Design and Art Australia Online

Although the exact location of her birth is contested, Maie Casey was born Ethel Marian Sumner Ryan in Victoria on 13 March 1891. Her parents were the Melbourne surgeon Sir Charles Snodgrass Ryan and Alice Sumner (Lady Ryan). Maie was the niece of the well known botanical illustrator Ellis Rowan (1848-1922) and in later life she inherited much of her aunt’s art collection.

It seems that Maie first became serious about art when she was aged in her late twenties. She was a close friend of Joan Weigall (later Lady Joan Lindsay) and during 1920s the pair shared a studio in Melbourne. This workroom was described by Joan Lindsay in her memoir Time Without Clocks (p 206):

'Before either of us was married we had shared a studio in Bourke Street somewhere near Spencer Street Station – not a party giving studio but a big dusty room – it never entered our heads to dust it – where in frenzied bursts of amateur energy we really worked away at our drawing. We even wrote a book together about the ballet dancer called Anna… When we got bored with the illustrations for Anna or painstaking drawing of Miss Minty – a professional model who only consented to sit if the poses were not what she called 'rude’ – we would take our 'Greyhounds’ (packets of cheap coloured chalks) and go off somewhere by tram sketch out of doors.’

Around this time Maie and Joan apparantely held an exhibition titled, 'The Neo-Pantechnicists’. This portentous title was, according to Maie, a 'leg-pull’, but with the support of Rosemary Reynolds and Ethel Spowers the exhibition was a sell out.

Maie later married the Australian conservative politician and diplomat, Richard (Dick) Casey in London on 24 June 1926. In 1932 Maie studied at the George Bell Art School with the modernist artist Arnold Shore in Melbourne and continued to attend classes at the art school intermittentely during the mid 1930s when she was living in Melbourne. Fellow students included Russell Drysdale, Peter Purves Smith, Geoff Jones, Sali Herman and Frances Burke. Despite being a well known student at the school, Casey was rarely mentioned in Mary Eagle and Jan Minchin’s fascinating 1981 history of the George Bell School.

During their long marriage Maie and Dick lived in many overseas postings including London, Cairo, Washington and Calcutta. During these extended residencies Maie continued to paint and draw more out of pleasure than a need to make an income. More importantly for local art Maie actively advocated Australian art while abroad. This was especially the case in Washington D.C. and London where she promoted the work of Sidney Nolan. During the 1930s Maie purchased a Picasso oil work in London titled, Le Repos (1932) which returned home with her, making it one of the first known examples of the Spanish artist’s work in Australia.

From the late 1950s there was increasing international fascination with botanical illustration. Reflecting this interest saw the publication of a biography about Maie’s aunt Ellis Rowan titled Wild Flower Hunter: the Story of Ellis Rowan by H.J. Samuel. For this publication Casey not only illustrated the book but also wrote the foreword.

On 22 September 1965 Richard Casey was appointed to the role of Governor-General, a position he held until 1969. During this period Maie publically promoted Australian art and literature and often invited local artists to visit Government House , Yarralumla and Admiralty House , Kirribilli.

In late 1972 Maie Casey and her old friend Joan Lindsay held a joint exhibition of their painting at the McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin near Mulberry Hill . This was described in Maie’s biography, Glittering Surfaces , as 'a historical rather than a commercial exhibition’.

Writers:

Clifford-Smith, Silas

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011