Estelle Mary (Jo) Sweatman was an Australian painter and a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. Born in South Yarra in 1872, she initially took drawing classes at the ladies’ college, and her teacher recommended that she join the National Gallery School. There, she studied for two years under Frederick McCubbin and also received instruction in painting from Bernard Hall.
Sweatman taught at Melbourne Girls Grammar, where one of her pupils was Clarice Beckett. Initially, she was involved with the Victorian Artists’ Society. In 'The Art of the Year’, Lone Hand 1 April 1910, p.672 [by various 'art correspondents’], discusses the 1909 Victorian Artists’ Society exhibition and depreciates the 'leathery tones’ of Mr. Wilkie, 'a man of great promise a few years ago’, and calls his work 'the direct antithesis of Miss Sweatman’s “Study in White,” curiously Whistlerian in style, one of the best – if not the best – figure pictures in the exhibition, and miles ahead of all her previous work.’
Her support for Max Meldrum eventually led to her being ousted along with her friend A.M.E. Bale. She began her career by painting portraits but later shifted her focus to landscape painting after her move to Warrandyte. Her love for nature was evident in her work, and this change in her artistic direction was highlighted in her 1929 exhibition at the Melbourne Athenaeum, as reported in The Cairns Post.
She and fellow artist Clara Southern built their houses, 'The Kipsy’ and 'Hillcrest,’ respectively, next door to each other in Warrandyte. They both played an active role in developing the artistic community in Warrandyte, Victoria, and helped establish annual art exhibitions with the Warrandyte Women’s Auxiliary Association. Sweatman served on a committee of resident artists as the secretary.
Sweatman was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society formed by students of Meldrum.
In 1922, Sweatman was a finalist for the Archibald Prize with her portrait titled “Miss A.M.E. Bale” and coincidentally in the same year, A.M.E. Bale was a finalist with her portrait of Miss Jo Sweatman.
Estelle Mary (Jo) Sweatman died in 1956.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
James McArdle
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2023
