Ruth Sutherland

Sutherland was born in Adelaide in 1884.[2] She was granddaughter to notable sketcher George Sutherland, who emigrated to Australia from Scotland.[3] She was a pupil of Gwen Barringer in South Australia before coming to Melbourne.[4] She attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School where she was taught by Lindsay Bernard Hall.[5]

Sutherland wrote articles for the Melbourne newspaper 'The Age' and to the journal 'Art in Australia'[5] about Max Meldrum[6] and Hilda Rix Nicholas.[7]

Sutherland was the niece of the painter Jane Sutherland and the sister of the composer Margaret Sutherland.[8] She was also a cousin of Stella Bowen's.[9] She was a member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters.[1] She had a joint exhibition of oils, watercolours and pastels with fellow artists Dora Wilson and May Roxburgh in 1918.[10] Sutherland had a history with Dora Wilson prior to later established artist societies, exhibiting as part of "The Waddy" in 1909, along with Janet Cumbrae Stewart and Nora Gurdon.[11] She enjoyed doing landscapes, renting a cottage in Lilydale with Bernice Edwell and Florence Rodway to sketch the surrounding country.[12] She also exhibited with the Yarra Sculptors' Society.[13]

She died in 1948.[2] A memorial exhibition of her work referred to her as "a quiet artist in a mode of painting now largely abandoned" and that her works were most sympathetic.[14]

• Watercolour paintings by Ruth Sutherland
• 
  Still life, Private collection
• 
  Homestead, Private collection
• 
  The Ruin & Trees, Private collection
• 
  Girl in a hammock, National Gallery of Victoria

• 1909, "The Waddy" society of artists, Guild Hall[11]
• 1909, Federal Art Exhibition, North terrace[15]
• 1911, Yarra Sculptors Society, Athenaeum Hall[16]
• 1912, "The Waddy" society (with Dora Taylor and Janet Cumbrae Stewart), Tuckett and Styles' Gallery[17]
• 1912, Group exhibition (with Dora Wilson and Nora Gurdon), Tuckett and Styles' Gallery[18]
• 1912 Victorian Artists Society autumn exhibition, Albert Street galleries[19]
• 1913, Group exhibition, Athenaeum Hall[20]
• 1914, Australian Art Association, Athenaeum Hall[21]
• 1914, British History Tableaux (in aid of Red Cross), Victorian Artists Society[22]
• 1914, Twelve Melbourne Painters Society second exhibition, Athenaeum Hall[23]
• 1915, Victorian Artists Society twentieth annual exhibition[24]
• 1916, Victorian Artists Society annual exhibition[25]
• 1916, French Week appeal exhibition, Town Hall[26]
• 1917, Australian Art Association fifth annual exhibition[27]
• 1918, Group exhibition (with Dora Wilson and May Roxburgh), Fine Art Society
• 1919, French aid exhibition, Fine Art Galleries[28]
• 1919, Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, Athenaeum Gallery[29]
• 1919, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors annual exhibition, Victoria Markets[30]
• 1920, Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, Athenaeum Hall[31]
• 1940, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery[32]
• 1941, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors annual exhibition, Athenaeum Gallery[33]
• 1950, Memorial exhibition for Ruth Sutherland, Melbourne Book Club Gallery[14]

• images of Ruth Sutherland's paintings on MutualArt
• Biographical cuttings on Ruth Sutherland, National Library of Australia
• Ruth Sutherland: Australian art and artists file, State Library Victoria