1. Theodora Esther Cowan was an Australian artist, regarded as the first Australian-born woman sculptor.
14 Facts About Theodora Cowan
1. 2.
Theodora Cowan was one of a number of women sculptors who were working at the end of the 19th century.
3.
Apart from being the first to be born in Australia, Cowan was among the first to achieve success, especially for her portrait work.
4.
Theodora Cowan was born at Richmond Villa in The Domain, Sydney and began her training in Sydney at the Sydney Technical College with Lucien Henry before moving to Italy in 1889 with her parents, where she stayed for six years.
5.
Theodora Cowan was one of a number of young Australian sculptors, including Bertram Mackennal, who had gone to Europe to study in the early years of the 20th century.
6.
In 1895, Theodora Cowan returned to Sydney and established a studio in the Strand Arcade.
7.
Theodora Cowan found there was some prejudice against women sculptors and explained that she was "in the position of a pioneer".
8.
Theodora Cowan travelled to London in 1901, set up a studio in Grosvenor Street, and met important artists such as Holman Hunt, who visited her.
9.
Theodora Cowan again returned to Sydney in 1913 and worked from Darlinghurst.
10.
In 1902, Theodora Cowan's name appeared in a list that included Nellie Melba, Ada Crossley, Rosa Campbell Praed, Kathleen Mannington Caffyn, Louise Mack, Mary Gaunt and Ellis Rowan in an illustrated article entitled "Notable Australian Women".
11.
In 1897 Theodora Cowan was a finalist in the inaugural year of the Wynne Prize and again in 1925.
12.
Theodora Cowan became interested in watercolour painting and in later life "turned increasingly towards painting and away from sculpture".
13.
Theodora Cowan completed a number of portrait busts of notable people, including the one which took pride of place in her one-woman exhibition at London's Grafton Galleries, that of the Bishop of London, Arthur Winnington-Ingram.
14.
Theodora Cowan's work is represented in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Parliament House, Canberra.