Double Self Portrait in Mirror

Sydney-born Alison Rehfisch grew up in a family who encouraged her interest in art. She studied at Julian Ashton’s art school but left at the age of 19 to marry. After her daughter started school, Rehfisch returned to painting, studying at Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo’s atelier, where she met artist George Duncan. She held her first exhibition in 1929 and began exhibiting with the Society of Artists in 1931. By this time, she and her husband had separated. Heading to London in 1933, she studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. Rehfisch once said she approached painting not as ‘a superficial rendering of the thing we see in front of us, [but] trying to get the spirit behind all that’. Accordingly, this self portrait captures someone known for her sartorial flair as well as a sense of the independent, modern identity she forged as an artist in London.

In 1938, Rehfisch returned to Sydney, where she and Duncan married in 1942. From 1939 until 1969, she exhibited regularly in solo and group shows. She was particularly known for her still lifes and flowerpieces, often painted on hessian and always in a post-impressionist style that employed rhythmic, structured composition, simple forms and a bold yet harmonious use of colour.

Purchased 2023