Jane Rebecca Price (18 February 1860 – 24 May 1948) was an Australian painter who was a foundation member of the

Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known as ...

. Two of her works have been acquired by the

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

and two by the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

. She was a close associate of members of the group of painters known as the

Heidelberg school The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and Walter ...

Early life

Price was born in

Cheddar, Somerset Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells, south-east of Weston-super-Mare and south-west of Bristol. The civil parish includ ...

, England, on 18 February 1860."Jane Price", ''Design & Art Australia Online'', 2017, viewed 14 March 2020, daao.org.au/bio/jane-price. Her father, William Thomas Price, was a clergyman, her mother was Rebecca Jane Evans; she had five siblings.Hammond, V and Peers, J 1992, ''Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the Heidelberg Era'', Artmoves, Hawthorn East, Victoria, Australia, p.61. Price trained as an artist at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

(RCA) in London (then called the South Kensington Art School).MacKenzie, A 2000, “Jane Price Biography”, ''In the artist’s footsteps'', Medialaunch Pty Ltd, viewed 12 March 2020, Artistsfootsteps.com/html/Price_biography.htm.

Career

Jane Price Children playing in a landscape

At the age of 20, Price migrated from England to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, then moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

two years later. She returned to Sydney several times (1907–1910, 1925, 1935) but lived chiefly in Melbourne's suburbs, spending her final 13 years in St. Kilda, at the house of her friend Ina Gregory, another artist who is associated with the Heidelberg school. Price continually painted throughout her life, but, needing an income and somewhere to live, also worked as a governess, which reduced her productivity as an artist. She was a governess for artists Alexander and Beatrix Colquhoun from 1903, and later for Frederick and Annie McCubbin. Her paintings were exhibited by the

Victorian Artists Society The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and Art museum, gallery hire art gallery, exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Acad ...

between 1882 and 1906, and at other places in Melbourne. Price enjoyed life-long friendship with artists who were central to the circle that came to be known as the Heidelberg school. Amongst her closest associates were

Jane Sutherland Jane Sutherland (26 December 1853 – 25 July 1928) was an Australian landscape painter who was part of the pioneering plein-air movement in Australia, and a member of the Heidelberg School. Her advocacy to advance the professional standing of f ...

, Clara Southern,

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...

and

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 ...

. Hammond and Peers record that Price is mentioned in a letter written by McCubbin to Roberts noting that he was pleased to see that "Janey Price did very well" in an exhibition held at McCubbin's house in Shipley St, South Yarra, in 1906. A number of her paintings were sold at the exhibition, according to Hammond and Peers.

Death and legacy

Price died on 24 May 1948 at the age of 88, living in the house shared with her friend and fellow artist, Ina Gregory. Jane Price Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in her honour. Since her death there have been several exhibitions that have included her work, for example: ::*1988 ''The Australian Impressionists: Their Origins and Influences'', Lauraine Diggins, North Caulfield ::*1992 ''Completing the Picture: Women Artists of the Heidelberg Era'', travelling exhibition curated by Artmoves ::*1993 ''A Century of Australian Women Artists 1840s -1940s'', Deutscher Galleries, Melbourne Her work is represented in The National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of South Australia: ::*''The Patch, Kallista'', 1941 (inscribed on the reverse of the painting: “view from Tom Robert’s Studio”). Online
The Patch, Kallista by JR Price
::*''Sydney Harbour by Night'', c. 1910. Online
Sydney Harbour by Night by JR Price
::* ''A little 'un'', early 1890s and ''Spring clouds'' c. 1905. Online at:
''A little 'un'' and ''Spring clouds''
Works in Private collections: ::''Heidelberg'', n.d., Online

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jane 1860 births 1948 deaths 19th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Australian women painters English emigrants to colonial Australia Heidelberg School Artists from Somerset