Ethel Carrick Fox

Distinguished by bold brushwork and dynamic composition, Ethel Carrick Fox created art characterised by colour, light and movement. Trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, she met her husband Emanuel Phillips Fox at the artists’ colony of St Ives in Cornwall. After marrying in 1905, the couple moved to Paris, living at the Cité Fleurie in Montparnasse and immersing themselves in the vibrant artistic community. Carrick Fox became a sociétaire of the modernist Salon d’Automne in 1911, exhibiting regularly in all the major Paris salons.

The Foxes followed the light, travelling to paint and painting to travel, spending summers at fashionable beach resorts like Trouville and Royan, and visiting destinations including Venice, Spain and Morocco. Flower markets became a favourite subject, offering ideal opportunities to paint cavalcades of colour peopled with activity. Her works overflowed with the atmosphere and immediacy of the sunlit passing moment, capturing women and children relaxing and at play. Her paintings are held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Musée des Beaux-Arts Rouen, and the Kerry Stokes Collection.