Estelle Mary (Jo) Sweatman (1872-1956), was an Australian painter. 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 ...

Early life and training

Sweatman was born in South Yarra 1872. She took drawing classes at a suburban ladies' college, and was recommended by her teacher to join the

National Gallery 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 ...

, where she studied for two years under Frederick McCubbin. She also studied painting while at the school with Bernard Hall.

Career

Sweatman taught at Melbourne Girls Grammar, where Clarice Beckett was one of her pupils. She was initially involved with the Victorian Artists' Society but her support for Max Meldrum eventually led to her being ousted along with friend

A.M.E. Bale Alice Marian Ellen Bale, known as A.M.E. Bale, (11 November 1875 14 February 1955) was an Australian artist. Early life and education Bale was born in Richmond, Victoria, on 11 November 1875 ''Victoria, Australia, Cemetery Records and Head ...

. She started her career painting portraits but her love of nature and a move to Warrandyte prompted a concentration on landscape, as reported of her 1929 exhibition at the Melbourne Athenaeum in '' The Cairns Post'';

Miss Jo Sweatman, the Melbourne artist, is one who delights to paint the beauties of nature as she finds them on a bush track. There is no gainsaying that some of these bits of sunlight and shade round the gum trees make very attractive landscapes. In Miss Sweatman's recent exhibition at the Athenaeum there were on view "White Gums" and views of more distant tree topped ranges. Warrandyte, a little township on thc Yarra, has for some time been the happy hunting ground of artists, for it has many a beauty spot, and here Miss Sweatman has gone for some of her best bush scenes. Figures and flowers were included in the exhibition but probably most people would covet most one of the bush scenes which are so truly Australian.

Building her house 'The Kipsy' next door to fellow artist

Clara Southern Clara Southern (3 October 1860 – 15 December 1940) was an Australian artist associated with the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. She was active between the years 1883 and her death in 1940. Physically, Southern was ...

, they both took an active role in developing the artistic community in Warrandyte, Victoria. She helped establish annual art exhibitions with the Warrandyte Women's Auxiliary Association, serving on a committee of resident artists as secretary. Sweatman was a founding member of the group, ''

'', that was formed by students and followers of Australian Tonalist Max Meldrum. Sweatman was considered to be one of Australia's most famous painters of wattle. In 1922 Sweatman was a finalist for the Archibald Prize for her ''Portrait Miss A.M.E. Bale''. The same year

was a finalist with her portrait of ''Miss Jo Sweatman''. Sweatman died in 1956.

Exhibitions

* '' South Australian Society of Arts 9th annual exhibition,'' November 1906 * '' Victorian Artists' Society 18th annual exhibition,'' East Melbourne Galleries, October 1913 * ''Group exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, July 1919 * ''

Australian Art Association The Australian Art Association was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1912 by Edward Officer (inaugural president) John Mather, Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum and Walter Withers.Judy Blyth, Mather, John (1848? - 1916), ''Australian Dictionary ...

annual exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 1–15 October 1920 * ''Group exhibition (Jo Sweatman,

, Bernice Edwell)'', Athenaeum Gallery, November 1923 * ''

,'' Queen's Hall, November 1924 * ''

,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 15–29 September 1925 * ''Solo exhibition,'' Decoration Gallery, May 192
(catalogue)
* ''

8th annual exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 14–25 September 1926 * ''Jo Sweatman &

,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 28 March - 9 April 1927 * ''

10th annual exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, September 1928 * ''

11th annual exhibition,'' 24 September - 5 October 1929 * ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, April 1929 * ''Australian landscapes,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 9–20 May 1933 * ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 30 April - 11 May 193
(catalogue)
* ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, May 193
(catalogue)
* ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 18–29 May 1943 * ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 22 May - 2 June 1945 * ''

,'' Athenaeum Gallery, 3–14 September 1946 * ''Solo exhibition,'' Athenaeum Gallery, May 1947

References

Collections

Hamilton Gallery Hamilton Gallery is a public art gallery in the regional town of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. Hamilton Gallery's collection features gouache and watercolour pictures by English landscape painter Paul Sandby Paul Sandby (1731 – 7 No ...

, * Castlemaine Art Museum, * National Gallery of Victoria.

External links

Resources for Jo Sweatman
on Trove, National Library of Australia
Images of Jo Sweatman's paintings
on MutualArt
Jo Sweatman
Australian 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 the ...

''
Jo Sweatman
anuscriptbiography by Margaret Stephensen, ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweatman, Jo 1872 births 1956 deaths 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists 19th-century Australian women artists Archibald Prize finalists People from South Yarra, Victoria Painters from Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni