australian artist, best known in her adopted country of Australia for her etchings and street scenes. Early life Dora Lynnell Wilson was born on 31 August 1883 in New ...

, Isabel Tweddle, Aileen Dent,

Murray Griffin Vaughan Murray Griffin (11 Nov 1903 – 29 January 1992) was an Australian print maker and painter. Life and work Commonly known as Murray Griffin, he was born in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern to Vaughan and Ethel Griffin. He spent most of h ...

, Geo. Colville, and Victor Cog. Hawthorn Library.

Legacy

Serle's paintings are in the collections of the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in t ...

and the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...

References

External links

images of Dora Serle's paintings
on MutualArt
Dora Serle
ustralian art and artists file ''

State Library Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Serle, Dora Beatrice 1875 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Australian women artists 19th-century Australian women artists Australian women painters 19th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian painters Artists from Melbourne