Frances Mary Burke (10 January 1904 – 14 October 1994) was an Australian artist. She holds a significant place in the development of Australian design and evolution of printed textile design in Australia. She is recognised not only as a textile designer, but also as a design activist, homeware retailer, manufacturer and business woman.

Biography

Frances Mary Burke was born in Spotswood,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

on 10 January 1904. She was the youngest of three children of Francis Henry Burke, tailor's presser, and his wife Frances Veronica, née Brown, a former tailoress. Before taking up the opportunity to train in art and design, Burke had been a nurse at Mount St Evin's and Homoeopathic hospitals, qualifying as a registered nurse in 1927. By the early 1930s she was living with fellow nurse Frances Mary (Fabie) Chamberlin who was to remain her life partner and business partner. A small inheritance on the early death of her mother enabled Burke to leave her nursing vocation and follow her passion for art. Burke studied art at the National Gallery of Victoria school of drawing and at the

Melbourne Technical College The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by F ...

(now Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). Michael O'Connell was a great influence and he encouraged her enthusiasm for fabric printing. Burke was awarded scholarships in 1934, 1935 and 1936. In 1936 she attended George Bell’s art school, training with

Russell Drysdale Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala (Drysdale), Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennal ...

Peter Purves Smith Peter Purves Smith (26 March 191223 July 1949), born Charles Roderick Purves Smith, was an Australian painter. Born in Melbourne, Purves Smith studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London and under progressive art teacher George Bel ...

and life-long friend Maie Casey, later Baroness Casey and Vicereine of Bengal. Burke had gone on to design some of her first patterns after viewing the artworks of

Margaret Preston Margaret Rose Preston (29 April 1875 – 28 May 1963) was an Australian painter, printmaker and writer on art who is regarded as one of Australia's leading modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national ...

at the

Museum of Victoria Museums Victoria is an organisation that includes a number of museums and related bodies in Melbourne. These include Melbourne Museum, Immigration Museum, Scienceworks, IMAX Melbourne, a research institute, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roya ...

. Her design career started while she was still a student when she showed Pierre Fornari, fashion director of Georges, a prestigious department store in Melbourne, some of her designs..He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the 'lack of fashion textiles produced in Australia with an Australian character'. He was impressed with her original Australian-themed designs influenced by Australian artefacts she had seen in museums, and Fornari commissioned her to designs fabrics suitable for clothing for the fast emerging demand casual wear. Burke founded Burway Prints which specialised in print fabrics with fellow Melbourne Technical College graduate

Maurice Holloway Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

. While Burke designed, Holloway took charge of printing. Burway Prints was Australia’s first registered textile screen printmaking business. As early as 1938 her designs were being acknowledged as "an inspiration to all lovers of Australia nature". The Melbourne Age social column described her designs, on show at the 1938 Arts and Crafts exhibition. Designs included the use of 'the vivid red

waratah Australia’s famous waratah (genus ''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and Tasmania). The be ...

, a flower that adapts itself very well to the conventional designs, the

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and head ...

(or bottle brush), West Australian flannel flowers and the wattle in some most original patterns'. The writer concluded that the designs were "distinct and unusual" and advocated readers to support Australian designs and to consider putting "native designs" in domestic interiors, especially when they were so attractive. With the limited supply of imported fabrics, Burke's career took off during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. One of Burke's most popular designs was the "Tiger Stripe" design, with a singular horizontal, curvilinear motif. It was originally created for author

Joan Lindsay Joan à Beckett Weigall, Lady Lindsay (16 November 189623 December 1984) was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist. Trained in her youth as a painter, she published her first literary work in 1936 at age forty under a ...

, and an example of this design can be viewed in the e-gallery below in the collection of the

Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explorin ...

. In 1944 Burke was commissioned by Maie Casey to create the Indian-inspired design "Bengal Tiger" for Casey to wear and she was photographed wearing her ensemble by

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

. In 1942 Burke established the new firm of Frances Burke Fabrics Pty Ltd with business and life partner Fabie Chamberlin.Papers of Frances Burke
National Gallery of Australia Research Library’s Archive Collection, MS42, boxes 1 and 2. The collection featured some of the best of post-war design and production methods. In the same year, Burke was commissioned to design fabrics for the new Australian Embassy in Washington. Burke opened her shop NEW Design Pty Ltd in 1948 in Melbourne, and the business operated in various locations until 1967. The shop stocked furnishings, fabrics, and domestic utensils designed in a

Modernist style Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture wa ...

, and also showcased furniture by noted Melbourne designers

Clement Meadmore Clement Meadmore (9 February 1929 – 19 April 2005) was an Australian-American furniture designer and sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures. Biography Born Clement Lyon Meadmore in Melbourne, Australia in 1929, Clement Meadmore ...

and

Grant Featherston Grant Stanley Featherston (17 October 1922 – 9 October 1995) was an Australian furniture designer whose chair designs in the 1950s became icons of the Atomic Age. He was born in Geelong, Victoria. In 1965 he married Mary Bronwyn Currey, an E ...

. In 1949, Burke felt the need to be "refreshed" and headed for a three month research tour of the United States. Burke travelled in her capacity as a member of the Provisional Council of Industrial Design as well as a designer of noted furnishing textiles. She went with the intention of acquiring the skills to stimulate Australian manufacturers' enterprise and production with new ideas. One of her main areas of interest was examining the way colour was used by American designers, including the use of colour in America to prevent accidents in workshops. On her return, "she had much to tell of the scientific development of design for the American home". She believed the designer "was an indispensable liaison officer between the manufacturer and the public, finding out what the public wanted and showing the manufacturer how to produce the desired article".

Later life

Burke, along with fellow artist Margaret Preston, promoted the development and acceptance of Australian themed designs. She was a member of professional design groups including the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

and the Society of Industrial Designers. Burke was a leader and promoter of objects and fabrics that represented mid-century modern design in Australia. She introduce vibrant colours and bold motifs that became definitive of Australian design. In 1957 she stated:

"Soft furnishings should be regarded as a unit of total interior design. Simplicity in design is therefore most necessary for the purpose of relating them to other units like wall coverings, furniture, etc."

In 1995, 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 th ...

celebrated

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

with the exhibition ''Women Hold Up Half The Sky'', celebrating the diversity of work produced by Australian women artists over the previous 150 years. Works included fabrics by Burke, paintings by

and textile art by

Olive Ashworth Olive Ashworth (1915 – 2000) was an Australian artist, textile designer and photographer. She is acknowledged as a significant contributor to Australian textile design during the 1950s. Collections Ashworth's works are held in the collectio ...

Commissions

Burke received many important commissions including: * Sir Reginald Ansett’s

Hayman Island Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The island is and lies to the north-west of Hook Island. It is a private island open to the public, most famous for its luxury resort which ...

Resort, 1949 * Australian embassies in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

* Hospitals in Metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria * Canberra Civic Theatre (now known as

Canberra Theatre Centre Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC), also known as the Canberra Theatre, is the Australian Capital Territory’s central performing arts venue and Australia's first performing arts centre, the first Australian Government initiated performing arts cen ...

Recognition

1970: Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to art and design 1987: Honorary Doctorate, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in recognition of her seminal and continuing influence on Australian design.

Legacy

In 1994, on the occasion of Burke’s death, her life-long companion and business partner, Fabie Chamberlin (died 2005) donated the contents of Burke’s studio to RMIT University. The collection consists of textile samples, photographs and design ephemera now located in the RMIT's Design Hub. The

also holds a collection of Burke's mid-century modern textiles which includes many designs that draw on the inspiration of Australian nature.

References

External links

E-gallery of textile designs:
Frances Burke Textile Resource Centre

Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences

National Gallery of Victoria

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Frances Mary 1904 births 1994 deaths Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists People from the City of Hobsons Bay National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni Artists from Melbourne Businesspeople from Melbourne 20th-century Australian businesspeople 20th-century Australian businesswomen RMIT University alumni