A never-before-seen showcase of the life and work of Western Australia’s
trailblazing 20th Century artist Elizabeth Blair Barber (1909 – 2001) has opened at the
Holmes à Court Gallery in West Perth.
Living a seemingly double life for many of her nine decades, this avid storyteller’s
public face was as Betty Bunning, the socialite wife of prominent WA businessman,
the late Charles Bunning.
But to the art world, she was Elizabeth Blair Barber, the gifted and prolific painter
who chronicled WA history, persuaded celebrated figures of the day to sit for
portraits, and played a pivotal role in nurturing young artists.
Elizabeth Blair Barber: A Life Amongst Painters is a heartfelt celebration of a gifted
artist whose work was overlooked for far too long but who was instrumental in
forging a new appreciation of female artists in society.
The exhibition of around 200 of Blair Barber’s artworks, many meticulously restored,
has been a labour of love for the Bunning family, the name behind Australia’s best-
known hardware and garden centre chain.
The late artist’s son, Bob Bunning, said his mother had been an extraordinary
Australian painter whose legacy captured eight decades of WA history, along with
many treasured family memories.
“The result of the restoration and framing works has been transformational. It has
been a great feeling of satisfaction to me to see these works come to life again,” Mr
Bunning said.
“Much of my mother’s work has never seen the light of day until now. Partly because
society considered female artists an oddity at the time, but also because she was
busy juggling life as Betty Bunning, society wife and mother of three, whose
husband, my father, was busy building the family business.
“It is my hope that others attending the exhibition will delight in her work as I do.”
Preparing for the exhibition over the past few years has been a journey of discovery
for its curator Connie Petrillo.
“As curator I really grew to understand Elizabeth Blair Barber the artist,” Mrs Petrillo
Said: “Her work was highly individualist, and her approach to painting was about the
spontaneous recording of the moments around her. Her work is built from
expressive brushstrokes that once laid down, remain as a trace of her experience.”
Mrs Petrillo worked closely with Mr Bunning to decide which of the paintings – from
the hundreds the family had safely stored over the decades – to include in the show.
Their collection spans nearly 80 years, from a small sketch Blair Barber completed in
1925 as a 16-year-old, to paintings from the 1940s and ’50s, right through to floral
arrangements painted in her final years.
It’s the largest time-span involving a single artist that Mrs Petrillo has curated, with
about 90 per cent of the works being shown for the first time.
Several depict scenes from the sawmills Blair Barber painted while accompanying
her husband on his trips to the South West, building roads and houses and
establishing new mills. Many of those towns no longer exist, giving these artworks
extra significance as snapshots of Western Australian history.
“The artist’s legacy is a fascinating one, affording us an insight into the world of both
art-making and life in 20th Century WA,” Mrs Petrillo said.
“She was such a major figure in the Perth art scene for so many decades and took so
many young artists under her wing that she deserves to be widely recognised and
honoured.”
Elizabeth Blair Barber: A Life Amongst Painters marks the start of a new era for Blair
Barber’s legacy. There have already been approaches about a retrospective, a coffee-table book and
collaborations with private art collectors who have long appreciated the artist’s talent.
Elizabeth Blair Barber: A Life Amongst Artists runs until Saturday, August 10 at the Holmes à Court Gallery, West Perth. www.holmesacourtgallery.com.au
