Sybil Craig

{{Infobox artist

| name = Sybil Mary Frances Craig

| image = Sybil Mary Frances Craig self portrait.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM|size=100}}

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|11|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, United Kingdom

| death_date = {{death date and age|1989|9|9|1901|11|18|df=y}}

| death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

| nationality = Australian

| education = National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Working Men's College

| field = Painting

| training =

| movement =

| works =

| patrons =

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| spouse =

}}

Sybil Mary Frances Craig {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM}} (1901–1989), was an Australian painter. She was appointed by the Australian War Memorial to accept the appointment as an official war artist. She was the first woman to paint women working in the munitions’ factories.{{cite web|last1=Wilkins|first1=Lola|title=Sybil Mary Frances Craig|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/sybil-mary-frances-craig/biography/|website=Design & Art Australia Online (DAAO)|access-date=27 March 2018}}

File:FL15995793.jpg

Early life

Craig was born in London, England on 18 November 1901.{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last1=Reilly|first1=Dianne|title=Craig, Sybil Mary Frances (1901–1989)|id2=craig-sybil-mary-frances-12363|access-date=27 March 2018}} She was the only child of affluent parents Matthew Frances Craig and Winifred Frances, née Major.{{Citation|last=Reilly|first=Dianne|title=Craig, Sybil Mary Frances (1901–1989)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/craig-sybil-mary-frances-12363|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2020-06-03}} Her family emigrated to Australia in 1902.{{cite web|title=Sybil Craig|url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/1672/|access-date=27 March 2018|website=National Gallery of Victoria}} The Craigs first lived in Brighton, but moved to Caulfield in 1914 into a house built by Matthew.{{Citation|last=Reilly|first=Dianne|title=Craig, Sybil Mary Frances (1901–1989)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/craig-sybil-mary-frances-12363|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2020-06-03}} Craig recalled a childhood spent in a 'suburban bohemian household' that was frequented by artists and musicians.{{Citation|last=Reilly|first=Dianne|title=Craig, Sybil Mary Frances (1901–1989)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/craig-sybil-mary-frances-12363|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2020-06-03}}

Career

From 1924 though 1931 Craig studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School where she was taught by Bernard Hall, William McInnes and Charles Wheeler. She also studied at the Working Men's College, Melbourne (now RMIT) in 1935. In 1932 she had her first solo show at the Melbourne Athenaeum. She had a studio on Collins Street from 1936 to 1951 and had the financial means that left her free to pursue painting.

In March 1945 Craig became an official war artist, commissioned by the Australian War Memorial Board to record the contribution of women to the war effort. She recorded women working at the Commonwealth Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong, a suburb of Melbourne.{{cite book|author=Catherine Speck|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2014|title=Beyond the Battlefield, Women Artists of Two World Wars|isbn=978-178023-374-1}}File:Sybil Craig.jpgCraig was a member of several artistic organizations including the New Melbourne Art Club, the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, the Victorian Artists Society, and the Twenty Melbourne Painters.

In 1978, the Important Woman Artists Gallery in East Malvern held a retrospective of her work.

She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Miss Sybil Mary Frances CRAIG|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870173|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-06|website=It's An Honour}} Craig died 15 September 1989 in Melbourne.{{cite web|title=Sybil Craig|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10676776|website=The Australian War Memorial|access-date=27 March 2018}}

Sybil Craig

Early life

Career

References

Further reading