Margaret Baskerville

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Margaret Francis Ellen Baskerville
Born(1861-09-14)14 September 1861
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died6 July 1930(1930-07-06) (aged 68)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forSculpture
Spouse
Charles Douglas Richardson
(m. 1914)

Margaret Francis Ellen Baskerville (14 September 1861 – 6 July 1930), was an Australian sculptor, water-colourist, and educator. She is regarded as Victoria's first professional woman sculptor.[1]

Biography[edit]

Baskerville was born on 14 September 1861 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[2] From 1879-1887 she attended National Gallery School in Melbourne, in both the School of Painting and the School of Design. In 1886 she joined and was an active member of the bohemian Buonarotti Club in its last two years.[3] From 1904-1906 she attended the Royal College of Art Modelling School in London, England.[1]

Baskerville returned to Australia in 1906. She assisted her former teacher Douglas Richardson in a shared studio. The two married in 1914.[2]

Bust of Edith Cavell in Kings Domain, Melbourne

Baskerville created a number of monuments in Australian. Her first commission[2] was the major commission for a bronze monument to the 22nd Premier of Victoria, Sir Thomas Bent.[4] She was the first Australian woman sculptor to receive this honour.[1] She also produced the James Cuming memorial,[5] and Melbourne's Edith Cavell Memorial.[6]

She exhibited her work regularly, and her last exhibition was in 1929.[2]

Baskerville was a member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. Other memberships include the Yarra Sculptors' Society, the Victorian Sketching Club, the Women's Art Club, the council of the Australian Institute of the Arts and Literature, the Austral Salon and the Victorian Artists Society.[2]

Baskerville died on 6 July 1930 in Melbourne.[2]

Baskerville Street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm is named in her honour.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Margaret Frances Ellen Baskerville". Design & Art Australia Online (DAAO). Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Scarlett, Ken. "Baskerville, Margaret Francis Ellen (1861–1930)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  3. ^ Mead, Stephen F. (December 2011). "The Search for Artistic Professionalism in Melbourne: the activities of the Buonarotti Club, 1883 -1887". The Latrobe Journal. 88.
  4. ^ "Sir Thomas Bent". Monument Australia. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Margaret Baskerville 'James Cuming Memorial'". Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Nurse Edith Cavell". Monument Australia. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Schedule 'B' National Memorials Ordinance 1928–1972 Street Nomenclature List of Additional Names with Reference to Origin". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Special. Australia. 8 February 1978. p. 10. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Trove.