Stephanie Taylor (Australian artist) facts for kids

Stephanie Taylor (1899–1974) was an Australian artist, printmaker, gallery manager, teacher, and writer about art. She also spoke about art on the radio. Many people knew her in the late 1930s. This was because the Australian Broadcasting Commission shared her art programs on radio stations. These stations were in Sydney, Canberra, and her home city of Melbourne.

Early Life and Art Studies

Stephanie Taylor's mother, Elizabeth Ball, was also an artist. Elizabeth studied art in the 1860s. She became a member of the Victorian Academy of Arts in 1879. Elizabeth Ball married Captain Charles Taylor. They lived in Williamstown, where Stephanie and her three brothers and sisters were born.

Stephanie studied art with a sculptor named Charles Douglas Richardson. He became a good friend for life. She even organized a special art show for him in 1933 after he passed away. Stephanie also studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School from 1914 to 1922. After finishing school, she shared an art studio with her friend Dorothy Moore.

Her Work as an Artist and Speaker

Stephanie Taylor was good at making etchings. These are a type of print made by carving into metal. She also painted beautiful watercolours. But she was best known for talking about art. She gave lectures, spoke on the radio, and managed art galleries. She was like an early version of what we now call a curator. A curator helps choose and show art in galleries. In the 1930s, she also wrote art reviews for a magazine in Melbourne called Adam and Eve.

Making a Big Impact on Art

Stephanie was very famous for her talks on art history in Melbourne. She gave many lectures at the National Gallery of Victoria during the 1930s. Even though she didn't really like modern art, she supported the Gallery buying expensive old European artworks.

She reviewed art shows and gave art talks for ABC radio as early as the 1920s. She also taught a class on Australian art history at the Emily McPherson College. In 1934, she taught an art history course at the University of Melbourne. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said that "hundreds of art lovers" enjoyed her lectures. They also noted that a special club had listed her as one of the best public speakers in Melbourne. She was honored alongside important university professors of that time.

Perhaps her biggest impact was working hard to get the University of Melbourne to teach art history. She suggested that the University should teach about art's past and ideas. Her idea came almost ten years before a special art history teaching position was created there.

Fighting for Women Artists

Stephanie Taylor was one of the few women artists in Australia who spoke up for women's rights in art. She wanted women artists to be seen and treated equally. In 1940, she led a group to complain to a government official in Victoria. She said that the director of the National Gallery of Victoria, James Stuart MacDonald, was against women artists.

"Most of the few artworks by women artists are kept in basements and storerooms," she said. "The public can't even see them. It's rare for the gallery to buy art made by a woman."

In 1929, she criticized another artist, Arthur Streeton. He had only mentioned one woman artist in an article about Australian art history. Stephanie pointed out that "70 or 80" artworks by Australian women had been bought by public galleries across the country. She also listed many Australian women who had won big awards overseas. In 1939, she wrote to a newspaper editor, saying, "I still believe that people have a bias against women in fine arts."

Later Years and Exhibitions

In the 1940s, Stephanie no longer worked for the National Gallery of Victoria. Instead, she managed the Velasquez Gallery in a store in Melbourne. She also offered her skills as an art conservator. This means she fixed and took care of old artworks. In 1949, people described her as "one of Melbourne's best known woman painters."

She had several solo art shows in Melbourne. She also showed her art with groups like the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors.

• 1926 Athenaeum Gallery (with Mabel Pye) — showed oil and watercolour paintings
• 1934 Everyman's Gallery Melbourne — showed oil and watercolour paintings, and fan designs
• 1939 Centenary Club Melbourne
• 1946 Velasquez Gallery Melbourne
• 1949 Tye's Velasquez Gallery Melbourne — showed watercolour paintings

In 1953, after spending a long time in the hospital, she married Harold Green.