Attrib Lily Allport (1860-1949) Australia, Britain, EU
Lot 5
(Red Parasol)
Oil on linen
62 x 47cm (stretcher) 80 x 64cm (fr)
Stamp verso "Framer Raymon Prince"
SOLD
Lot 5 Attrib. Lily Allport
The Tasmanian artist Curzona Frances Louise Allport (known as Lily) was born in 1860 and
died in 1949. She left Hobart in 1888 with her mother and sister and did not return until
1923. During this time she travelled, studied and exhibited in London and Paris, with
regional forays including Normandy, the Italian Lakes, Rome and Constantinople. She also
taught at the London School of Photoengraving and Lithography from 1907 to 1921. Her
watercolours, oil paintings and prints encompassed landscape, portraiture and social city
glimpses of figures, streets and markets. Colour and atmosphere were caught in
impressionistic glimpses.
It is now understood that Lily was the first Tasmanian-born artist, male or female, to be
exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1891. She exhibited here on several
occasions up to 1917 and also at the Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Society of Portrait
Painters and the International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers. Lily also
exhibited in Dublin at the Royal Hibernian Gallery, many popular London galleries and
regional galleries in England.
On her return to Hobart in 1923, Allport had work included in exhibition by Art Society of
Tasmania, Society of Women Artists, as well as private exhibitions in various locations
including later in her own studio at 53 Collins St Hobart. She returned to London from 1927
to 1932 and concentrated on prints (mainly linocuts) which formed her major output until
her death.
This painting exhibits many characteristics of Lily’s portraiture and European works. The
clothing indicates it was painted early in the 1900s and the background could be a French
market or cafe.
It is unusual in that the figures are clear and in focus in the foreground as the centrepiece of
the work.
The work has been framed locally in Hobart by Raymon Prince, an official framer for TMAG.
- Marian Jameson, Miss Lily A Portrait of the Artist Curzona Allport, Fullers Publishing, Hobart, 2018
Condition Report
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