Tasmania, that island off the south east of Australia that many of us have heard of but really know nothing about including the fact that it produced painter Florence Rodway (1881-1971).
I think Papeeta was the first piece I saw by Florence Rodway and I was stunned by how beautiful, textured, and contemporary it looked. It’s a perfect example of Rodway’s style of focusing on the face and letting all other elements merge together. The pastel was up for auction and sold through Sotheby’s, Sydney in 2005. Have a look:
I wanted to share the work of this artist with you so I began my research. As often is the case with lesser-known artists, it took time to dig far enough to locate her work in museums and to get information as close to the facts as possible.
There is very little information on this artist out there. As Andrew Sayers – director of the National Museum of Australia at the time – exclaimed in a 2013 lecture at the exhibition, Australian Art and Artists 1913, “If I have anything to do with it, Florence Rodway won’t be under-rated for much longer.” (Sadly, when I searched for a way to contact him, I discovered Sayers had died late last year.)
In that same talk, Sayers blamed the disappearance of Rodway on the pastel medium itself. Showing an image of Rodway’s painting of Henry Lawson, Sayers said, “I would have loved to have included this in the exhibition, but unfortunately it’s too fragile. It resides in the State Library of New South Wales and is clearly a portrait of Henry Lawson by Florence Rodway that was drawn in 1913 [the State Library dates it at 1914]…. It really is fragile; it can’t travel; and it can’t be exposed to light for long periods of time. So, as a pastellist, unfortunately Florence Rodway has disappeared from view. A medium choice has unfortunately obscured a great Australian artist.” (As an aside, I am saddened to think of the continued idea that pastels are fragile.)
So I’m hoping this post will add to the movement to expose her work to the world.
Florence Aline Rodway was born in Hobart, Tasmania 11 November 1881, the only daughter among five sons. She studied art at the Hobart Technical School under the London born Benjamin Shepherd. In a 1965 audio interview she says they were “very interesting classes.” (audio 2:40)
Rodway applied to study at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England. (Note that her art teacher Benjamin Shepperd had studied there and won the Academy medal so we can surmise that it was under his influence that Rodway made this application.) She was accepted as a student and awarded a four-year scholarship. This was quite an achievement considering Rodway was a woman and from the back and beyond of Tasmania.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to live in London (the scholarship covered tuition only) and had to return without finishing. While there though, she would have been exposed to the world of art both historical and her contemporaries. In her 1965 interview, Rodway explains that she was taught by Royal Academy artists and associates and that they changed every month (audio 2:40).
On her return from England, Florence Rodway moved to Sydney, Australia setting up a studio in 1906. She attended the Julian Ashton Art School (which is still going today!). In her 1965 audio interview, Rodway recalls, “He had an interesting class and he was a clever teacher” (audio 4:04). Rodway produced illustrations for various magazines including The Lone Hand, a magazine of literature and poetry co-founded in 1907 by J.F.Archibald (Rodway would later paint a posthumous portrait of Archibald in oil which was a finalist in the Archibald prize in 1921). Somewhere along the way, Rodway discovered pastel, a medium that was meant for her hands!
Florence Rodway not only helped found the Society of Women Painters in 1910, but was also an award-winning member of the Society of Artists. In 1909 and 1910, she won awards for her pastel portraits at the Society of Artists’s Exhibitions and this led to the purchase of two portraits (Toffee and A Child) by what is now the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Although these two pastels were done in the same year, they have a very different feel about them. Toffee is created with broken and vigorous linear strokes, a style that Rodway was notable for in these years. Parts of the clothing remind me of Daumier’s work for some reason. A Child, on the other hand has the softness of style that seems more akin to her charcoal work at the time (see below). It has a more finished and worked quality. There is also almost a feeling of a painting in gouache rather than pastel.
Her success with pastels was noted by critics. According to the biography on the Design and Art Australia website, one of her 1909 award-winning paintings (‘Sleep’) was reproduced in The Lone Hand journal in April 1910 along with a review that stated: “Miss Rodway has come with pastels into her kingdom, to which her familiar charcoal studies seem to-day but a highway. Unlike her charcoals, she does not over-work her pastels; and the several children and fair girls that she shows are handled with a most refreshing directness.”
You can see what the reviewer is referring to in the way he describes Rodway’s pastels in this charcoal work:
Surprisingly in a world of the male artist, she was acclaimed as an equal. As quoted on the Wikipedia page about Rodway, this was also written about her in 1909 : “Sex is an accident – the capacity for expressing the infinitely large or the infinitesimally little cannot be gauged by outward measurements. The soul frequently bears little relation to its case. Else, why does Florence Rodway, tall, slight and blonde, revel in peopling large spaces with the Titanic creatures of her imagination.”
Another painting from the early part of the second decade is The Romanian Blouse (sold by Christies, Melbourne in May 2004). This painting and Papeeta above show Rodway’s extraordinary application of pastel in a very linear and bold way. The face is complete and you feel the portrait of the person does captures the person’s essence. The focus is on the face whereas the clothing and background are less finished and the paper colour, more visible in this area of the painting, becomes an integral part of the whole. Much of the clothing is merely hinted at with the paper doing much of the work. There’s enough pastel for the viewer to ‘see’ the clothing but look more closely, however, and there’s less indicated than perhaps imagined.
A painting that may have been done around the same time as the painting above is Portrait in Blue. Sold by Sothebys in early 2015 from the collection of Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba, it had apparently been exhibited in 1914 in Rodway’s solo show at the Atheneum. In the exhibition’s ‘Catalogue of Portraits and Studies in pastels by Florence Rodway,’ there is a painting titled Madame Melba which it says was ‘lent by Madame Melba.’ Although no one has said it directly, if this is the painting being referred to in the Catalogue, this must be a portrait of Dame Nellie Melba herself. (Also lent by ‘Madame Melba’ for the exhibition is a painting called Pepita. Is there any possibility that this is the same painting as Papeeta seen above?)
The 1914 exhibition also included other works on loan, for example from J.F. Archibald (co-founder of The Lone Hand and originator of the Archibald Prize, one of Australia’s foremost awards) and Julian Ashton (owner of the Art School where Rodway continued her art studies on her return from London).
Take a close look at this exquisite painting – the rich colours with what looks like the warm yellow of the paper coming through; the delicate yet lively linear strokes creating the face, the hair, the background, and more loosely, the clothing; the light transparency of gauze; the figure beneath the clothing. You can almost hear the rustle of the fabric as the sitter adjusts her position.
Something interesting I came across in my research was a book written by Dame Nellie Melba which was published in 1915. Called Melba’s Gift Book of Australian Art and Literature, all profits went to the Belgian Relief Fund. The frontispiece was a portrait of Dame Melba by Florence Rodway. (I’m not sure how we know this wasn’t the portrait seen in the 1914 Atheneum exhibition but Sotheby’s, in their auction notes, made the connection between the painting mentioned in the 2014 catalogue and Portrait in Blue rather than this one. One thing is that the portrait is reproduced in a 1915 publication so it may have been done that year thus later than the 2014 exhibition.)
In 1913, Florence Rodway painted George Whiting and also Bertha Lawson, daughter of Australian poet Henry Lawson who she painted in 1914 (see above for the portrait). In the 1965 interview, Rodway says that Archibald asked her to do a portrait of Lawson. Lawson “came when he felt inclined…Poor man sometimes wouldn’t come at all. He’d come and shake hands and say he had to see a man about a dog or something then go away and not come back again.” (audio 6:50)
These two paintings are also fine examples of Rodway’s vigorous style. The colours seem more neutral than those seen in Portrait in Blue, Papeeta, and The Romanian Blouse. It’s incredible the way Rodway created volume with parallel linear strokes, especially in the face. Her marks are bold and dynamic, with the confidence that comes from a well-seasoned artist. Can she have been influenced by the work of the Impressionists?? She no doubt would have come across their work while in England.
Florence Rodway herself sat for a portrait by Norman Carter in 1913. It gives us a wonderful sense of this successful woman artist, her confidence revealed in her direct outward gaze.
In the first issue of Art in Australia (1916) Rodway’s portraits were described as having ‘considerable power … certainty and grace’.
That same year, there was a review in the Sunday Morning Herald of an exhibition of the Society of Artists. The reviewer writes this of Rodway:
“However, the principal ‘dealer in magic and spells’ due to pastel effort is Miss Florence Rodway, whose portraits are again one of the leading features of the show. The most striking example of her talent is the strong, young, handsome face of a woman full of vitality and expression, in which the flesh-tones show up admirably against the yellow, gold-tinted background. Miss Rodway’s portraits of children are charming, and we like also the homely interior entitled The New Teapot, in which the artist’s fine appreciation of the pastel-medium is markedly apparent.”
Sadly I was unable to find a reproduction of the interior but could the reviewer be talking about Portrait which was purchased in 1916 by the Art Gallery of New South Wales?
In this painting, we can begin to see the transitioning of styles, from the bold linear quality seen previously to a more tonal approach. This is evident mainly in the hair. I love the way Rodway created a primarily high key painting that’s punctuated by the darkness of the subject’s hair. She didn’t feel as if she needed to balance out the darkness anywhere else in the piece.
Florence Rodway was married in 1920 (aged 39) to civil engineer Walter Moore, and had a daughter, Susanne, in 1922. She continued to work and exhibit although her life was also taken up with marriage and motherhood. She was one of the artists chosen to represent Australia in the 1928 exhibition of Contemporary Art of the Empire held at the Imperial Institute, London. This shows how highly regarded Florence Rodway was as an artist at the time!
Over the second decade of 1900s, Rodway’s style changed from a more linear look to one that utilized the side of the pastel in a more painterly way. You can see this in the marvelous painting The Interview which shows three full length figures rather than a partial portrait of a single individual.
This is such a dramatically lit piece. The composition underlines unseen tensions in what at first looks like a fairly sedate scene. The two women eye each other; the lady of the house seems to grasp the edge of the curtain. The young girl, lit sharply against the dark clothing of the woman on the left, looks away from the scene. Even though she looks out beyond the picture plane, our eyes, rather than following hers, are pulled back to the dark figure on the left who looks over at the woman on the right. And around we go, wondering how the story will end.
The high contrast of nearly blacks and whites between the young girl and the woman behind is balanced nicely with the aura of colour enriching the woman on the right and her surrounding area. Rowdy use of the paper colour in the background wall to give a wallpaper effect and also as the shine in the dark floor is superb.
Two portraits of sisters reveal Rodway’s shift to a more painterly style. Gone is any hint of her former linear style. She now uses the side of the pastels both in the subjects’ face and the clothing and background. They are elegant and polished portraits, showing off Rodway’s draughtsmanship and her understanding of value and colour.
One other pastel portrait I came across was of William E.L.H Crowther. It is undated but as it shows an older man who lived in Tasmania, it is likely painted after Rodway moved with her husband and daughter to Hobart, Tasmania in 1932. This hypothesis is held up by the framing label which is dated 1940, a date that would make Crowther a 53-year old man. Seems to fit. This portrait now has the painterly feel of an oil. Gone are all linear strokes. Instead pastel is applied in bold swatches seen especially in the clothing.
There is little info on Florence Rodway after she moved back to Hobart in 1932. She shared a studio with other prominent Tasmanian women artists of her era during the mid 1930s. Rodway exhibited with the Art Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Group of Painters, and also exhibited in Australia in 1948 and 1950-51.
Florence Rodway died in Hobart on 23 January 1971 at the age of 84 and was cremated.
~~~~~
In this digital age and the proliferation of images across the internet, we can hope that we will see more of Rodway’s work and hope it finds a more prominent position in the realm of Australian artists, and also on the world stage of pastel artists.
If you made it all the way the end, congratulations! I know it’s quite long but I was determined to collect in one place as much accurate info as I could about Florence Rodway and her pastel work.
I’ll be interested to hear if you know of other pieces by Rodway and their locations, and if you have ever seen her work in person.
That’s it for now. I do look forward to your comments!!
Until next time,
~ Gail
Biography references:
1965 Audio Interview: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2003594
Design and Art Australia: https://www.daao.org.au/bio/florence-aline-rodway/biography/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Aline_Rodway
Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rodway-florence-aline-8251
60 thoughts on “Florence Rodway – Little Known Today Yet Successful Portraitist In Her Time”
Very interesting to read of this Tasmanian artist. Thanks Gail.
Wish I could do portraits like her.
Thanks Iris. Yes, don’t we all!!
Hi Gail,
Thank you for a very interesting article on Florence Rodway. I have lived in Hobart since 1985 but have only taken up art since retiring in 2007, and in particular, Pastel painting in 2012. When time permits i will do some leg work at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), and pass on to you any items that i discover. Regards Lindsay Watts.
Hi Lindsay,
I’m delighted you enjoyed the article on Rodway. And I’m glad you have found your way to the pastel medium 🙂
I do look forward to hearing about any discoveries you make at the TMAG, especially drawings and pastels by Rodway. Thank you!
Thank you for introducing such a wonderful artist.
It was my great pleasure to do so Gaye!
I haven’t had the chance to read this yet because I am off to a class but am in awe of this woman’s talent and can’t wait to have the time to study it. Thank you for taking the time to do this research and share it with us.
The closest I have come to seeing work like this was at the Sterling Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massacusetts, that has a wonderful collections of Impressionists work and had a special exhibition of pastel portraits by Degas and Mary Cassatt, which took my breath away. If anyone lives close to this area, this is a gem of a museum. I used to take my 5th grade art classes there every year to take advantage of the variety of work by famous artists (not just Impressionists), and their wonderful docent program.
Thanks Gill for the details about this wonderful museum. One of these days I’ll be on the east coast and I’ll have to remember to visit it!!
Thanks, Gail. She certainly was able to convey the essence of her subjects. These portraits are amazing.
It was great to read about such a talented artist and see so much of her work. Great job!
You are welcome Wendy. Glad you enjoyed it. I really want this artist’s work to be rediscovered in a big way!
This is a wonderful piece on a female artist. Her work shows the development of Rodway’s career in pastel, how versatile the medium is. Rodway’s life is a testament to all female artists, the conflict of a married life with children is forever the conundrum. Thank you for put such a scholarly piece together.
It’s such a treat to discover a female artist who seems to have made her living doing art! She married later in life and so was able to focus her attention on her career. As you say Diane, marriage and motherhood is forever the conundrum and she seemed to have balanced it nicely.
As a portrait artist , I really enjoyed this article, Thanks again,Rae
That’s great Rae!!
Beautifully written. I found the story very interesting and enchanting. Florence Rodway and her work are truly incredible.
Thank you Cecelia. I’m glad you are as taken with Rodway’s story and work as I am.
Delightful article on a captivating artist. I am so glad you introduced her to me. “The Interview” and “Papeeta” are my favorites, the first for its intreging story and the second for its masterful strokework. I was sad to see her change to a more staid strokework in her later work.
Thanks Nancy! It is interesting that she changed styles to a less energetic look and one can’t help wonder how it happened that her work evolved in that manner. I hope letters exist that perhaps will shed light on her process and thoughts.
Florence Rodway daughter of lenord rodway (botanists to the government of Tasmania)
She was my God mother, I Michael Hewer. Mother Dorothy Hewer, nee Rodway, father Earnest Rodway, brother to Florence also brothers Charlie, Fred, Sydney, percey. The family originally from Birmingham U.K. ARIVING IN TASMANIA VIA QUEENSLAND 1880
Michael, thanks so much for taking the time to respond and add such fascinating information to this post!
thank you for a look at this amazing and inspiring artist. Her work is like a mixture of classical portraiture and contemporary energy.
Irene, you have expressed Rodway’s style so well. Thank you!!
Absolutely loved this and can’t decide which of her styles I liked best. Thank you Gail for your research on Florence Rodway, she deserves to be known and admired.
Glad you enjoyed this Gailen and hope you’ll pass the word about this extraordinary artist!
Thanks, Gail, for this wonderful article. I had never heard of Florence Rodway. What a wonderful artist she was. Portrait in Blue is magnificent, as are many of the others. I also particularly liked the Portrait of Miss Agnes Cox.
jean I’m so happy to have introduced you to a new artists. I hope she becomes more well known. Thanks for sharing which pieces are your favs!
This was fabulous, Gail! Loved seeing how her style evolved. What a talent! Thanks so much for sharing this.
What a talent indeed Michele! As you say, it’s fascinating to see how her work changed over time. It brings up so many questions – what influenced her to change? Was it through doing the work itself, or was it something external that prompted the change?
Thank you so much for that wonderfully interesting article and all the wonderful images of her work! And, yes I read all the way to the end 😉
Yay for you Debbie!! I am glad you enjoyed the whoooooole thing!
What beautiful works! Thanks so much Gail, your article made me want to read more about this talented woman pastelist!
That’s wonderful Sandi! Please let me know what you discover.
Amazing artist! Your review of this artist and her portraits have given me ideas to apply to my own figure/portrait work and study. Thank you for introducing me to an artist that is giving me untold inspiration!!!!
I’m so happy to hear Florence Rodway’s work has inspired you so directly in your own work Maryann!!
Hi Gail,
The pastels were not nearly as fugitive (although some are) as the substrates they used back-in-the-day. Toulouse Lautrec and Degas images (among others) are also tucked away in the dark at the Musee d’Orsay for the same reason. The dark lighting protects the grounds (substrates).
I recently saw one of Rosalba Carriera’s works at the Denver Art Museum and the colors were fabulous. The piece was in great shape and on view in good lighting. Her work was done in the 16/1700’s.
Thanks for a great in depth article. It is much appreciated,
Susan
Thanks for the reminder about the fragility of substrates Susan. I remember the pastels at the D’Orsay shown in half-lit rooms. I’m not sure that I have ever seen a ‘real’ Carriera. Certainly, she is on my list as another pastel artist worthy of a blog post! I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
This is a wonderful article, Gail. Yes, I did read the entire thing. :-). Thank you for all the research you did and for bringing this artist to our attention. Her portraits are beautiful. I especially like her earlier style, but her later work is also outstanding. I’m glad Susan Fisher mentioned the fragility of some of the older substrates. Even ph-neutral papers can be damaged over time due to moisture and excessive light. I suspect the pigments have endured fairly well in contrast to the substrates. Thanks again!
Yay Jane! And thank you for the further info on the fragility of the paper.
Hi Gail, I’m Tasmanian and really appreciate learning this information about another Tasmanian artist. I have found some more links for Florence Rodway:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART06048/
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART03356/
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART03355/
https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/all/search/results?qu=florence&qu=rodway
I’m happy to introduce you to another Tasmanian Ruth. And thank you for the links. I didn’t include most of them in my post because I focused pretty much on her pastels. These relate to her oil paintings and lovely to have them here so readers can view more of Florence Rodway’s work
Belated thanks for the introduction to Florence Rodway, a very interesting artist. Enjoyed comparing The Romanian Blouse (1912), George Whiting (1913), Portrait (1916), and The Interview (n.d.). Beautifully researched. Congratulations.
Thank you so much Duane. I am delighted to have introduced you to this new-to-you artist!
Thank you Gail, for your research and wonderful piece on Florence Rodway absolutely thoroughly enjoyed itl Appreciate your hard work. warm regards. Mandy
The work is so worth it when I receive comments like yours Mandy! It’s always a treat to hear people enjoy what I’ve researched and written about.
Thank you so much, Gail, for introducing me to Florence Rodway, for your superb and comprehensive research, and for your insightful comments! This is my second time reading your essay and looking at Florence Rodway’s uniquely expressive and wonderful paintings. I particularly like Papeeta, Portrait in Blue, Madame Melba, and The Interview. I appreciate seeing her different painting styles. And, I am inspired to experiment with pastels while figure drawing. Thank you again!
Oh you are sooooo welcome Paige! I do appreciate your comment.
Rodway’s work is so fabulous and I hope over time more pastels emerge. As they do, I’ll be updating the post!
I’m glad her work has inspired you to use pastels with figures.
Hi Gail,
These paintings are truly a feast for the eyes, and I find her changes in style, her use of a fairly monochromatic palette in many of the paintings, and her gift for portraiture truly amazing. Her accolades at the time had even more import given that she was a woman. Thank you for shedding a light on this talent in such a well-researched and written format. I hope it is okay to share.
Gill share away!! I want everyone to know about this woman’s work! Hopefully more information about her life and art (particularly her pastels which of course is the focus here) will emerge as more people become alerted to her work. And thank you 🙂
This was masterful work, beautiful, why i love art. Your research and presentation of the artist was enjoyable. Thanks.
Marsha, glad you feel the same way about Rodway’s work as I do!!
I have really enjoyed studying this artist! Thank you so much for this info.
Yay!! When I saw her work the first time I knew eventually I had to find more examples and write a blog on her. It was an art historian’s dream to go poking about but then had to say that’s that and put it all together in a blog’s worth of text and image. I’m so happy that you enjoyed it!!
Hello Gail,
Discovering your site just today, and it was a delightful surprise to be introduced in your excellently researched article to an obscure, but previously well-known Australian artist who used pastels and who I had never heard of.
As the Editor (and President) of the Newsletter of our Pastel Society of Victoria, Australia, I am seeking your permission to be able to reproduce this terrific piece in the VicPastelNews, to inform our 184 members about this treasure who is barely known in her home country.
This magazine of 28 pages (as it is now), is aimed to be not just a publication for the local news about our own members and sponsors, but a vehicle for educating our readers about art history, artists of the world as well as Australia, different types of pastels, techniques, supports, framing, the trials and experiments with underpainting, the knowledge about composition, values (we call tonal qualities), and all things associated with pastel painting.
Your article would be such a wonderful addition to the VicPastel News. I would acknowledge your authorship and mention your blogs, website, and your terrific YouTube presentations.
I would be honoured and so appreciative if you would allow me to use this valuable information. We have some members who are from Tasmania, and I’m sure if they know anything more than you have discovered about this wonderful artist, they will be happy to add to your compilation of the story of Florence Rodway.
Thank you very much in anticipation, Gail.
Thank you Anne for your comment. And YES! please feel free to use the article in your newsletter. I would appreciate you also giving the url back to the original article. I will email you to make sure you see my permission is granted!!
Hi Gail,
Thanks for your article on Florence Rodway. It has been most useful in helping me identify a pastel painting which I believe is by the artist.
The picture is of my Grandmother, Mrs Walter Jago who moved in the same circle as the Lawsons and whose husband, Walter Jago had a defacto relationship with Bertha Lawson in later years.
The painting is from the late 1920’s judging by the age of my Grandmother which fits in with the timeframe of Rodway’s work.
There is no provision here for a picture, but if you reply by email I can send you one. Cheers, David
Wow David, that’s fantastic to hear. Thank you for giving us some background with regard to the painting you have of your grandmother. I would love to see it and have sent you an email.
Hi Gail, recently discovered this wonderfully informative piece on Florence Radway. Currently I am doing a university course with Aberystwyth University. The course is pastel portraits and figure drawing. So thank you so much for doing some of my homework. Your contribution is duly noted in my course diary. Hope you are enjoying your cruise. Best wishes from a very wet and windy Wales.
Now for more research
Julie
Hah hah glad this was helpful Julie! Sounds like a fabulous course!!! Did you see the post of Thérèse Schwartze by guest Cora Hollema? Or mycloseup blog on Marie-Geneviève Navarre?
The cruise is fabulous – warm for one thing!!
Hi Gail, I have a piece which has been in the family for many many years – not sure if you are interested in an additional photo of her work for your reference?
Regards
Jodi
Jodi, I’d love to add the image to the blog (assuming it’s a pastel) with your story!! Please email both to me 😀