Monday 21 March 2022
Discovering Laura Gee: An early South Australian watercolourist and Burnside resident, with examples of her work from private and public collections
Presented by Judy Fander
Born in 1860 Annie Laura Vernon Herford was the wife of Lionel Gee, a senior public servant in the Department of Mines. She was also a mother. Her painting, ‘Princess Alexandra Parakeets,’ hung in the Art Gallery of South Australia from 1904 until 1959. Two of her watercolour portraits, one of Catherine Helen Spence, are currently in their collection.
How and why did she become an artist? Can we call her a professional artist or was she merely a talented amateur? How and where did she get her art education? What subjects did she paint? What audience did she paint for? Where are her paintings now?
Judy has been writing for 20 years. She took up writing after retiring from the SA education department as a librarian. This meant that she was then able to spend time on her own work. Besides publishing short stories and poetry through local writing groups, she has published a biography, “The Mineral Detective”, and is about to publish a biography of Lionel Gee, Laura’s husband, called “Where Treasures Shine”.
Judy is particularly interested in the social history of South Australia and of Burnside.
Record of Meeting
View the record of all past meetings which details all talks given at meetings by guest speakers since our foundation in 1980. Most meetings since 1985 have been recorded.
| No. | * | B | T | d | doc | Date | Topic, Speaker, Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 461 | 21/3/2022 | Discovering Laura Gee: An early South Australian watercolourist and Burnside resident, with examples of her work from private and public collectionsPresented by Judy Fander Born in 1860 Annie Laura Vernon Herford was the wife of Lionel Gee, a senior public servant in the Department… |
Legend
B: Burnside topic
T: tape
d: disc
doc: pdf document
*: on location
Disc and Tape recordings available in the Local History Room