Vida Lahey's Floral Palette
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2012.12Keywords:
Vida Lahey, artist, flower studies, 'Monday morning' 1913Abstract
Vida Lahey is one of Queensland's best loved artists of the twentieth century. However, she is appreciated locally as much for her role in the promotion and teaching of art as for her practice. The work for which she is best known, ‘Monday morning’ 1913 (Collection, Queensland Art Gallery), became an icon of feminism from the 1980s, although it contrasts with her flower studies – the work that gave her a national reputation from the 1920s.
References
William Moore, ‘Art and Artists’, Brisbane Courier, 25 October 1930: 20.
Lilian MacArthur, ‘Vida Lahey: Artist’, manuscript, F2251, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, 1969, p. 9.
Sydney Morning Herald, 26 March 1940.
Lahey exhibited paintings with fuchsias (including Chinese fuchsias) in the titles from 1923 to 1961 and identified the flowers mixed with it including: roses, achimenes, lasiandras and russelia. According to her niece, Shirley Lahey, Vida loved the drooping grace of the flowers and always tried to find a sheltered place in her garden for this shrub, although Brisbane's hot and humid summers made its survival a battle.
Chloris, ‘Garden Notes’, The Queenslander, 13 December 1928: 61.
‘High Standard: Art Society Show’, Brisbane Courier, 20 April 1933.
Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 26 October 1933.
The Queenslander, Brisbane, 14 May 1936.
Seed of the Golden Gleam Nasturtium is still available in the United States.
Beers, Les, A History of Hybrid Hibiscus in Australia (Brisbane: Hibiscus Society of Queensland, n.d.).
The Queenslander, 1 January 1870: 5.
The artists were Vida Lahey, William Bustard, Kenneth Macqueen at Finney's Art Gallery, Brisbane.
