Eirene Mort
Eirene Mort (1879–1977) was an Australian artist, art teacher, printmaker, cartoonist, fashion designer and founder of the Society of Arts and Crafts of New South Wales.
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Early life
Eirene Mort was born on 17 November 1879 at Woollahra.[1] Her parents were Canon Henry Wallace Mort,[2] an Anglican clergyman, and Kate Macintosh who was the daughter of Robert Isaacs. Mort attended St Catherine's Clergy Daughters' School in Waverley.[1] Mort won the University of Sydney medal for Design in 1897 in her final school exams.[3]
Mort studied painting with Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Albert Fullwood.[1] In London, she studied at the Grosvenor Life School, the Royal School of Art Needlework and the Royal College of Art, South Kensington.[1]
Career
Mort illustrated articles she wrote for the Sydney Mail and Art and Architecture,[4][5] and illustrated several books including Florence Sulman's A Popular Guide to the Wild Flowers of New South Wales (1913),[6] The Story of Architecture (1942),[7] and Selwyn Mort's Coins of the Hapsburg Emperors 1619-1919.[8][4] She also wrote and illustrated books about Australian fauna and flora for children including Country cousins.[9] Mort favoured Australian materials and motifs in the decorative arts.[10]
Mort and Nora Weston established a graphic design studio in Sydney in 1906.[4] They offered craft, drawing, design, wood carving, metalwork and book-binding lessons.[4]
Mort was a founder of the Society of Arts and Crafts of New South Wales[4] and one of the organisers of the Australian Exhibition of Womens' Work in 1907 which featured 16,000 exhibits and more than 250,000 people in attendance.[11][12][13]
Mort moved to Mittagong in 1937 and taught at Frensham School.[14] After retiring from the school in 1949, she continued to pursue her artistic career.[14]
The National Gallery of Australia collection includes 349 items of Mort's work.[15]
Personal life
Mort lived with her partner, the wood artist Nora "Chips" Weston, in Vaucluse and later in the southern highlands.[10] Mort died at Bowral on 1 December 1977.[1][16]
References
- Henry, Margaret, "Mort, Eirene (1879–1977)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 7 March 2020
- "BLACK AND WHITERS". Daily Herald. South Australia. 10 September 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 9 March 2020 – via Trove.
- Lane, Pamela. "The Amazing Miss Mort | National Library of Australia". www.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- Melbourne, National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of. "Mort, Eirene - Woman - The Australian Women's Register". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- Institute of Architects of New South Wales (1 September 1907), "ART & ARCHITECTURE (1 September 1907)", Art and architecture : the journal of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales, W. Brooks, 4 (5), ISSN 1833-2722
- Sulman, Florence; Mort, Eirene, 1879-1977; Watkins, Dorothy M (1913), A popular guide to the wild flowers of New South Wales, Angus & Robertson, retrieved 7 March 2020CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Mort, Eirene (1942), The story of architecture, Consolidated Press, retrieved 7 March 2020
- Mort, Selwyn R (1959), Coins of the Hapsburg emperors and related issues 1619 to 1919, Hawthorn Press, retrieved 7 March 2020
- Mort, Eirene (1904), Country cousins : presented in picture and rhyme, s.n, retrieved 9 March 2020
- Musa, Helen (21 November 2017). "Arts / Awesome Miss Mort may not ring a bell". Canberra CityNews. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- "Women's Work Exhibition—The Federal Display in Melbourne". Australian Town and Country Journal. New South Wales, Australia. 30 October 1907. p. 24. Retrieved 9 March 2020 – via Trove.
- Melbourne, National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of. "Australian Exhibition of Women's Work 1907 - Event - The Australian Women's Register". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- Willoughby, Emma (January 2001). "Woman Making An Exhibition Of Herself: The Women's Work Exhibition, 1907". Melbourne Historical Journal. 29 (1): 158–169.
- Morton, Phillip (21 December 2015). "Artist, teacher Eirene Mort moved to Mittagong in 1937". Southern Highlands News.
- Lane, Pamela Joyce (1 June 2018), Eirene Mort: Artist, Artisan and New Woman (PDF), retrieved 7 March 2020
- "NOTICE of intended distribution of estate.—Any person having any claim upon the estate of EIRENE MORT, late of". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 23 March 1978. p. 991. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
Further reading
- Joan Kerr and John McPhee, "First Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work" in Heritage: the National Women's Art Book: 500 works by 500 Australian women artists from colonial times (Roseville East: G+B Arts International, 1995)
- Mort family. (n.d.). Mort Family Papers Mainly of the Mort and Weston Families, Ca.1066-1943, Transcribed with Connecting Narrative by Eirene Mort, 1964.