I imagine Ethel sitting on the beach, hearing the continuous sound of wind and water; the tide in tune with the ebb and flow of her thoughts and her hand. I imagine her husband, Emanuel Phillips Fox, sitting beside her, creating his own version of the scene; the beach now smelling like impressionism, like being submerged in the ocean feels like surrealism.
Ethel Carrick Fox, Australia, 1872 - 1952, Sur la plage, c.1910, France, oil on wood panel, 26.5 x 35.0 cm; Gift of Aldridge Family Endowment, Frank Choate, Susan Cocks, Dr Michael Drew, Emeritus Professor Anne Edwards AO, Dr Michael Hayes, Lipman Karas, Edward Mansfield, Jacqui McGill, Jane McGregor, David Urry, Peter and Pamela McKee, Dr Joe Verco AM, Dick Whitington QC, Peter Wilson and Zena Winser through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club 2018, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Elle Freak in front of E Phillips Fox, Al fresco, c.1904, oil on canvas, Elder Wing of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia. Photo: Sam Roberts.
Bessie Davidson’s paintbox, Elder Wing of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2018. Photo: Saul Steed.
In her art and life we see the same perpetual restlessness — of things rising and falling — forming and reforming — with a brilliant sense of colour; and a thin, blue horizon, steadying the eye on the receding water’s edge.
Elder Wing of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2018. Photo: Saul Steed.
