Barbara A. Davidson
{{Short description|Australian artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Barbara A. Davidson
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
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| birth_name = Barbara Anne Abbott
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|07|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = Summer Hill, New South Wales
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|11|07|1928|07|26|df=y}}
| death_place = Double Bay, New South Wales
| education = Meriden Church of England School for Girls
East Sydney Technical College
| nationality = Australian
| spouse = George Madgwick Davidson {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}}
| children = 2 sons 1 daughter
| known_for = Etching & works on paper
| movement =
| works =
| mother =
| father = Dr J H Abbott
| relations = Grandfather
Joseph Abbott
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| website =
}}
Barbara Anne Davidson (26 July 1928 – 7 November 2022) [https://tributes.smh.com.au/au/obituaries/smh-au/name/barbara-davidson-obituary?id=57782995%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dobitsharebeta Barbara Davidson Obituary] Retrieved 10 April 2025. was a New South Wales–born Australian artist who worked in a variety of print media including etching, lithography, collagraph and artists books. She was a key proponent of the printmaking revival in Sydney in the 1970s and an active member of Sydney printmakers.[https://sydneyprintmakers.com.au/the-sydney-printmakers-2/50th-anniversary-history/ Sydney printmakers] Retrieved 10 April 2025.
Biography
Abbott was born at her parents' house in Summer Hill on 26 July 1928. She was the daughter of Dr Joseph Henry Abbott, a Sydney medical practitioner. She had two brothers, Philip and Rodney, and a sister, Audrey.
In the 1930s she was educated at Meriden Church of England School for Girls in Redmyre Road, Strathfield, completing the Leaving Certificate in 1944.{{cite book | author=Cook, Anne | title=Visions of Parnassus: Meriden's first 100 years | publisher=Meriden Council, Meriden School, (Strathfield) | year=1997 | id= ISBN}} From 1945 until 1949 she attended the East Sydney Technical College which is now known as the National Art School. At East Sydney, she was influenced by the colour curriculum of pioneering Sydney-based colour designer and educator Phyllis Shillito (1895–1980).[https://mhnsw.au/phyllis-shillito-and-her-colour-curriculum-1945-1979/ Phyllis Shillito] Retrieved 10 April 2025.[https://daao.library.unsw.edu.au/bio/phyllis-sykes-shillito/ Design and Art Australia Online Phyllis Sykes Shillito ] Abbott graduated in textile design with honours in 1950.
In 1951, she married George Madgwick Davidson, a Sydney medical practitioner.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248638856 |title=News for Women |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XVI |issue=9 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 April 1951 |accessdate=12 April 2025 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} He went on to be the director of anaesthetics and resuscitation at the Prince of Wales Hospital. The Davidsons had three children.[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0310057X9902700317?download=true George Madgwick Davidson AM]
Davidson's work is included in public and private collections worldwide, including in America, Brazil, Britain, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, and Sweden. She has worked in the National Gallery of Australia, the State Library of Queensland, and the Powerhouse Museum. A 2017 oral history interview is held by the State Library of New South Wales.{{Citation | title=Item 2: Photograph of Barbara Anne Davidson, 28 April 2017 / by Margaret Leask | publication-date=2017 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/236988921 | access-date=10 April 2025}}
She has undertaken three commissions for the Print Council of Australia and has won many awards. In 2001, the author Tanya
Crothers wrote a book about Davidson explaining the complexities of her work and how she draws on her home and her city in her art.{{Citation | title=Barbara A. Davidson/ Tanya Crothers | publication-date=2001 | publisher=City of Sydney Archives | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/244715481 | access-date=10 April 2025}} Davidson died in Sydney in 2022.[https://ryersonindex.org/search.php Ryerson Index Barbara Davidson] Retrieved 25 May 2025.
External links
- [https://www.printcircle.org/gallery-1-4 Barbara Davidson Printmaker]
References
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Category:Australian printmakers
Category:National Art School alumni
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