Artist Thea Proctor (1879–1966) trained at the Julian Ashton Art School before leaving Australia for London in 1903. She was to remain there, apart from a visit home from 1912–14, until after the First World War. In her early years in London, she was a friend and model for fellow Julian Ashton's student, George Lambert, and encountered many of the major figures of the Edwardian art world. When she returned permanently to Sydney in 1921, her art and ideas were at the forefront of contemporary art and design in Australia; her authoritative opinions on decoration, colour, interior design, flower arrangement, ballet and fashion were widely published in new journals such as The Home (for which she designed many covers) and Art in Australia.
Gift of Thea Bryant (Proctor) 2005
Thea Proctor (age 17 in 1896)
Thea Bryant (1 portrait)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.
Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.
