Bertha Merfield

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Bertha E. Merfield
Born(1869-01-30)30 January 1869
West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died20 September 1921(1921-09-20) (aged 52)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forPainting

Bertha Merfield (1869–1921) was an Australian painter and muralist. She was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society.[1]

Biography[edit]

Merfield was born in West Melbourne, Victoria on 30 January 1869 to Thomas and Isabella (née Wardman) Merfield.[2][3] She studied at the Slade School in London, England and the National Gallery of Victoria Art School.[4] She made generous loans of works from her collection to the inaugural exhibition of Castlemaine Art Gallery in 1913, including paintings by Tudor St George Tucker, Alexander Colquhoun, George Clausen, Frederick McCubbin and Blamire Young.[5]

She was a member of the London Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera.[6] In 1916[7] her mural for the Cafe Australia in Melbourne received public acclaim.[4] The building was demolished in 1938.[7]

Merfield was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society.[1]

Merfield died on 20 September 1921 in Melbourne.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Members". Twenty Melbourne Painters Society Inc. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Family Notices". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 1 February 1869. p. 2. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Birth Certiicate: Merfield, Bertha Elizabeth". Births deaths and marriages Victoria. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Bertha E. Merfield b. c.1869". Design & Art Australia Online (DAAO). Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  5. ^ "The Art Gallery". Mount Alexander Mail. 16 September 1913. p. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  6. ^ "An Australian Decorative Artist, Miss Bertha Merfield". The Lone Hand. 1920. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Balcony and mural in the main dining hall, Café Australia, Melbourne". Walter Burley Griffin Society Incorporated. Retrieved 7 April 2018.

External links[edit]