Jane Price

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. Two of her works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria and two by the Art Gallery of South Australia. She was a close associate of members of the group of painters known as the Heidelberg school.

Jane Rebecca Price
Born18 February 1860
Cheddar, Somerset, England
Died24 May 1948(1948-05-24) (aged 88)
St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
EducationRoyal College of Art
Known forPainting, Decorative arts

Early life

Price was born in Cheddar, Somerset, England, on 18 February 1860.[1] Her father, William Thomas Price, was a clergyman, her mother was Rebecca Jane Evans; she had five siblings.[2] Price trained as an artist at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London (then called the South Kensington Art School).[3]

Career

At the age of 20, Price migrated from England to Sydney, then moved to Melbourne 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.[1][3]

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.[2] Her paintings were exhibited by the Victorian Artists Society between 1882 and 1906, and at other places in Melbourne.[2]

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, Clara Southern, Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.[3] Hammond and Peers [2] record that Price is mentioned in a letter written by McCubbin to Roberts [4] 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.[2]

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.[2][5]

Jane Price Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in her honour.[6]

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 [3]
  • 1992 Completing the Picture: Women Artists of the Heidelberg Era, travelling exhibition curated by Artmoves [3]
  • 1993 A Century of Australian Women Artists 1840s -1940s, Deutscher Galleries, Melbourne [3]

Her work is represented in The National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of South Australia:

Works in Private collections:

Heidelberg, n.d., Online. Heidelberg, pastel

References
  1. "Jane Price", Design & Art Australia Online, 2017, viewed 14 March 2020, daao.org.au/bio/jane-price.
  2. Hammond, V and Peers, J 1992, Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the Heidelberg Era, Artmoves, Hawthorn East, Victoria, Australia, p.61.
  3. MacKenzie, A 2000, “Jane Price Biography”, In the artist’s footsteps, Medialaunch Pty Ltd, viewed 12 March 2020, Artistsfootsteps.com/html/Price_biography.htm.
  4. Tom Robert's Papers Vol.2, Mitchell Library, 1 December 1906.
  5. "Deaths". The Argus (Melbourne). 25 May 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  6. "National Memorial Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature Australian Capital Territory National Memorials Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Periodic (National : 1977–2011). 31 August 1988. p. 9. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
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