E. PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 Sketch (at Nice) (circa 1911) oil on wood 12.5 x 22 cm PROVENANCE E. Phillips Fox, France Private Collection Private Collection, Queensland
E. PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 The Bather (1912) oil on canvas signed ‘E. Phillips Fox' lower left 79.5 x 59 cm PROVENANCE E. Phillips Fox, Paris (Probably) Collection of Pictures by the Late E. Phillips Fox and E. Carrick Fox, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 September, 1952, lot 39 Private Collection Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 12 April 1989, lot 172, 'Dappled Light', illustrated Tom Silver Fine Art, Sydney, acquired from the above Lee Johnstone and Brian Johnstone, Melbourne, acquired from the above on 18 April 1989 LITERATURE Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 412, p. 228, '(Dappled Light) (c.1911-12)' Geoffrey Smith, The Lee & Brian Johnstone Collection 1965-2019, Smith & Singer, Melbourne, 2020, pp. 118, 119 (illustrated)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Doges Palace, Venice c.1907 oil on wood panel 15.5 x 21.5cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of John Fairlie Cuningham, Sydney Bonhams, Sydney, 22 November 2016, lot 3 The Collection of Professor John Roberts AM, Sydney Menzies, Melbourne, 27 March 2024, lot 72 Private collection, New South Wales
PROPERTY FROM THE FRANK & JANET SOUTH COLLECTION, VICTORIA EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Portrait of a Lady c1895-1905 oil on canvas 43.0 x 34.5 cm; 62.5 x 52.5 cm (framed) signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS. FOX.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) The Bridge oil on panel inscribed lower left indistinctly 29.5 x 45.5 cm PROVENANCE The Ethel Carrick Fox Estate, 1952 The Graham Joel Collection, Melbourne, Gibson's, 19 July 2020, Lot 135 (accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Estate of Graham Edward Leonard Joel) Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE (possibly) Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox : His Life and Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 136 (as 'Sketch with bridge in fog' 29.5 x 45.5cm)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) The River Seine oil on panel sketch of portrait verso 15.5 x 22cm PROVENANCE The Ethel Carrick Fox Estate, 1952 Gibson's, Melbourne, The Graham Joel Collection, 19 July 2020, Lot 138 (as Riverbend) (accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Estate of Graham Edward Leonard Joel) Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE (possibly) Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox : His Life and Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 219 (as 'Study for Twilight on the Seine') RELATED WORKS Twilight on the Seine (circa 1906), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (Permanent collection, Acc. no. 643)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Twilight Landscape oil on panel 12.5 x 21.5cm PROVENANCE The Ethel Carrick Fox Estate, 1952 Gibson's, Melbourne, The Graham Joel Collection, 19 July 2020, Lot 141 (accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Estate of Graham Edward Leonard Joel) Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE (possibly) Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox : His Life and Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 153 (as 'Study related to Moonrise: cornfields near Chartres' 12.5 x 21.5cm)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) (Port Phillip, Melbourne) c.1908 oil on panel signed lower right: E. Phillips Fox inscribed verso: Phillips Fox/ 21/10/97/ Port Phillip/ BEQUEST/ TO/ NORMA HUNT./ 1982. (concealed) artist's name and title on gallery label affixed verso 25 x 33cm PROVENANCE: The Collection of Ralph Smith, Sydney Thence by descent Gowrie Galleries, Sydney (label verso) Private collection, Sydney Christies, Sydney, 14 August 1994, lot 54 Private collection, Sydney Christies, Melbourne, 27 November 2000, lot 103 Private collection, Western Australia LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, His Life and Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University, Melbourne, 1995, pp. 134 (illus.), 224, cat. no. 298, pl. C42
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) (Promenade on the Beach) c.1909 oil on panel signed lower right: E. Phillips Fox 26 x 34cm PROVENANCE: GFL Fine Art, Perth, 27 July 1999, lot 16 Private collection GFL Fine Art, Perth, 26 June 2001, lot 37 Private collection, Western Australia EXHIBITIONS: Painted Women: Australian Artists in Europe at the Turn of the Century, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia, Perth, 24 July - 13 September 1998, cat. no. 30 LITERATURE: Grey, A. (ed.), Zubans, R., Images of Women in the Work of Emanuel Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick Fox, Painted Women: Australian Artists in Europe at the Turn of the Century, The University of Western Australia, Perth, 1998, pp. 14 (illus.), 16, 40, cat. no. 30 OTHER NOTES: After their marriage in London in 1905, Ethel Carrick Fox (1872-1952) and Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915) settled into a routine of summers spent following the sunlight to crowded French sea resorts, painting and sketching the leisurely crowds on small boards or canvases, then returning to their studio apartment in Paris to paint larger works. Their influence on each other was apparent from their honeymoon. Fox's style loosened when working on smaller boards, and his great facility with oil paint, honed by years of academic training and teaching, became truly virtuosic in capturing light effects on dresses, sands and figures. His studio practice remained quite focused on a variation of the French intimiste painters, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, with large-scale studies of languorous women in gardens or private interior spaces, as well as commissioned portraits for necessary income. Fox's academic training led him to separate these two modes of working; his oil sketches were not generally exhibited in Paris, whilst Carrick, less attentive to highly finished studio production, regularly exhibited her rapidly executed sketches in major exhibitions such as the annual Salon d'Automne. In 1908, Fox visited Australia to see his family and introduce them to his new wife. The couple kept working during the trip, seeking out the leisure pursuits of family picnics and days at the beach as subjects. (1) Whilst sea bathing had been popular since the 1840s around Melbourne, in 1908, mixed ocean bathing in daylight hours was still a very new phenomenon. In '(Port Phillip, Melbourne)' c.1908 (Lot 2), we see the elegant Edwardian silhouette of a woman in a long voluminous skirt, white shirt and pink picture hat observing two swimmers in the shallows, their clothing casually piled next to her on the sand. Underneath a wide, pink-tinged cloud-scumbled sky, a small sailboat bobs further out at a distance, close to the other side of the bay. This work demonstrates Fox's ability to adapt his plein air technique to the more relaxed social conventions of Australian beach culture, where the emphasis was on leisure rather than formal promenading. In contrast to the casualness of beach crowds in Australia, '(Promenade on the Beach)' c.1909 (Lot 8) depicts a crowded afternoon by the beach at a fashionable French sea resort. We see bathing boxes, but our focus is not on swimmers or those lounging on the sands. Instead, we observe the stylish upper bourgeoisie classes en promenade along the planches or timber boardwalk, suggesting they are probably at Trouville or Deauville. Dressed in long flowing dresses replete with ribbons, ruffles, picture hats and parasols, these figures are captured in lusciously applied thick, sweeping strokes of paint, the impasto itself reflecting light and creating movement. Juliette Peers has pointed out that Fox was an accurate recorder of fashion, and the Foxes kept a shared garment collection that appears in many of the couple's paintings. (2) Peers notes that the selection and observation of dress and styling were intrinsic to making Fox's ideal women and imagined muses tangible. (3) As Ruth Zubans has noted, 'one of Fox's favourite themes was women in the familial role of mother', (4) and the mother in a pink ruffled gown elegantly reaching for her pigtailed daughter's hand in the foreground suggest a graceful ease and tender refinement. Indeed, in '(Promenade on the Beach)' c.1909, the subjects are observably all women - mothers and children, as well as the nannies tending to them. In contrast to the public, clothed figures of these beach scenes, Fox's more intimate, private world is depicted in 'Nu En Plein Air' c.1911 (Lot 11). Whilst initially seeming to be a very simple subject, Fox has set himself considerable challenges in the work's composition and the application of paint. In the privacy of the garden of the Foxes' Boulevard Arago apartment in Paris, this flame-haired sensuous nude (one of many red-haired models preferred by Fox, which included the Australian artist Edith Susan Gerard Anderson) lounges diagonally across a bed of bright green, light-flecked grass, with Fox leaving areas of the light brown bare canvas to aid the delicate effect. As Fox described in a letter to his friend Hans Heysen: 'Since we have been in Paris, painting nudes out of doors, in our garden-we have fixed things up so that no one can see, & we are not disturbed-very interesting work, but mighty difficult'. (5) The foreshortened model's pose is contemplative, deep in thought and less aware of the viewer than many of the other nudes in this series. Her translucent skin is highlighted by dappling flecks of lighter paint suggestive of flickering sunlight through a tree canopy, conveying something of the swiftness and dexterity that Fox had to employ to capture the scene. The atmosphere of ease and wellbeing radiating from many of Fox's paintings of the Edwardian period recalls a way of life that would disappear forever upon the onset of the First World War. During this period, the French resort towns including Trouville and Deauville were transformed into military hospitals and convalescent homes for wounded soldiers. After losing E. Phillips Fox to cancer in 1915, Carrick would return to these resorts and document new fashions and social mores as the crowds returned in the interwar years. Angela Gooddard Angela Goddard is former curator of Australian Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane where she curated 'Art, Love and Life: Ethel Carrick and E. Phillips Fox' in 2011. (1) See the photograph by David Fox on p.148 of Art, Love & Life catalogue for Fox and Carrick at a family picnic on Chelsea Beach, Port Phillip Bay. (2)Peers, J., 'Tall, graceful women sweep by': Fashion and dress in the work of the Foxes', in Art, Love & Life: Ethel Carrick and E. Phillips Fox, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2011, p.96. (3) Ibid, p.100. (4) Zubans, R., 'Images of Women in the Work of Emanuel Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick Fox', Painted Women: Australian Artists in Europe at the Turn of the Century, The University of Western Australia, Perth, 1998, p.16. (5) Fox to Heysen, September 1911, quoted in Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, His Life and Art, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, pp.155-56. RELATED WORK: Emanuel Phillips Fox, Promenade c.1909, oil on wood panel, 26.6 x 35cm, The Collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Nu En Plein Air c.1911 oil on canvas signed lower right: E. Phillips Fox artist's name and title on gallery labels verso 63 x 79cm PROVENANCE: Whiteford and Hughes, London, cat. no. 26 (as "Reverie") (label verso) Private collection, Melbourne Christie's, Melbourne, 27 April 1998, lot 33 Private collection, Sydney Christopher Day Gallery, Sydney 2006 (label verso) Private collection, Western Australia EXHIBITIONS: (possibly) Salon d'Automne 1912, cat. no. 589 or (possibly) Societe Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 6 - 31 December 1912, cat. no. 47 (as "Vue en plein air") LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, pp. 156 (illus.), 227, cat. no. 383 "An important category of work which became part of Fox's repertoire after his return to Paris was the painting of the nude. The monumentality and unselfconsciousness with which he approached this theme could not have developed outside the French context. These works emerge rather later in Fox's career and are first mentioned in a letter to Norman Carter in September 1909: 'I have be doing some small nudes lately..." Writing to Heysen in September 1911, he elaborates: 'Since we have been in Paris, painting nudes out of doors, in our garden - we have fixed things up so that no one can see, & we are not disturbed - very interesting work, but mighty difficult - I try to complete a 25 canvas at one go - for better or worse - I find I get better results - coming back when one is not in the same attitude generally busts up the show'" (p.155) OTHER NOTES: RELATED WORKS: Emanuel Phillips Fox, Nude in Sunlight c.1911, oil on canvas on masonite backing, 61 x 74cm, Private collection, Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, pp. 156 (illus.), 227, cat. no. 388 Emanuel Phillips Fox, (The Nude, Study) c.1911, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 79.5cm, Private collection, Melbourne, Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, pp. 167 (illus.), 227, cat. no. 385 Emanuel Phillips Fox, Nude (also known as "After the Bath"), oil on canvas, 65 x 81.2cm, The Collection of Kerry Stokes, Perth, Goddard, A., Art, Love and Life: Ethel Carrick Fox and E Phillips Fox, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2011, pp. 106-7 (illus.), 157
E. PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 A Sunny Afternoon 1913 oil on canvas signed, dated and inscribed ‘To Miss Stephens / E. Phillips Fox / 1913' lower left 38 x 46.3 cm PROVENANCE E. Phillips Fox, Sydney Ethel Stephens, Sydney, acquired from the above in 1913 Private Collection Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 13 April 1989, lot 1354, illustrated Tony Nicholas and Christina Nicholas, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED (Possibly) Catalogue of Pictures by E. Phillips Fox, The Royal Art Society, Sydney, 13-28 October 1913, no. 79, 4 gns LITERATURE Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 435, ‘(A Summer Day by the Harbour)', p. 229
E. PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 The End of the Story (1907) oil on canvas signed ‘E. Phillips Fox' lower right 94.5 x 66 cm PROVENANCE E. Phillips Fox, Paris Ethel Carrick, Paris, by descent from the above The Estate of the Late Ethel Carrick, Melbourne Collection of Pictures by the late E. Phillips Fox and E. Carrick Fox, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 September 1952, lot 46, ‘Lady in Pink' George Page-Cooper, Melbourne Australian and English Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 29 September 1961, lot 114, ‘Lady in Pink' Australian Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 6 July 1983, lot 111, ‘Lady in Pink', illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne Fine Australian Paintings, Sotheby's Australia, Melbourne, 8 April 1990, lot 45, ‘Lady in Pink' Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Private Collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Exhibition of Pictures by E. Phillips Fox, Guildhall, Melbourne, 3 March 1908, no. 63, 50 gns LITERATURE ‘Mr. Phillips Fox's Pictures', The Argus, Melbourne, 29 February 1908, p. 21 Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 279, ‘(Lady in Pink)', p. 224
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Venice oil on panel signed lower left: E. Phillips Fox artist's name and title inscribed on exhibition label verso 24.5 x 34cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) FIGURE STUDY FOR THE ARBOUR, c.1909 – 10 oil on canvas 74.0 x 40.5 cm signed lower left: E Pillips Fox [sic] PROVENANCE Private collection, Brisbane Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 25 August 1997, lot 260 (as ‘The Waiter’) Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher~Menzies, Melbourne, 25 April 1999, lot 67A Private collection, Melbourne Deutscher~Menzies, Melbourne, 20 August 2001, lot 47 Private collection, Tasmania Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne (private sale) Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 2016 EXHIBITED E. Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick Fox, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 13 November – 6 December 1997, cat. 16 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 21) LITERATURE Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. 322, pp. 27, 225 (as 'The Waiter') RELATED WORK The Arbour, 1910, oil on canvas, 190.5 x 230.5 cm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ESSAY Colour and the varied effects of light were central to the art of Emanuel Phillips Fox. Indeed, as Lionel Lindsay recalled, ‘He once told me that he no longer saw anything except as a colour-sensation… His gamut of greens is extraordinary fine and varied, and the purity of his colour still holds the sunlight imprisoned in the pigment.’1 While he had been trained in an academic style, Fox always enjoyed the freedom of working outdoors, and the influence of French Impressionism – particularly as articulated by Monet and Renoir, whose work was easily accessible during Fox’s years in Paris – encouraged this, feeding in to what has been described as his natural ‘inclination towards colour, light and optical experience.’2 The influence of Monet and Renoir is also apparent in the so-called déjeuner paintings that Fox made in the early twentieth century – Al Fresco, c.1905 (Art Gallery of South Australia); The Arbour, 1910 (National Gallery of Victoria); and Déjeuner, c.1910 – 11 (University of Queensland Art Museum) – each of which depict family groups gathered around a meal in intimate outdoor settings. As Fox scholar, Ruth Zubans, observed, ‘In style there are considerable differences… [but] in attitude… the mood of optimism, easy sociability and warm humanity are qualities shared by the artists.’3 Fox’s working method typically involved the production of numerous studies and the largest of these three paintings, The Arbour, was no exception to this practice. In addition to quick compositional sketches in pencil and charcoal which show him experimenting with the placement of figures and refining the depiction of particular subjects, Fox produced a series of more detailed studies in oil. An earlier small head study of the artist’s nephew, Leonard (Len), for example, which was made in 1908 during the artist’s extended stay in Melbourne, served as the basis for the boy in red and the young girl is thought to be modelled on his sister, Louise.4 While the identity of the adult sitters is not clear, given this focus on family it is possible that they are based on the artist’s wife, Ethel Carrick Fox – also a noted artist – and the children’s parents, Fox’s brother David and his wife Irene. Depicting a standing man, stylishly attired and cigar in hand, this painting is the largest study known to have been made for The Arbour and although it was previously referred to as The Waiter, it is clear that the figure is a member of this intimate party rather than staff. Fox describes the details of his clothing, pose and attitude, most of which are transcribed with little variation to the final painting, and his focus on the representation of colour and light – and unrivalled ability to describe in paint the effect of dappled light shining through foliage – is also on full display. While much of this painting is ‘finished’, aspects of it have a work-in-progress quality that imbues it with a freshness and palpable sense of energy. Here, brushstrokes communicate not only the physical making of the painting but something of the thinking involved in its creation. 1. Lindsay, L., ‘E. Phillips Fox’, Art in Australia, series 1, number 5, 1918, cited in Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1994, p. 1 2. Zubans, ibid., p. 3 3. Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 126 4. Fox, L., E. Phillips Fox and his family, self-published, Potts Point, 1985, p. 68 KIRSTY GRANT
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) Untitled (Vista through blossoming trees), 1912 oil on canvas on board signed and dated lower left: E. Phillips Fox '12
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) VANITY, c.1912 oil on canvas 81.0 x 100.0 cm signed lower right: E. Phillips Fox bears inscription on label verso: Vanity original John Thallon frame, Melbourne PROVENANCE The Estate of Ethel Carrick Fox, Melbourne Collection of Pictures by the late E. Phillips Fox and E. Carrick Fox, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 September 1952, lot 33 Sir Keith Murdoch, Cruden Farm, Victoria Thence by descent Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Cruden Farm, Victoria McClelland Collection, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, gifted from the above in 1979 EXHIBITED Société Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6 – 31 December 1912, cat. 45 (as ,Le Miroir,) Catalogue of Paintings by E. Phillips-Fox, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 17 June – 4 July 1913, cat. 12 Catalogue of Pictures by E. Phillips Fox, The Royal Art Society, Sydney, 13 – 28 October 1913, cat. 12 Catalogue of Pictures by the Late E. Phillips Fox, Upper Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 29 February – 18 March 1916, cat. 23 Exhibition of Oil Paintings by the Late E. Phillips Fox, Fine Art Society,s Gallery, Melbourne, 22 July – 2 August 1919, cat. 16 LITERATURE Mr. E. Phillips Fox,s Pictures,, The Age, Melbourne, 17 June 1913, p. 8 Mr Phillips Fox,s Paintings,, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 13 October 1913, p. 4 The Work of the Late Mr. E. Phillips Fox,, The Age, Melbourne, 28 February 1916, p. 6 Pictures by the Late E. Phillips Fox,, The Age, Melbourne, 22 July 1919, p. 6 Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. 410, pp. 143, 228 RELATED WORK Reclining Figure, c.1911, oil on canvas, 57.0 x 80.5 cm, in the collection of the University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane The end of the story, c.1911-12, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 100.5 cm, in the collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane ESSAY Emanuel Phillips Fox married English born Ethel Carrick in 1905, after meeting her at the artists’ colony of St Ives in Cornwall. Carrick had studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and had clear artistic aspirations, as well as a strong independent streak, while Fox had begun his training at Melbourne’s National Gallery School, alongside Rupert Bunny and Frederick McCubbin, later studying in Paris at the Académie Julian and with Jean-Leon Gérôme. As newlyweds, they moved to Paris, living in a studio apartment at the Cité Fleurie in Montparnasse, which was described by Carrick as ‘quite a cosmopolitan little colony of hard working artists… thirty different nationalities being represented.’1 Together the couple shared a rich, creative life, supporting each other in their artistic endeavours and ambitions and the ensuing years witnessed development and professional recognition for both artists. Upon returning to Australia in 1913 for exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, Fox wrote that the works he had made in the years between his marriage and that time were simply ‘the best I have painted.’2 Colour and the varied effects of light were central to Fox’s art. Indeed, as Lionel Lindsay recalled, ‘He once told me that he no longer saw anything except as a colour-sensation… His gamut of greens is extraordinary fine and varied, and the purity of his colour still holds the sunlight imprisoned in the pigment.’3 While he had been trained in an academic style, Fox always enjoyed the freedom of working outdoors, and the influence of French Impressionism – particularly as articulated by Renoir and Monet, whose work was easily accessible during Fox’s years in Paris – encouraged this, feeding in to what has been described as his natural ‘inclination towards colour, light and optical experience.’4 The example of the French intimiste painters, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, was also significant for Fox. Focussing on the figure in intimate domestic settings, their paintings are quiet and contemplative, and this influence can be seen clearly in Vanity, c.1912, which depicts a young woman lounging on a daybed, her book discarded in favour of the silver hand-held mirror which she uses to consider her reflection. The informality and intimacy of the scene – as if the viewer has just walked into the room – is emphasised by the slightly off-kilter composition of the painting and details like the framed pictures on the wall being only partially visible. Fox’s interest in the depiction of interior details and decoration, from the bold stripes of the daybed to the delicate floral-patterned wallpaper, is also clear, but what is most prominent in this work is his focus on the depiction of textiles. Juliette Peers has observed, ‘What Fox’s detailed paintings offer is the materiality of fabrics – the profile of the drape; the details of waistbands; the hanging lace of cuffs; low shoulder lines and seams… parallel rows of tucking, ruching and frilling; satin ribbon appliqués.’5 The deviations in the stripes of the upholstery, pulled tautly over the backrest or as it falls to the ground, highlights the weight and texture of this fabric, just as the form of the gently slumped cushions enables the sheen and smooth touch of their apricot fabric covers to be eloquently described in paint and easily imagined. Without question however, the star of the show is the figure’s dress, a beautiful full-length tea gown with ruffles near the hem and a pink satin ribbon detail around the neckline and sleeve ends. Typical of fashionable woman’s attire of the day, this dress appears in numerous paintings by Fox that were made around this time, from The end of the story, c.1911 – 12 (Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art) to Étude de nu, 1910 (private collection), where it lies crumpled in the background, apparently discarded by the languorous reclining nude who is the subject of the work.6 Bringing together the focus on pattern and texture and the use of harmonious colour which were primary elements of Fox’s approach to picture-making, Vanity is a masterful expression of his distinctive vision of fin de siècle femininity. Highly regarded by the artist, it was brought to Australia for display in his 1913 solo exhibitions here, catching the attention of the Sydney Morning Herald critic who described it as ‘a harmony in pink, blue and gold [and] among the outstanding pictures in the exhibition.’7 The painting was later purchased at auction by Sir Keith Murdoch and in 1979, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch donated it to McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. 1. Carrick Fox, cited in Goddard, A., ‘An Artistic Marriage’, in Art, Love & Life: Ethel Carrick and E. Phillips Fox, Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2011, p. 18 2. E. Phillips Fox, cited in Downey, G., ‘Cosmopolitans and expatriates’, in Art, Love & Life: Ethel Carrick and E. Phillips Fox, ibid., p. 57 3. Lindsay, L., ‘E. Phillips Fox’, Art in Australia, series 1, number 5, 1918, cited in Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1994, p. 1 4. Zubans, ibid., p. 3 5. Peers, J., ,Tall, graceful women sweep by’: Fashion and dress in the work of the Foxes’, in Art, Love & Life: Ethel Carrick and E. Phillips Fox, op. cit., p. 98 6. ibid. 7. ‘Mr. Phillips Fox’s Paintings’, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 13 October 1913, p. 4 KIRSTY GRANT
E. PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 Muriel, Daughter of R.J. Larking, Esq. 1896 oil on canvas signed and dated ‘E. Phillips Fox / Aug 96' lower left 105 x 59 cm frame: John Thallon, Melbourne PROVENANCE E. Phillips Fox, Melbourne Richard J. Larking, Melbourne, acquired from the above Fine Gallery of Paintings, [Mrs R.J. Larking, "Woorigoleen", Toorak, and others], Arthur Tuckett & Son, Melbourne, 11 December 1919, lot 15, ‘Study of a Girl' John Jerome Tuomy, Melbourne, acquired from the above Lucy Tuomy, Melbourne, by descent from the above Marjorie Carr, Melbourne, by descent from the above Private Collection, Melbourne, by descent from the above EXHIBITED E. Phillips Fox: Private View, Melbourne, August 1896, ‘Muriel, daughter of H.J. Larkin, Esq.' Annual Exhibition, Victorian Artists' Society, Melbourne, 23 October 1896, no. 18 'Muriel (Daughter of H.J. F Larkin, Esq.) 12 Australian Artists, Sedon Galleries, Melbourne, March 1958 Panorama of Australian Painting 1818-1968, Studley House, Melbourne, 20-23 April 1968, no. 65, ‘Portrait of Mary' LITERATURE ‘Mr. E. P. Fox's Portraits', Table Talk, Melbourne, 21 August 1896, p. 11 'Art Exhibition. Victorian Artists' Society', The Age, Melbourne, 24 October 1896, p.11 The Age, Melbourne, 4 March 1958 The Herald, Melbourne, 11 March 1958 Ruth Zubans, E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. no. 56, ‘Muriel, Daughter of H.J. Larkin, Esq.', pp. 60, 63 (illustrated)
Two books on Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915) and Ethel Carrick (1872-1952). 1) E Phillips Fox and his family written and published by Len Fox. Signed and inscribed by Len. Leonard Phillips Fox (1905-2004), was the nephew of Emanuel and successful writer. 2) Ethel Carrick Fox: Travels and Triumphs of a Post-Impressionist by Susanna de Vries. Published by Pandanus Press, Brisbane, 1997. Hardcover in dustwrapper in very good condition.
Exhibition of Pictures and Catalogues for E. Phillips Fox and Elioth Gruner. 1) Group of 4 Elioth Gruner exhibition catalogues + 1 duplicate. 1920s-1940s. 2) Exhibition of pictures by E. Phillips Fox. Sydney, 1908 + 2 exhibition catalogues from 1916 and 1925. 3) E. Phillips Fox (1865-1915) by Ruth Zubans. All in good condition.
§ EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Blue Gums oil on canvas on board signed lower left: E. Phillips Fox 45 x 36cm PROVENANCE: Christie's, Melbourne, 20 August 1996, lot 155A Private collection, Melbourne Menzies, Melbourne, 25 June 2015, lot 90 Private collection, Melbourne
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Woodland Scene, France oil on board signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS FOX titled on exhibition label verso 25.5 x 33cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent EXHIBITIONS: E. P. Fox Exhibition, Melbourne, May 1925, cat. no. 49 (label verso) LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, p. 237, cat. no. U281
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Woodland Scene, France oil on board signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS FOX titled on exhibition label verso 25.5 x 33cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent EXHIBITIONS: E. P. Fox Exhibition, Melbourne, May 1925, cat. no. 49 (label verso) LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, p. 237, cat. no. U281
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF PROFESSOR JOHN ROBERTS AM, SYDNEY EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Doges Palace, Venice c1907 oil on wood panel 16.0 x 22.0 cm; 38.0 x 43.0 cm (framed)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Woodland Scene, France oil on board signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS FOX titled on exhibition label verso 25.5 x 33cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent EXHIBITIONS: E. P. Fox Exhibition, Melbourne, May 1925, cat. no. 49 (label verso) LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, p. 237, cat. no. U281
Emanuel Phillips Fox (Australian 1865-1915) The Farm Shed oil on panel sketch verso 14 x 22 cm, certificate of authenticity from Warren Joel 29/03/2020, In the 1950's Leonard Joel auction several items from the estate of Fox. Part of that auction was a large tin trunk that contained several unframed works by both E. C. and E. P. Fox, the painting listed above was contents of that trunk, there were approximately 100 works of which this is number 67
FOX, Emanuel Phillips (1865-1915) A Beach in France, c.1909-11. Signed 'E Phillips Fox' lower left. Oil on Canvas 35x44.5cm 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. LITERATURE: For similar/related works, see 'E. Phillips Fox: his life and art,' Ruth Zubans, 1995, cat no. 316 'Promenade,' and cat no. 317 'On the Sands,' both works dated to c.1909. OTHER NOTES: For a related work see Sotheby's 'Important Australian Art,' Sydney, 13th May 2014 (lot 31)
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) LES ANDELYS–ON–SEINE, c.1909 – 11 oil on canvas board 36.5 x 44.0 cm signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS FOX PROVENANCE Collection of Douglas Dundas and Dorothy Thornhill, Sydney Thence by descent Kerry Dundas, Sydney Robyn Brady Pty Ltd, Sydney Private collection, Sydney, acquired in 1989 Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 27 November 2013, lot 62 Private collection, Melbourne RELATED WORK Chateau Gaillard on the Seine, c.1909 – 1911, oil on canvas, 65.0 x 81.4 cm, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, illus. in Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, C49, cat. 335, p. 226 Chateau Gaillard, Les Andelys on Seine, c.1909, oil on canvas on hardboard, 64.7 x 80.6 cm, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), Incoming Tide, Reefs East Of London Bridge, Portsea, oil on wood panel, titled in pen verso, 25 x 34cm, 40 x 49cm overall
Oil on canvas painting, after the 1909 artwork titled L heure du bain, Bathing Hour by Emanule Phillips Fox, 1865 to 1915, an Australian Impressionist artist. The piece represents a mother and child at the sea beach. It is thought to depict a beach on the French Channel Coast, which was frequented by the upper middle class at the time. Illegibly signed in the lower right. Collectible Fine Art, Nautical Maritime Genre Painting,
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) FIGURES BESIDE THE CREEK, STANWELL PARK, c.1914 oil on canvas on board on composition board 37.0 x 44.0 cm signed lower left: E. Phillips Fox PROVENANCE Private collection Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Brisbane, acquired from the above in July 1971 The Collection of Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Christie's, Brisbane, 6 June 1989, lot 175 (as 'Picnic on the Hawkesbury River') Henry Krongold, Melbourne The Estate of Paul Krongold, Melbourne EXHIBITED Spring Exhibition 1970, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 14 September – 5 October 1970, cat. 10 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, as ‘Picnic by the River’) Masterworks from the Collection of Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 21 September – 14 December 1977, cat. 12 (label attached verso, as ‘Hawkesbury River’) LITERATURE Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, cat. 454, p. 230 (erroneously catalogued as 'Picnic on the Hawkesbury River') RELATED WORK The Creek, Stanwell Park, c.1914, oil on canvas, 37.0 x 44.5 cm, Private collection, illus. in Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 166 ESSAY In a letter to his close friend Hans Heysen in 1911, Emanuel Phillips Fox wrote that in his determination ‘to get some settled sunlight’, he, his wife (the artist Ethel Carrick) and one of Fox’s students went from London ‘to Algiers, from there South into the interior to a place called Bou Saada – where we stayed six weeks – then back to Algiers – then to Tangiers & on to Cadiz – and return’d home through Seville, Cordova, Granada, Toledo and Madrid.’1 On their way back to Paris, they painted in the south of France, further inspired by the sea and coastal towns. Fox’s palette, already enriched by his intimate study of post-impressionist art in Europe, now became even more sun-drenched and high-key in colour. On re-arrival in Australia in 1913, his recent work caused a sensation and he subsequently painted a number of canvases in late January 1914 at popular tourist sites near Sydney, including majestic Stanwell Tops at the southern edge of the Royal National Park, and Stanwell Park below. It is plausible that Fox stayed with his Australian Art Association colleague Edward Officer, who lived nearby. Figures beside the creek, Stanwell Park, c.1914, is one of seven known paintings that Fox did in the area, all of which appear to have been plein air studies, individually done in single sittings, of the cliffs and the meandering creeks that run through the park. The likely setting is the lower reaches of Stanwell Creek, with the picturesque Kelly’s Falls a short distance away. The painting blazes with light and textured impasto, animated by the figures – likely members of Fox’s and Officer’s families – clambering amongst the rocks. Whilst the artist’s mastery of colour is on full display, particularly in the right-hand section featuring the palm trees, it is also interesting to note other aspects of his technique, particularly in his treatment of the ground. As his colleague Norman Carter described, Figures beside the creek, Stanwell Park was not painted ‘on white prepared canvas, but on duck or sailcloth with a coating of glue size the colour of which would be light fawn or off-white; patches of this were often left unpainted. … In some paintings, particularly if linseed oil had been used to restore the painting, this unpainted sailcloth had darkened – but it had never been white.’ 2 This particular aspect is detectable amongst the rocks and lower cliff. In the years prior to 1913, Fox had already established himself as one of this country’s leading artists, having studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, then in Paris in the company of Tudor St George Tucker. On their return in 1893, the two men opened the Melbourne Art School, famed for being the most progressive in its day. In subsequent years, Fox was the first Australian to be elected into membership of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and the International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers in London, but what is less known is his impact on this country’s earliest modernists. Roland Wakelin would later recall of Fox’s exhibition in Sydney in 1913: ‘We’d never seen colour like that before… this was expression through colour.’ 3 With a provenance that includes Joseph Brown, Sir Leon and Lady Trout, and the Krongold family, Figures beside the creek, Stanwell Park is a superb example of Fox’s mature painterly technique. 1. E. P. Fox. Letter to Hans Heysen 13.09.1911. Cited in: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox: his life and art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 159 2. Roland Wakelin, recounting Norman Carter. Quoted in: Fox, L., E. Phillips Fox: notes and recollections, (self published), Sydney, NSW, 1969, pp. 29 – 30 3. Roland Wakelin, 1968, ibid., p. 29 ANDREW GAYNOR
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915) Woodland Scene, France oil on board signed lower left: E. PHILLIPS FOX titled on exhibition label verso 25.5 x 33cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent EXHIBITIONS: E. P. Fox Exhibition, Melbourne, May 1925, cat. no. 49 (label verso) LITERATURE: Zubans, R., E. Phillips Fox His Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, p. 237, cat. no. U281
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), Eaglemont, oil on panel, titled lower left, 23.5 x 15.7cm, 37 x 46cm overall. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. This painting may possibly be a work referenced in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X.] Untraced Works, page 233, U51 "The Shed" E.P. Fox Exhibition Melbourne December,1892, No. 52, 3 Guineas.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), portrait of a young girl, oil on panel, 23.5 x 15.7cm. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. Compare: Leonard Joel Art Auction 28th November 2017, lot 53, Young girl portrait, 34 x 25.5cm.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), Peasant Woman of Brittany, (landscape verso), oil on cedar panel, 26 x 21cm, 37 x 32cm overall. Provenance: Christie’s, Melbourne, 27th April, 1999, lot 319, "Peasant Woman of Brittany". Davidsons Australian & International Art Auction, Sydney, 4th November, 2018, lot 282, Artist Unknown "Peasant Woman with Cooking Pot", also "View of Cottage & Trees" verso. Recorded by Australian Art Sale Digest Website. Private Collection Melbourne. Documented in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne, "E.Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X], page 215. Cataloguge No.10 "Private Collection, Sydney. Reverse side: Country sketch-France (horizontal)"
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), Cremone Point, Sydney, oil on panel, 12 x 20cm, 25 x 31cm overall. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. This work may possibly be a work referenced in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X.], page 236, [U224], "Morning Cremorne" E.P. Fox Exhibition Sydney, October, 1913, No. 83, 4 guineas
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915), View of Mentone Beach, oil on board, signed lower right "E.P. Fox", 19 x 26cm, 33 x 38cm overall, Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. Australian Art Auctions, Sydney, 1st July, 1991, lot 90/J "Vue de Mentone" (View of Mentone), oil on panel, 19 x 26cm This sketch of Mentone beach must have been painted from the end of the old Mentone Pier, now in total disrepair.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), Tasmanian Crabapple Tree, Mount Wellington, (1914), oil on panel, 24 x 37cm, 40 x 53cm overall. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. This painting may possibly be a work referenced in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X.] under the "Untraced Works", see page 237, [U284] "Hobart", E.P. Fox Exhibition, May, 1925, No 65.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (attributed), (1865-1915), (double-sided portrait of a woman), oil on cedar panel 40 x 23cm, 55 x 38.5cm overall. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. This unfinished sketch is believed to be related to "The Letter" which is illustrated on page 154 in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art". [ISBN 0.522.84653.X]. Catalogue No. 306 – 303. Page 225
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915), The Fisher Girl, (1890), oil on wood panel, signed lower right "E.P. Fox", 21.5 x 11.5cm. Published in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne, "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X]. Illustrated on page 34. Private Collection Sydney, also known as "Brittany Fisher Girl", most likely from the E.P. Fox exhibition, Melbourne, December 1892, No. 24. Provenance: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 6th November 1974, lot 64 "Brittany Fisher Girl", oil on board, signed lower right, 21.5 x 10.5 cm. Lawsons Auctioneers, Sydney, 16th September, 1986, lot 29 "Figure Study Breton Woman", oil on panel, signed lower right, E.P. Fox 21.6 x 11.3 cm.Private Collection Sydney. Davidsons Australian & International Art Auction, Sydney, 4th November 2018, lot 341, signed E.P. Fox "Peasant Woman", oil on panel, 22 x 11.5 cm. Private Collection Melbourne.
EMMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 [circle of] "Femme Nu" C1905, oil on canvas, unsigned, 91x62cms, in a period frame. Condition overall is fine, a minor repair [not visible], slight stretcher marks visible in places. From an estate sale Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, Paris, Private Collection.
EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865 - 1915) The Seine at Les Andelys, c1909-11 oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm (frame: 45 x 53 x 6 cm) unsigned; inscribed on stretcher verso 'The Seine at Les Andelys. E Phillip Fox' | Provenance: Dr Herbert Russell Nolan, Rockwall Potts Point (thence by descent); Private Collection, Sydney acquired 2022
E. Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick Fox Volume and Art Catalogues including Ethel Carrick Fox: Travels and Triumphs of a Post-Impressionist by Susanna de Vries, Pandanus Press 1997 hardcover; E. Phillips Fox 1865-1915 NGV1994; 2 copies of E. Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick, Deutscher Fine Art 1997; Ethel Carrick AGDC 1979 and Emanuel Phillips Fox Clunes Galleries 1971, mostly good condition
EMMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 [circle of] "Femme Nu" C1905, oil on canvas, unsigned, 91x62cms, in a period frame. Condition overall is fine, a minor repair, slight stretcher marks visible in places. From an estate sale Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, Paris, Private Collection.
![EMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX (1865-1915), The Fisher Girl, (1890), oil on wood panel, signed lower right "E.P. Fox", 21.5 x 11.5cm. Published in Ruth Zubans Catalogue Raisonne, "E. Phillips Fox. His Life and Art" [ISBN 0.522.84653.X]. Illustrated on page](https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/LeskiAuctions/97/747297/H21350-L330793415.jpg)
![*EMMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 [CIRCLE OF] "FEMME NU" C1905, OIL ON CANVAS, 91X62CMS, IN A PERIOD FRAME. FINE PERIOD PAINTING FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION.](https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/WAArtAuctions/95/745195/H4675-L325789698.jpg)
![EMMANUEL PHILLIPS FOX 1865-1915 [CIRCLE OF] "FEMME NU" C1905, OIL ON CANVAS, UNSIGNED, 91X62CMS, IN A PERIOD FRAME.](https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/WAArtAuctions/81/736681/H4675-L310438374.jpg)
