Agnes Goodsir b. 1864 Portland, Victoria

Also known as:
  • Agnes Goodsir
  • Agnes Noyes Goodsir
  • Artist (Painter)
Alternating her residency between Paris, London and Melbourne, Agnes painted portraits of some very famous sitters including Bertrand Russell, Leo Tolstoy and Mussolini.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1995
Name
Agnes Goodsir
Also known as:
  • Agnes Goodsir
  • Agnes Noyes Goodsir
Birth date
18 June 1864
Birth place
Portland, Victoria
Death date
11 August 1939
Death place
Paris, France
Gender
Female
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • c.1921 London, England, UK
  • c.18 June 1864- c.1864 Portland, VIC
  • c.1921- c.1939 18 rue de l'Odéon, Paris, France
Languages
  • English
Training
  • Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Lucien Simeon, France
  • Jean Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian, France
  • Colarossi's, France
  • 1899 Académie Delécluse, Paris, France
  • 1898- 1899 Arthur T. Woodward at the Bendigo School of Mines, VIC
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Heritage: The National Women's Art Book

painter, was born in Portland, Victoria, on 18 June 1864, second daughter and fifth of the eleven children of David James Cook Goodsir, the Commissioner of Customs at Melbourne, and Elizabeth Archer, née Tomlins. Her entire art training in Australia was with Arthur T. Woodward at the Bendigo School of Mines, where she was a student in 1898-99. In 1899 an art union of her work was held at Bendigo to help her go to Paris, where she first studied at the Acad é mie Del é cluse [Delacluse acc. Quinlan, p.25]. Later studies were at Colarossi’s, where she completed her first self portrait in 1900 and won a bronze medal in 1901 for a nude torso; with Jean Paul Laurens at the Acad é mie Julian, where she was twice placed first in Composition; and at the Acad é mie de la Grande Chaumi è re under Lucien Simeon , where she won the 1904 silver medal for portraiture.

Goodsir remained in Paris until 1905, exhibiting with the Old Salon in 1901-2 and with the New Salon in 1902-4. Then she made a six-month trip home to Victoria. She returned to London in 1906, where she mainly lived until after WWI. (She was included in the 'Australians abroad’ section of the 1907 Melbourne Women’s Work Exhibition.) From 1913 she exhibited regularly at the Royal Institute; in 1916 {1913 acc. Quinlan} she became an Associate of the Royal West of England Academy where she continued to exhibit until 1922, showing three paintings in 1919. She was first hung at the Royal Academy in 1914 ( Divorced ); in 1915 she showed A letter from the Front , subsequently retitled Girl on Couch (Bendigo AG).

By 1921 Goodsir had both a London and Paris address. She apparently alternated between the two for a couple of years, then settled permanently in Paris (18 rue de l’Odéon). She lived with a companion, Rachel Dunn, also her model for several paintings, including The Chinese Skirt 1933 (AGNSW), Girl with Cigarette c.1925 (Bendigo AG), The Letter 1926 (NGV) and Morning Tea c.1925 (col. Rosemary Neilson), according to Quinlan (p.50). She exhibited regularly with the New Salon, having four paintings hung in the 1922 exhibition, six in 1931, and being awarded a silver medal in 1924 for her painting, The Red Cloak . After 1911 she also showed at the Salon des Ind é pendants . From 1921 she also exhibited with the Soci é t é Nationale des Beaux Arts , being elected an associ éin 1923. In 1926, with five paintings in the exhibition, she had the distinction of being made a soci é taire . She held private exhibitions in both London and Paris and her work was 'invited’ to Italy, Belgium and Africa. In 1924 she was included in the 'Australian Artists in Europe’ exhibition in London. In 1938 she lent four oils to the sesquicentennial exhibition ’150 Years of Australian Art’ at the NSW National Art Gallery: Type of the Latin Quarter (which had been offered for sale in Sydney in 1927 at 200 gns, her top price), The Chinese Skirt , Gladiolus and Hungarian Vases (50 gns in 1927).

Agnes Goodsir worked mainly in oils. Although she painted many genre pieces, still lifes and interiors, her primary interest and best work was in portraiture. Among those who sat for her were the actor Dame Ellen Terry, the violinist Katherine Goodson, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, Count Leo Tolstoy (his 1925 portrait was shown in Australia in 1927, for sale at 100 gns), Countess Pinci (also shown in Sydney, but not for sale) and, reportedly, Mussolini. Her work shows a conservative receptivity to trends of the Paris art scene she knew and seems to owe as much to English painting of the period. Her portraits are notable for their strength of composition and drawing, their lively decorative qualities, tonal breadth and contemporaneity. Her watercolours were mainly Parisian streetscapes.

In 1927 Agnes Goodsir returned to Australia for a solo exhibition at the Fine Arts Gallery, Melbourne, and at Sydney’s Macquarie Galleries. She painted local landscapes and undertook portrait commissions, including one of A.B. ('Banjo’) Paterson for the Mitchell Library and another of Eadith Walker for the Thomas Walker Hospital at Concord, NSW. She returned to Europe on 12 November 1927 and died in Paris on 11 August 1939, aged seventy-five. Her last exhibition was held at the Cooling Galleries, New Bond Street, London, in May 1938, where she showed 64 paintings, 56 being still life subjects. She left all her paintings to Rachel, who immediately sent about 40 to Agnes’s family in Australia; others went to Daryl Lindsay in 1947 to be distributed to Australian public galleries.

Writers:
Cusack, Frank
Date written:
1995
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Sir Daryl Lindsay
1889
Artist (Painter), Artist (Draughtsman)
associate of
Jean Paul Laurens
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Lucien Simeon
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
child of
David James Cook Goodsir
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
child of
née Tomlins Elizabeth Archer
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Rachel Dunn
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
spouse of
Rachel Dunn
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Dame Ellen Terry
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Katherine Goodson
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Bertrand Russell
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Count Leo Tolstoy
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Countess Pinci
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Mussolini
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Louie Riggall
1868
Artist (Painter), Artist (Draughtsman)
associate of
Arthur Thomas Woodward
1865
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Royal West of England Academy, UK
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, France
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
Eadith Walker
A.B. ('Banjo') Paterson
Mussolini
Countess Pinci
Bertrand Russell
Katherine Goodson
Ellen Terry (Dame)
Tolstoy, Leo (Count)
Hungarian Vases
Gladiolus
Green Beads
Date
1937
The Chinese Skirt
Date
1933
Asters & Still Life
Date
1930
still life
Date
1930
Le {La?} Figaro
Date
1930
Banjo Paterson
Date
1927
The Letter
Date
1926
Still life
Date
1925
Zinnias
Date
1925
Girl with Cigarette
Date
1925
Lilac
Date
1925
Cherry
Date
1924
The Parisienne
Date
1924
In a Paris Studio
Date
1922
In a Latin Quarter Studio
Date
c.1920- c.1922
Girl on Couch
Date
1915
Initially titled 'A letter from the front'.
Self Portrait
Date
1912
Alexander Bayne
Date
1905
Self Portrait
Date
1900
Collections
Royal West of England Academy
None
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Bristol, England, UK
Salon des Indépendants
None
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Paris, France
Cooling Galleries
May 1938
Exhibition (exhibited at)
New Bond Street, London, England, UK
'150 Years of Australian Art'
27 January 1938- 25 April 1938
Exhibition (exhibited at)
[National] Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales
Macquarie Galleries
1927
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Sydney, New South Wales
Fine Arts Gallery
1927
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Victoria
Australian Artists in Europe
1924
Exhibition (exhibited at)
London, England, UK
Société Nationale des Beaux Arts
1921
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Paris, France
Royal Academy
1914
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, England, UK
Royal Institute
1913
Exhibition (exhibited at)
London, England, UK
Women's Work Exhibition
1907
Exhibition ()
Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Vic
New Salon
1902- 1904
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Paris, France
Old Salon
1901- 1902
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Paris, France
Recognitions
The Académie Julian
Award
Twice placed first in Composition with Jean Paul Laurens
Note: Silver medal
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
1904
Award
For portraiture
Citations:
  • Dolman, Bernard (ed), (1981), A Dictionary of Contemporary British Artists, 1929, (Place: reprint Woodbridge, UK)
  • (1939), Obituary, (Place: Argus, August, 17)
  • Waters, G., (1975), Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950, (Place: London)
  • Thieme, U. & Becker, F., (1907), Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, (Place: 37 vols, Leipzig)
  • Quinlan, Karen, (1998), In a picture land over the sea: Agnes Goodsir 1864-1939, (Place: Bendigo Art Gallery catalogue)
  • Burke, Janine, (1980), Australian Women Artists 1840-1940, (Place: Collingwood, Vic)
  • Bénézit, E., (1948), Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, (Place: 8 vols, Paris)
  • Badham, Harold, (1949), A Study of Australian Art, (Place: Sydney)
  • Ambrus, Caroline, (1984), The Ladies' Picture Show, (Place: Sydney)