May Vale (18 November 1862 – 6 August 1945) 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 Aus ...

painter and enamelist. She was reportedly the first women to be elected a member of the Buonarotti Society.

Biography

Vale was born in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, the daughter of the Hon. W.M.K. Vale, on 18 November 1862.

Training

Her family moved to Melbourne 1872 then to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England in 1874, where Vale was educated at the South Kensington School (

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 ...

) in London. During 1879-1889, after returning 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 ...

, she attended the National Gallery Art Schools, studying under Oswald Rose Campbell,

George Folingsby George Frederick Folingsby (23 August 1828 – 4 January 1891) was an Irish-born Australian painter and art educator. Folingsby was born in the County of Wicklow, Ireland. At the age of 18 he emigrated to Canada. Later he went to New York City w ...

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 ...

. Student colleagues at the school included

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 ...

and Clara Southern. Returning to London, she enrolled at the Linton School under Sir James Linton P.R.I. and Henry J. Stock R.I. then at

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

in Paris for six months, under

Jules Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French Painting, painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des ...

and

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

Australia

Back in Melbourne where her address in the 1890s was "Mayfield", Church Street, Abbotsford, Vale exhibited with 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 ...

in nearby

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ce ...

from 1892. In 1893 opened a studio at 119

Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertically bisects Melbourne's city centre and is famous as the wor ...

where she gave art lessons and worked as a commissioned portrait painter. She was said to be the first woman to join the Buonarotti Society, though there are other claimants including Alice Cherry (née Brotherton) in 1883, and she also joined the Yarra Sculptors' Society. In 1895 Vale set up an art school in the Flinders Buildings, 304 Flinders Street, where she taught ''plein air'' painting. One of her students was

Alice Marian Ellen Bale Alice Marian Ellen Bale, known as A. M. E. Bale, (11 November 1875 14 February 1955) was an Australian artist, the editor of the Victorian Artists' Society's journal ''VAS'' and a foundation member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. In ...

. Moving to Sydney in 1899, she exhibited with the Royal Art Society of New South Wales. To study enamelling May returned to London's Chelsea Polytechnic Institute. in about 1906 and there met and married Alex Gilfillan on 20 August 1908. Meanwhile in the 1907

Australian Exhibition of Women's Work The first Australian Exhibition of Women's Work was a national exhibition held over thirty-nine days in 1907 in Melbourne, and in the seventh year of the country's Federation of Australia, Federation. The exhibition was a celebration of the creat ...

her 1904 oil ''Spring at Mayfield,'' was shown. At the Society of Artists Exhibition, Sydney in 1919 she displayed enamelware brooches in techniques learned at the Chelsea Polytechnic.

Style

Throughout her life Vale exhibited at venues including the

, the Women's Art Club, the

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

, and held a one-woman show in 1927 at Queens Hall. Her intimist interpretation of Heidelberg School impressionist techniques is compared favourably with that of other women artists Jane Sutherland, Clara Southern and Jane Price.

Legacy

Vale died on 6 August 1945 in Melbourne, pre-deceased by her husband. Her works are in the collections of 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 ...

, the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

Gallery

File:Vale, May (1862-1945) Faith learning her lesson, 1898.jpg, ''Faith learning her lesson'', 1898 File:Vale, May (1862-1945) Portrait of David Syme, c.1892.jpg, ''

David Syme David Syme (2 October 1827 – 14 February 1908) was a Scotland, Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of ''The Age'' and regarded as "the father of Protectionism, protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victor ...

'' file:MayVale THE ORCHARD (SPRING AT MAYFIELD), c. 1904.jpg, ''The Orchard (Spring at Mayfield)'', c. 1904 File:Vale, May (1862-1945) Girl reading.jpg, Girl Reading

References

External links

images of May Vale's paintings
on Australian Art Auction Records

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vale, May 1862 births 1945 deaths 19th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian artists Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Ballarat People from the Colony of Victoria