Betty Paterson

Elizabeth Deans Paterson MBE (1894 – 5 July 1970) was an Australian commercial artist, cartoonist and illustrator. She was best known for her pictures of babies and young children.

Betty Paterson

MBE
Paterson in 1946
Born
Elizabeth Deans Paterson

1894 (1894)
Carlton, Victoria, Australia
Died5 July 1970(1970-07-05) (aged 75–76)
Middle Park, Victoria, Victoria, Australia
Known forCartoon, book illustration, children's portraiture

Life

Elizabeth Deans Paterson was born in Carlton, Victoria in 1894, daughter of Elizabeth Leslie (née Deans) and artist Hugh Paterson.[1] Her older sister Esther Paterson (1892–1971) was also a commercial artist, illustrator and cartoonist.[2] Their uncle was Scottish-born landscape painter John Ford Paterson.[3]

Paterson sent her first drawing to The Bulletin in response to a bet by cartoonist David Low. Her drawing was published, she won the bet and began her career contributing illustrations to magazines.[4]

At the time of her first marriage in 1923 to Kenneth Fossie Newman, Paterson had already made a name for herself for her drawings and portraits of children.[5] She was divorced by her husband in 1931 and given custody of their daughter, Barbara, who later became an artist.[6][7]

By the mid-1920s she and her sister Esther had established themselves as commercial artists who were "the cleverest designers in Australia" of posters, illustrated books, calendars and Christmas cards.[8] In 1922 they held a joint exhibition in Queen's Hall, Melbourne which was opened by Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Her drawings of young children were noted for their "fetching impertinence".[9] Her 1931 solo exhibition was opened by the Melbourne lord mayor, Harold Gengoult Smith,[10] while in 1935 the lady mayoress, Mrs A. G. Wales, did the honours.[11]

Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, April 8, 1937

Her work was published in many magazines, including The Australian Home Beautiful,[12] The Australian Woman's Mirror,[13] The New Triad,[14] and The Bulletin.[15] In the 1935 The Australian Woman's Mirror awarded an original drawing by Paterson each week to the person who made the best original contribution to the magazine.[16]

Portraits of Paterson by her sister Esther were finalists for the Archibald Prize in 1938 and 1939.[17]

Paterson was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1966 for her service to art and the community.[18]

In 1952 she married Albion Wiltshire.[19] Paterson died on 5 July 1970 at Middle Park in Victoria.[20]

References
  1. Birth record of Elizabeth Deans Paterson, Registration number 9972/1894, Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria
  2. "Esther Paterson". Design and Art Australia Online. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  3. "Paterson, Elizabeth Deans (Betty)". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  4. "Artist's Career Began With Wager". The Courier-Mail. No. 1570. Queensland, Australia. 13 September 1938. p. 1 (Second Section.). Retrieved 22 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Marriages, Mr. Kenneth Fossie Newman to Miss Elizabeth D. Paterson". Prahran Telegraph. Vol. 63, no. 3204. Victoria, Australia. 6 July 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 22 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Betty Paterson Divorced". The Herald. No. 17, 002. Victoria, Australia. 13 November 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 23 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. Paterson family; Paterson, John Ford; Paterson, Hugh; Paterson, Esther; Paterson, Betty; Gill, G. Hermon; Moore, William (1884). Papers of the Paterson family, 1884–1973.
  8. "Women and Commercial Art", The Australian Woman's Mirror, The Bulletin Newspaper, 2 (8), 19 January 1926, retrieved 23 March 2022
  9. "Melbourne Chatter", The Bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 43 (2213): 42, 13 July 1922, ISSN 0007-4039
  10. "The Woman's World". The Herald. No. 17, 029. Victoria, Australia. 15 December 1931. p. 17. Retrieved 22 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "The Herald Health Group". The Herald. No. 18, 255. Victoria, Australia. 18 November 1935. p. 14. Retrieved 22 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "The Australian Home Beautiful", The Australian Home Beautiful, United Press, 12 (5): 1, 1 May 1934, ISSN 0004-928X
  13. "The Two Better Patersons", The Australian Woman's Mirror, The Bulletin Newspaper, 12 (2), 3 December 1935, retrieved 23 March 2022
  14. "A Fairy Lost Her Slipper", The New Triad, [s.n.], 2 (2), 1 February 1928, retrieved 23 March 2022
  15. "Shadow Shows", The Bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 56 (2912): 40, 4 December 1935, ISSN 0007-4039
  16. "A Short Story with a Wireless Touch: Miss Milligan and the Downward Path", The Australian Woman's Mirror, The Bulletin Newspaper, 11 (10), 29 January 1935, retrieved 23 March 2022
  17. "Archibald Prize Archibald 1939 work: Miss Betty Paterson by Esther Paterson". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  18. "Mrs Elizabeth Deans Wiltshire". It's an Honour. 1 January 1966. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  19. "Social News and Gossip". The Sunday Herald (Sydney). No. 202. New South Wales, Australia. 7 December 1952. p. 27. Retrieved 22 March 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "Betty Paterson". Design and Art Australia Online. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
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