Deutscher and Hackett

We are grateful to Peter Perry for his assistance with this catalogue entry.


Winter Morning, c.1923 was notably included in Clarice Beckett’s first solo exhibition at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne in 1923. Highly acclaimed, the show received enthusiastic praise from the press with one critic, writing for The Bulletin, noting: ‘Max Meldrum approves of her dash into the limelight, and generously declares her his most promising pupil – a compliment of great value to the young painter, though she refuses to exploit it for advertising purposes. She is content to set down aspects of Nature as she sees them with uncompromising sincerely, and let her work speak for itself.’¹ Meanwhile The Age reviewer observed ‘The landscapes are noticeable for their delicacy of treatment and subtle tone values’², and The Sun suggested, ‘Her work denotes a fine appreciation for natural beauty.’³

Much has been written since Beckett’s work was relaunched in October 1971 with the exhibition, Homage to Clarice Beckett (1887 – 1935) Idylls of Melbourne and Beaumaris at the Rosalind Humphries Galleries, Melbourne. However, many do not recall that from as early as 1959 many Melbourne art auction houses had regarded Clarice Beckett as Australia’s finest woman artist – see for example, Decoration Co. then in Collins Street, and Graham Joel, Auctioneer at Leonard Joel.⁴

1. The Bulletin, Melbourne, 14 June 1923, p. 20
2. The Age, Melbourne, 5 June 1923, p. 4
3. ‘Vases and Flowers: Miss Beckett’s Art’, The Sun, 5 June 1923, p. 9
4. See Important Collection of Valuable Australian Paintings, Decoration Co., Melbourne, 6 October 1959, lot 101, Around Port Phillip, 'Australia’s finest woman artist'; and Australiana, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 12 – 13 July 1962, lot 227, Tranquil Sea, 'Regarded as Australia’s finest woman painter'.