![]() |
| Home | NLA Home | |
![]() |
The Collection
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 Rowans estate for an asking price of £20 000.
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 Rowans 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.
Over 400 of her paintings have been digitised, and can be viewed on the Librarys 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 Rowans watercolours live in Solander boxes in the Librarys 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
|
|
| Links | Merchandise | Downloads | Comments | Help | Bibliography | ||