Creator Ellis Rowan (1848-1922)

Date 1880

Ellis Rowan (1848-1922) stands out today as one of the great Australian artists and natural historians of the 19th century. Her achievements as an artist, naturalist and intrepid explorer, however, were not fully recognised in her time. Indeed, despite winning 10 gold medals at international exhibitions in Australia, India, England, Europe and the United States, from 1879-1893, including highest honours at the Melbourne 1888 Centennial Exhibition, she was rejected by the male-dominated arts establishment...Leaving Australia in the 1890s she enjoyed flourishing success in London. Queen Victoria acquired some of her paintings, she illustrated American botanical books, and she spent time in New Zealand. Upon her return to Australia in 1905 ‘she pursued her search to find and record every species of wildflower on the continent’. Her Australian works typically date from two periods: the 1880s and post 1905...Undeterred by her age or gender, she travelled to New Guinea in 1916-1918, enduring arduous conditions in uncharted mountains and rainforests, recording some of her finest paintings, including rare tropical flowers and 47 of 52 known species of the birds of paradise (setting the birds free after painting them)...Today, Ellis Rowan’s paintings count amongst the treasures of the National Library of Australia, which holds a significant collection..(Notes from Australian Dictionary of Biography)

Source: National Library of Australia