Clara Southern b. 1860 Kyneton, Vic.

Also known as:
  • Panther
  • Mrs John Flinn
  • Artist (Painter)
Clara Southern, painter, studied at the National Gallery of Victoria's Art Schools in 1883-87 under Frederick McCubbin and George Folingsby. Fellow students included Josephine Muntz-Adams, Jane Sutherland, A.M.E. Vale, Emanuel Phillips Fox and Arthur Streeton. Nicknamed 'Panther' for her lithe beauty, Clara Southern was admitted in 1886 as one of the early women members of the students' Buonarotti
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1995
Name
Clara Southern
Also known as:
  • Panther
  • Mrs John Flinn
Birth date
3 October 1860
Birth place
Kyneton, Vic.
Death date
15 December 1940
Death place
Warrandyte, Melbourne, Vic.
Gender
Female
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
Residence
  • 1905- 1940 Warrandyte, Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1888- 1898 Grosvenor Chambers, 9 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1883- 1887 Melbourne, Vic.
Other Occupation
  • Art teacher
Active Period
  • 1883- 1940
Languages
  • English
Training
  • Taught by Mme Berthe Mouchette, Melbourne, Vic.
  • Taught by Walter Withers, Heidelberg, Melbourne, Vic.
  • 1883- 1887 National Gallery of Victoria's Art Schools, Melbourne, Vic.
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • Heritage: The National Women's Art Book

painter, was born near Kyneton, Victoria on 3 October 1860, daughter of local farmers John Southern and Jane, née Elliott. Clara reportedly began her art training in Melbourne as a pupil of Mme Berthe Mouchette, painter, schoolmistress and a founder of the Victorian Alliance Franç aise . She studied at the National Gallery of Victoria’s Art Schools in 1883-87 under Frederick McCubbin and George Folingsby. Fellow students included Josephine Muntz-Adams, Jane Sutherland, A. M. E. Vale, Emanuel Phillips Fox and Arthur Streeton. Nicknamed 'Panther’ for her lithe beauty, Clara Southern was admitted on 23 January 1886 as one of the early women members of the students’ Buonarotti Society. Later, she took lessons from Walter Withers at his home in Heidelberg. From mid-1888 until 1898 she shared a teaching studio with Jane Sutherland in Grosvenor Chambers, 9 Collins Street. In August 1889 the Melbourne newspaper Table Talk described her as one of a 'trio of lady artists’ (the others being Sutherland and Jane Price) who had 'caught the “impression” fever, and show a great variety of charming little sketches, which however are not intended for exhibition’.

Southern presumably joined her Grosvenor Chambers neighbours on weekend painting excursions to the Eaglemont artists’ camp. She exhibited with the Victorian Artists’ Society in 1889-1917 and served on its council for some years. She was the first woman member of the Australian Art Association and the first woman to serve on its committee. She also belonged to the Lyceum Club and to the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors.

In 1905, aged forty-five, she married John Flinn, a miner. The couple moved to Blythebank at Warrandyte where Clara became a central figure in a community of artists later to include Jo Sweatman, Louis McCubbin, Penleigh Boyd, Harold Herbert, Charles Wheeler and Frank Crozier. She contributed to the Artists’ Bushfire Relief Fund exhibition and to a 1934 exhibition in aid of the Hermannsburg Water Supply in Central Australia organised by Violet Teague and her half sister Una. Now working as Mrs Flinn, she lived and painted in Warrandyte until her death on 15 December 1940 at the age of eighty.

Writers:
Clark, Jane
Date written:
1995
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Arthur Streeton
1867
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Walter Withers
1854
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
associate of
Penleigh Boyd
1890
Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Harold Herbert
1892
Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Violet Teague
1872
Artist (Painter), Artist (Printmaker)
associate of
Jane Price
1860
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Frank R. Crozier
1883
Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter), Artist (Draughtsman)
associate of
Frederick McCubbin
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Charles Wheeler
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Jo Sweatman
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Emanuel Phillips Fox
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Una Teague
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Isabel Hunter Tweddle
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
George Folingsby
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
spouse of
John Flinn
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
child of
John Southern
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Mme Berthe Mouchette
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Josephine Muntz-Adams
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
A. M. E. Vale
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
child of
née Elliott Jane Southern
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Minnie Louise Moore
1882
Artist (Photographer)
associate of
Annie May and Mina Moore
1881
Artist (Photographer), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Berthe Julie Lucie Mouchette
1846
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Ada Plante
1875
Artist (Painter)
associate of
Jane Sutherland
1853
Artist (Painter)
associate of
May Vale
1862
Artist (Painter), Artist
associate of
Janie Wilkinson Whyte
1869
Artist (Printmaker), Artist, Artist (Painter)
associate of
Victorian Artists' Society
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Australian Art Association
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Buonarotti Society
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Lyceum Club
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Eaglemont artists' camps
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Heidelberg artists
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
Collections
Artists' Bushfire Relief Fund Exhibition
None
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Warrandyte, Vic.
Exhibition in aid of the Hermannsburg Water Supply in Central Australia
1934
Exhibition (exhibited at)
None
Australian Art Association Exhibition
1919
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic.
Australian Art Association Exhibition
1918
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic.
Australian Art Association Exhibition
1917
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic.
Australian Art Association Exhibition
1914
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic.
First Australian Women's Work Exhibition
1907
Exhibition ()
Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, VIC
Victorian Artists' Society
1889- 1917
Exhibition (exhibited at)
Melbourne, Vic.
Recognitions
First woman to serve on the committee of the Australian Art Association.
Award
First woman member of the Australian Art Association.
Award
Admitted as one of the early women members of the National Gallery of Victoria's art students' Buonarotti Society.
23 January 1866
Award
Citations:
  • UK GRO birth certificates, (1866), Birth, marriage and death certificates, United Kingdom, Type: other resource https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp
  • Burke, Janine, (1980), Australian Women Artists 1840-1940, (Place: Collingwood, Vic : Greenhouse Publications)
  • McCulloch, Alan; & McCulloch, Susan, (1994), The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, (Place: St Leonards, NSW : Allen & Unwin (3rd Edition, revised and updated))
  • Hammond, Victoria; & Peers, Juliet, (1992), Completing the Picture, (Place: East Hawthorn, Vic : Artmoves)
  • Duke, Anne, (1990), 'Clara Southern (1860 - 1940)', (Place: Melbourne, Vic : Australian Dictionary of Biography, [Volume 12], Melbourne University Press, [22])
  • Clark, Jane; & Whitelaw, Bridget, (1985), Golden Summers, (Place: Melbourne, Vic : National Gallery of Victoria Exhibition catalogue)
See also:
  • PORTRAIT: Portrait of Clara Southern c.1928, oil on canvas by Isabel Hunter Tweddle (Deakin University).
  • Section 5, plate 188