There are 3 generations of artists in my family. I am relying on oral history from family members and the newspaper searches available in the National Library Trove database.
I am currently researching the life of Winifred B Stephenson, born at Petersham in 1890, to Arthur A and Annie Stephenson. Arthur came to Australia from Yorkshire, and Annie was born at Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
Winifred was an art teacher at New England Girls School Armidale, worked in leatherwork and woodwork, was a commercial artist in Brisbane,and a member of the Royal Queensland Arts Society during the 1920s and 1930s, alongside Vida Lahey and Daphne Mayo, and C H Lancaster who was related to her by marriage.
Winifred became a member of the Qld Authors and Artists Association in 1924
Apart from stories handed down by relatives, I have one photo, a copy of one pastel portrait.
A Trove search of newspapers has yielded some information. The Stanthorpe Border Post of 16th May 1913 says Miss Winnie Stephenson won major prizes for paintings entered in the Roma Show.
The one painting for which I have a title is described by a reviewer of a Royal Qld Arts Society exhibition in the Brisbane Courier 24 Jul 1929:
"A delightful phantasy is Winifred Stephenson's "The Wattlemen Discover Australia"; it is simple, and conjures up visions of fairy tales."
I wonder can artistic influences such as an interest in children's book illustration and fantasy be handed down the generations?
She sold many paintings at Finneys Department Store in the Valley, Brisbane.
Her mother was admitted to the Mater Hospital and died in 1931 having suffered from Hidaties prevalent at the time and transmitted from eating the meat of diseased sheep.
Winifred suffered ill health due to the strain of supporting herself and her mother as a single woman artist. She lived alone at Spring Hill or Paddington and became quite deaf. After suffering some damage at the hands of an eminent Brisbane psychiatrist who experimented on her at a private hospital, she was nursed back to partial health in hospital in Toowoomba, where she did portraits of the nurses, and was moved to Dalby during WW2. Her brother Edgar kept her in pocket money until she received a pension in about 1955. She came to Brisbane General Hospital for cancer treatment and died in1968.
I would like to find some existing works by this artist who has disappeared almost unremembered from Queensland art history and from our family history. Please feel free to contact me if you know any more about this artist.
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