Mary Edwell-Burke | |
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![]() Self-portrait, 1936 | |
Born | Mary Edwards 19 June 1894 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Died | 19 January 1988 Fiji | (aged 93)
Nationality | Australian |
Known for | Painting, Sculpture |
Mary Edwell-Burke (1894–1988), was an Australian painter and carver.
Edwell-Burke was born on 19 June 1894 in Sydney. [1] She was the half-sister of Bernice E. Edwell. [2] She studied at the East Sydney Technical College.
In the 1920s she exhibited with the Royal Art Society (as Mary Edwards). Edwell-Burke was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 1921 and 1922. [3] [4] From 1935-1945 she exhibited with the Australian Watercolour Institute (as Mary Edwards). [1]
In 1944 Edwell-Burke, along with Joseph Wolinski, brought legal action to overturn William Dobell's 1943 Archibald prize for his portrait Mr Joshua Smith, claiming the image was more a caricature than a portrait. [5]
In 1945 her portrait of Dame Enid Lyons, was rejected as 'unsatisfactory’ by the Federal Government’s Historic Memorials Committee. Edwell-Burke subsequently moved to Fiji and changed her name from Mary Edwards to Mary Edwell-Burke. [1]
Edwell-Burke died on 19 January 1988 in Fiji. [1]