ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875 - 1955). Bale's sketch book, signed and dated 1897 to the front cover; containing eleven full page sketches, mainly in ink, and eleven pages of notes and geometric drawings; the book and each page 18.5 x 24.5cm. Alice Bale grew up in Richmond and Kew, attending Methodist Ladies College and taking private art lessons from May Vale and Hugh Ramsay. She was enrolled in the National Gallery School in 1895, where she studied under Frederick McCubbin and Lindsay Bernard Hall, with the present sketch book used during her third year there. Most of the illustrations are dated, with the earliest being 28 April 1897 and that latest dated 16 June 1897. The carefully written pages of notes focus on particular points of illustration: "To draw a square", "To draw an equilateral triangle", "To find a line of height", etc. She came to prominence as an artist in Melbourne in the 1920s and 1930s, developing a reputation as one of Australia's pre-eminent flower and still life painters. A wonderful insight into the development of one of Australia's finest artists of her generation, now represented in all State Galleries. PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Australian Art , November 1981, Lot 1610. ​​​​​​ The Estate of Bertram Whittle, former director of the Western Australia Art Gallery.
A M E BALE (1875-1955) Chrysanthemums 1925 oil on canvas signed and dated lower right: A. M. E. BALE / 1925 signed, dated and titled verso: Chrysanthemums 35 guineas / A M E BALE 1925 49.5 x 60cm PROVENANCE Private collection, Melbourne
A M E BALE (1875-1955) Camellias oil on canvas inscribed verso on Fine Arts Court label "Camellias" / Miss AME Bale / L Bernard Hall 39.5 x 29cm PROVENANCE Bernard Hall (Exhibitor) (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Seddon Galleries, Melbourne (label verso) Fine Arts Court, Australian Exhibition of Australian Artists, Melbourne 1907 (label verso) Centenary Celebration: First Australian Exhibition of Women's Work 1907, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, 21 October - 9 December, 2007
A M E BALE (1875-1955) Trees by the Creek, Castlemaine oil on canvasboard signed lower right: A M E BALE 30 x 22.5cm PROVENANCE Gifted from the artist to Percy Watson Thence by descent
A M E BALE (1875-1955) Through the Window oil on canvasboard inscribed verso: A M E BALE 50 x 35cm PROVENANCE Gifted from the artist to Percy Watson Thence by descent
Alice Bale (1875 - 1955) Mollie (Miss Mollie Agnew), 1925 oil on canvas 96.5 x 66.0 cm signed and dated upper right: A.M.E Bale 25 bears inscription verso: MOLLIE A.M.E Bale bears inscription verso: 6 PROVENANCE Estate of the artist Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 25 May 1973, lot 414 Diana Gribble, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED 7th Annual Exhibition, Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 15 – 26 September 1925, cat. 8 (as 'Mollie') Archibald Prize Finalist 1925, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 16 January – 15 February 1926, cat. 54 Exhibition of Paintings, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2 – 13 December 1930, cat. 44 A M E Bale & Victor E Cobb, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, September 1933, cat. 5 Centenary Art Exhibition, Commonwealth Bank Building, Melbourne, 8 October – December 1934 (label attached verso) A Century of Australian Woman Artists, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 4 June – 3 July 1993, cat. 58 (as 'Mollie') LITERATURE ‘Art Notes: The Society of Twenty Painters’, The Age, Melbourne, 15 September 1925, p. 9 Streeton, A., ‘Art Exhibitions: Fine Work at Athenaeum’, The Argus, Melbourne, 2 December 1930, p. 9 'Art Notes', The Age, Melbourne, 2 December 1930, p. 10 Bell, G., 'Ten Artists Hold Display', The Sun, Melbourne, 2 December 1930, p. 15 Streeton, A., 'Paintings and Etchings: Miss Bale and Victor Cobb', The Argus, Melbourne, 26 September 1933, p. 8 Centenary Gift Book, published for The Women's Centenary Council, Melbourne, 1934, p. 49 Deutscher, C., A Century of Australian Women Artists, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 1993, p. 36 (illus., as 'Mollie') Perry, P., & Perry, J., Max Meldrum & Associates Their Art, Lives and Influences, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria, 1996, pp. 75 - 77 Perry, P., A.M.E. Bale: Her Art and Life, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria, 2011, pp. 88, 89 (illus.) RELATED WORK Miss Mollie Agnew (The yellow dress), 1924, oil on canvas, 90.0 x 69.5cm, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria We are grateful to Peter Perry for his assistance with this catalogue entry. ESSAY Miss Alice Marian Ellen Bale exhibited remarkable artistic ability from an early age, beginning formal instruction at just seven years old. Her first significant teacher was Miss May Vale (1862 – 1945), who had recently returned from studies in Europe and England, where she trained in London under Sir James Linton. Bale further developed her skills with additional lessons from Hugh Ramsay, before enrolling at the Melbourne National Gallery School where she studied under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall. A pivotal moment in Bale’s artistic development occurred with the return to Australia of Max Meldrum in late 1911, following eleven years of painting and study in France. Bale became a committed supporter of Meldrum between 1916 and 1918 and studied with him for a period of six months during those years. While Bale is widely recognised as one of Australia’s most accomplished painters of flowers, her portraits reveal a subtlety and psychological sensitivity that are equally significant. The present portrait, Mollie (Miss Mollie Agnew), 1925 was exhibited in the 1925 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Between 1922 and 1942, Bale was represented in the Archibald Prize on thirteen occasions. Her exhibition record also includes nine works selected for the Wynne Prize for landscape and one work accepted for the Sulman Prize for genre painting. Throughout her career, Bale took gender equality as a given. As she succinctly stated, ‘…there is no gender in art, only good and bad artists.’1 Her confident and assertive nature suited her to leadership roles, and she served with distinction as honorary secretary of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society for a remarkable thirty-five years. When the present work was first exhibited in the 7th Annual Exhibition of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society in 1925, The Argus critic noted, ‘From Miss A. M. E. Bale an interesting portrait of rich colour scheme entitled “Mollie” claims attention by its sound and craftsman-like qualities of tone and form.’2 The Age similarly praised her achievement, observing: ‘Miss Bale is showing some admirable work. No. 8 (“Mollie”) is a clean and well-painted study of a girl, and No. 9 is an excellent still life. No. 13 (“Autumn”) is the best landscape effort of this painter we have seen.’3 Further acclaim followed in 1930, when Sir Arthur Streeton, reviewing an exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery, wrote: ‘Seven exhibits by Miss A. M. E. Bale are dominated by No. 44, “Mollie”, a figure picture well-conceived and thoroughly well painted. It is a thorough success, and it stands upon a much higher plane than the artist’s flower painting.’4 Little is known about the sitter of this portrait, Miss Mollie Agnew. She was the daughter of Mrs Dunbar Ainslie Agnew and Dr James Francis Agnew, principal medical officer of the Commonwealth Repatriation Department and a founding figure of Bethesda Hospital, established in 1906 at 30–32 Erin Street, Richmond, one of Australia’s earliest intermediate hospitals. Mollie Agnew had one sister and two brothers and may have met Bale while the artist was living in Richmond. The Agnew family resided at 10 Erin Street, Richmond, and Mollie attended Erin Street State School. 1. Bale, A.M.E., ‘No Sex in Art’, The Argus, Melbourne, 20 December 1937, p. 10 2. ‘Art Exhibition: Twenty Melbourne Painters Group’, The Argus, Melbourne, 15 September 1925, p. 6 3. ‘Art Notes: The Society of Twenty Painters’, The Age, Melbourne, 15 September 1925, p. 9 4. Streeton, A., ‘Art Exhibitions: Fine Work at Athenaeum’, The Argus, Melbourne, 2 December 1930
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875 - 1955). Bale's sketch book, signed and dated 1897 to the front cover; containing eleven full page sketches, mainly in ink, and eleven pages of notes and geometric drawings; the book and each page 18.5 x 24.5cm. Alice Bale grew up in Richmond and Kew, attending Methodist Ladies College and taking private art lessons from May Vale and Hugh Ramsay. She was enrolled in the National Gallery School in 1895, where she studied under Frederick McCubbin and Lindsay Bernard Hall, with the present sketch book used during her third year there. Most of the illustrations are dated, with the earliest being 28 April 1897 and that latest dated 16 June 1897. The carefully written pages of notes focus on particular points of illustration: "To draw a square", "To draw an equilateral triangle", "To find a line of height", etc. She came to prominence as an artist in Melbourne in the 1920s and 1930s, developing a reputation as one of Australia's pre-eminent flower and still life painters. A wonderful insight into the development of one of Australia's finest artists of her generation, now represented in all State Galleries. PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Australian Art , November 1981, Lot 1610. The Estate of Bertram Whittle, former director of the Western Australia Art Gallery.
ALICE BALE (1875 - 1955) THE DOORWAY, 1913 oil on canvas 97.0 x 66.5 cm signed lower right: A M E Bale PROVENANCE The Estate of A.M.E. Bale, Melbourne Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 5 November 1981, lot 957 (as 'In the Doorway') Edward and John Barkes, Sydney and London Hordern House Rare Books, Sydney Private collection, Sydney Bonhams & Goodman, Melbourne, 23 April 2008, lot 18 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Oil Paintings by Miss Jo Sweatman and Miss A.M.E Bale, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 24 May – 3 June 1922 (as ‘Leisure’) A.M.E Bale, Rose A. Walker, Athenaeum Gallery, Melbourne, 19 – 30 November 1935, cat. 4 Australian Women Artists, Bridget McDonnell Gallery, Melbourne, 19 September – 8 October 1986 Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the Heidelberg Era, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne, 3 March – 26 April 1992, cat. 10 LITERATURE Hammond, V., and Peers, J., Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the Heidelberg Era, Artmoves, Melbourne, 1992, pp. 35 (illus.), 36, 80 (as 'Interior (Morning Papers)') National Australia Bank, Domestic Life in Australia 1840 – 1920, calendar, 1994 (illus. front cover, as 'Interior (Morning papers)') Perry, P., A.M.E. Bale: Her Art and Life, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria, 2011, pp. 56, 57 (illus., as 'The Doorway (Morning Papers)') RELATED WORKS Leisure moments, 1902, oil on canvas, 148.3 x 118.2 cm, in the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Suburban Peace, c.1904, oil on canvas on board, 26.5 x 19.5 cm, in the collection of the Castlemaine Art Museum, Victoria Interior, 1915, oil on canvas, 76.5 x 61.0 cm, private collection ESSAY Alice Marian Ellen Bale was born at Richmond, Victoria on 11th November 1875, the only child of William Mountier Bale, Chief Inspector of Customs, and his wife Marian (née Adams). She attended Methodist Ladies College from 1885 to 1892 where she became interested in the arts and, having decided to become a painter, took private lessons from May Vale and Hugh Ramsay. In 1894, she was elected a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society, before enrolling at the National Gallery Art School in 1895 where she won nine major prizes during the course of her studies. During the stormy years of Max Meldrum’s Presidency of the Victorian Artists’ Society (1916 – 17), a group of his supporters formed the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. Bale was their first secretary and under her leadership the Society flourished for 36 years. Landscapes, interiors, portraits and still life were Bale’s main interests, and she became particularly renowned for her flower studies. Writing in the catalogue of the 6th Annual Exhibition of the Twenty Melbourne Painters in May 1924, she outlined her objectives in art thus: ‘Truth of tone, of proportion, of colour – that is the aim once the subject is chosen. And in the choosing of the subject such as arrangement of mass and line as shall delight the eye – for pleasure is the essence of Art. The principle of choice, of selection, is inherent in humanity, in the artist above all. It can never be alienated, though it may be unrecognised by its very possessors, and may act so unconsciously as not to feel like another is to be indifferent to all.’1 Illustrated on the cover of the 1994 National Australia Bank calendar entitled Domestic Life in Australia 1840 – 1920, the present scene features a couple engrossed in their newspapers, highlighting the importance of newsprint in the leisure moments of Melburnians’ domestic lives at the time. Notably, the male depicted is Bale’s father who, as a marine biologist and world authority on hydroids, bequeathed many of his specimens and reference books to the National Museum and National Herbarium, Melbourne. Most likely painted in her studio in Kew, The doorway was also included in an early exhibition of paintings by Miss Jo Sweatman and Miss A.M.E Bale held at the Upper Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne from May to June 1922 (under the title ‘Leisure’). And from the same exhibition the National Gallery of Victoria, upon the recommendation of the then-director L. Bernard Hall who held her art in high esteem, notably acquired her Scabiosa, c.1922 – the first work by Bale to enter the collection. Throughout her life, Bale was staunch in her beliefs and penned numerous letters to newspapers on subjects such as acquisitions for the National Gallery of Victoria; a letter of protest to the Governor General concerning the formation of the Australian Academy of Art; and another to The Argus in 1937 arguing ‘…that there is no gender in art, only good and bad artists.’2 Upon her death on 14 February 1955, Bale’s will directed her trustees to establish an art scholarship bearing her name to encourage painting in representational or traditional art. The scholarship, first awarded in 1969, allowed the holder to live in the estate’s property, the Bale family home in Walpole Street, Kew. In 1981 the trust changed the terms of the scholarship, making it primarily a travelling one to enable Australian painting students to study the works of the old masters abroad. 1. A.M.E. Bale, ‘My Objective in Art’ in 20 Melbourne Painters: 6th Annual Exhibition, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 1924 2. Bale, A.M.E., ‘No Sex in Art’, The Argus, 20 December 1937, p. 10 PETER PERRY
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875-1955) Still Life oil on canvas 45 x 28cm PROVENANCE The Artist's Studio Capricorn Galleries, Melbourne (certificate of authenticity verso) The George Brugler & Jasmine Cowen Collection, Melbourne
ALICE M E BALE (1875-1955) Autumnal Still Life oil on canvas signed lower right: A.M.E. BALE 55 x 44.5cm PROVENANCE The R.W. Hall Collection, Melbourne
§ A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Bedroom Interior c.1928 oil on board 46 x 30cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of the Artist Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 18 November 1997, lot 288 Private collection, Melbourne Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 19 October 2021, lot 7 Private collection, Melbourne
ALICE M E BALE (1875-1955) Near Castlemaine 1928 oil on canvas signed lower left: A M E BALE inscribed verso: 28 Feb '28 24 x 29.5cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, Melbourne
BALE, Alice M E (1875-1955) Still Life with Snapdragons, 1924. Signed and dated lower right 'A.M.E. Bale 1924'. John Thallon frame (label verso) Oil on Canvas 63.5x54cm PROVENANCE: Ivon Murdoch (1892-1964) and Alma Murdoch (nee Anderson), 'Wantabadgery East,' N.S.W.; Stuart Murdoch, son of the above (d.1990) and Patricia Murdoch (nee McKay), 'Wantabadgery East,' then 'Springvale,' near Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.; Estate Late Patricia Osborne (Murdoch), Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.
ALICE M E BALE (1875-1955) The Studio Window oil on canvas signed lower right: A M E BALE titled verso: THE STUDIO WINDOW 39.5 x 35cm PROVENANCE High Street Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne
A.M.E BALE (1975-1955) Man Reading oil on canvas signed indistinctly lower left: A M E_ 74.5 x 61.5cm PROVENANCE: The Artist's Studio Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 3 November 1982, lot 883 Private collection, United States of America
ALICE BALE (1875 - 1955) Reading oil on canvas laid on board 39.5 x 34 cm (frame: 51 x 45 x 4 cm) unsigned | Melbourne Fine Art Gallery label verso, a signed letter from the director of Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum| Provenance: the Artist's Estate
ALICE M E BALE (1875-1955) The New Discovery oil on canvas inscribed label verso: A M E BALE PORTRAIT Still life study verso 72.5 x 59.5cm PROVENANCE Leonard Joel, Melbourne, Australian and European Paintings, 22 November 1995, Lot 586
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Pastoral oil on board, in original John Thallon frame signed lower left: A.M.E. BALE titled on unknown label verso 21.5 x 29cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Castlemaine Elms oil on canvas signed lower right: A.M.E. BALE signed and titled verso 29.5 x 44.5cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of Graham Joel, Melbourne Thence by descent
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875 - 1955) STILL LIFE WITH ORIENTAL VASE oil on canvas 51.0 x 66.5 cm PROVENANCE Estate of the artist, Melbourne Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 20 April 1993, lot 536 Private collection Deutscher~Menzies, Melbourne, 22 November 1998, lot 11 The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED The Reading Room, The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 9 November 2013 – 20 April 2014 In Bloom, Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria, 19 August – 14 September 2014 Arrangement, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 26 May – 8 July 2018 on long term loan to Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria LITERATURE Nainby, B., Stanhope, Z., and Furlonger, K., The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, in association with Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 40 (illus.), 213
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875 - 1955) ZINNIAS oil on canvas 36.0 x 41.0 cm signed lower left: A M E BALE PROVENANCE Private collection Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 4 April 2000, lot 279 The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED The Reading Room, The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 9 November 2013 – 20 April 2014 In Bloom, Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria, 19 August – 14 September 2014 Arrangement, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 26 May – 8 July 2018 on long term loan to Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria LITERATURE Nainby, B., Stanhope, Z., and Furlonger, K., The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, in association with Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, p. 213
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (1875-1955) Children Picnicking, Castlemaine oil on canvas signed lower right: A. M. E. BALE 40.5 x 44.5cm (image size) 53.5cm high, 63cm wide, 3.5cm deep (frame size)
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Bedroom Interior oil on board 45.5 x 29.5cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of the Artist Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 18 November 1997, lot 288 Private collection, Melbourne
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Floral Study oil on board in original John Thallon frame signed lower right: A.M.E. BALE 37 x 32cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Victoria Thence by desecent
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) (The Reader) oil on canvas on board 45 x 35cm PROVENANCE: The Artist's Studio Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 16 August 1994, lot 181 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: (Possibly) Oil Paintings by Miss Jo Sweatman and Miss A M E Bale, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 24 May - 3 June 1922, cat. no. 72, 'The Reader' (sold for 20 Guineas)
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Autumnal Still Life oil on canvas in original John Thallon frame signed lower right: A.M.E. BALE 55 x 45cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Victoria Thence by descent
§ A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Castlemaine Landscape c.1920s oil on board 24.5 x 29.5cm PROVENANCE: Estate of R A & J W Stokes, Melbourne Lawsons, Sydney, 30 January 2020, lot 570 Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: A.M.E. Bale's landscapes and interiors were mostly painted at Castlemaine, where she had a house and studio
A.M.E. BALE (1875-1955) Church Detail oil on canvas signed lower right: A.M.E. BALE 41 x 31cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of the Artist Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 18 November 1997, lot 663 Private collection, Melbourne
ALICE MARIAN ELLEN BALE (Australia 1875-1955) A PAINTING, "Yellow Trees in Landscape," KEW, oil on canvas, signed L/L, "A.M.E. Bale," paper labels on the reverse include Christie's lot tags, Melbourne framer and the artist's hand inscribed in ink label. 16" x 12" Provenance: Christie's Melbourne, April 20, 1993, lot 109; John Thallon, Carver & Gilder, Melbourne; Alice Bale House, 83 Walpole Street, Kew, Australia, Telephone: E4 Private Collector, Houston, Texas
