Mary Cecil Allen
Born 1893, Melbourne; died 1962, Provincetown, Massachusetts, United States
Legend (Portrait of a Lady), c.1918.
oil on canvas
98.3 x 65.3cm
Bendigo Art Gallery Collection, 2025
Visual description:
This portrait of an unnamed female subject is painted in a soft tonal style. The figure is positioned against a plain, muted beige background. She is shown from just below the waist up, standing side on but gently turning to face the viewer. She has the short haircut associated with ‘the modern woman’ in the early 20th century. She is dressed in a flowing dressing gown or evening coat style garment rendered in vivid red tones, accented with an emerald green lapel. Scattered floral motifs in peacock blue and muted pink appear embroidered across the silky fabric, particularly on the sleeve and upper section. Light falls from the upper left, creating strong shadows across the figure. The subject’s hands are loosely clasped at her front. She appears calm and self-composed, with a steady gaze and neutral expression.
About the artist:
Mary Cecil Allen was born in Melbourne and grew up immersed in the city’s intellectual and social elite; her was father the Dean of Medicine of the University of Melbourne. Allen trained at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and completed a year at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She soon became highly regarded in Melbourne art circles. A talented portraitist, she was a finalist in several Archibald Prizes, including for her 1925 portrait of Hilda Elliott, founding benefactor of Mildura Arts Centre. Not only a painter, Allen was also well known as a writer, critic, and lecturer on art. She moved to New York in 1927, continuing her work as an artist and art educator, and rapidly embraced abstraction in her painting. She returned on several occasions to give lectures in Melbourne, attracting audiences of up to a thousand people, contributing significantly to the popularisation of modernism in Australia.