Inseparables

South African-born Florence Fuller migrated as a child to Melbourne, where, during the late 1880s, she was a prominent painter of portraits. At the age of sixteen she began studies at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, subsequently becoming a pupil of her uncle, the celebrated portraitist Robert Dowling. She also received tuition from the artist Jane Sutherland before opening her own studio. Following her early success in Australia, the artist furthered her studies at the Académie Julian in Paris and exhibited her work in the prestigious Paris Salon and London’s Royal Academy. She later became one of the most significant Australian artists of the Federation period and an active Theosophist, seeking to express the ‘hidden inner life’ of her subjects.

While studying and exhibiting abroad, Fuller created Inseparables, a large painting of a young girl reading in an armchair. The Gallery acquired the work in 1900, soon after its creation and exhibition in the third Federal Art Exhibition at the South Australian Society of Arts. A local critic highlighted the painting as ‘a clever study’, while other contemporary reviews noted the artist’s careful observation and clearness of perception. Her ability to convey the mood of her environment was frequently praised and can be observed in this tightly compacted interior scene, with its warm tones and sensitive contrast of light and shadow.

Elle Freak, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture