National Library of Australia
The Flower Hunter | Ellis Rowan

The Collection

Lamiodendron magnificum  c.1916–1917 On 24 August 1923, the Australian House of Representatives tackled the question: ‘What is art?’ The issue was raised by the then treasurer, Dr Earle Page, whose particular interest lay in what might be considered as a reasonable price to pay for it. The debate became wide-ranging, forthright and increasingly frank.

The cause of these lively exchanges was the Marian Ellis Rowan Collection of over 900 paintings of Australian and New Guinean wildflowers and birds, which had recently been offered to the Australian people by Ellis Rowan’s estate for an asking price of £20 000.

Some surprising comments were made during the debate. The Treasurer quoted Norman Lindsay, the enthusiastic painter of voluptuous nudes, as condemning Mrs Rowan’s flower paintings as ‘vulgar’. Some of the parliamentarians complained that they would not be getting enough art for their money. Others, such as the Treasurer—passing on Julian Ashton’s view ‘that the purchase by the Federal Government of 900 pictures by any one artist, even if the artist were a Velasquez, would be a grave error’—clearly thought they were getting too much art for their money. Among Mrs Rowan’s supporters were Sir Granville Ryrie, who strongly recommended her as ‘a friend of my family’, and Mr Anstey, who happily likened her to Rembrandt.

[Dendrobium discolor]  c.1887 Parliament eventually agreed on a price of £5000 for the paintings, and they became the property of the Commonwealth. They are now part of the National Library’s Pictures Collection, and form the largest collection of Ellis Rowan’s work in public hands. (The Library’s Manuscript Collection also includes Ellis Rowan’s cuttings book at MS 2203; and a number of her letters at MS 2206.)

Like all acquisitions seen with the hindsight of a number of decades, the Ellis Rowan Collection now appears an extraordinary bargain. Time has also allowed a calmer assessment of the significance of her work. Though art historians place her in the category of talented illustrator, and scientists quietly point out that her paintings lack the details of truly botanical art, her work mirrored the attitude of many Australians who were, from the 1880s onwards, coming to understand and appreciate Australian native plants and animals. In a speech at the opening of an exhibition of Ellis Rowan’s work in Sydney in 1920, the Governor Sir Walter Davidson had commended her work as:

a delight and instruction to future generations … before many of those beautiful birds become extinct … and the flowers disappear beneath the heels of civilization.

An anonymous supporter, commenting on a series of 125 flower paintings earlier purchased by the Queensland Government in 1912, had written that:

After seeing the wonderful collection painted by Mrs Rowan I love and admire them more than ever. Many of them are new to me and to many others in Southern Queensland. Ordinary people have even now little opportunity of seeing them in their native habitat.

Crinum sp. [Lily] c.1887 The Australians who responded to her paintings, then as now, were reacting emotionally to her selection of strange and beautiful objects, and to her use of colour. Ellis Rowan helped many European Australians see their country’s flowers for the first time. She also confirmed the enthusiasm of those who were coming to feel a connection with the Australian landscape. 

Over 400 of her paintings have been digitised, and can be viewed on the Library’s Pictures Catalogue (www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures) by entering the search term ‘Ellis Rowan’.

When not required for exhibition or examination in the Reading Room, Ellis Rowan’s watercolours live in Solander boxes in the Library’s picture stacks, where constant temperature and humidity help ensure that her elegant and colourful records of the flowers, birds and insects of Australia and New Guinea will delight people for centuries to come.

Linda Groom

Pictures Librarian