Ada Clara Whiting

Ada Clara Whiting nee Cherry was an Australian oil and watercolour painter and miniaturist. She was active from 1898 to 1944, and received prestigious commissions to paint vice regal representatives, prominent members of society and celebrities, in Melbourne and later Sydney.

Biography Ada Clara Whiting (1859-1953) was born Ada Clara Cherry in Hobart, Tasmania. She was the second-eldest of five children of the English-born photographer, artist and miniaturist George Cherry and Mary Ann Mathilda (née James). After the early death of her parents, Whiting moved to Geelong with her siblings, where she attended the Geelong Technological School and School of Drawing. In 1874, she was awarded first prize for figure drawing and in 1879 she received prizes for flowers in nature and shells. Whiting's work was also included in the Melbourne School of Design's exhibitions at the Academy of Arts in 1877.

Whiting obtained work with the photographic studio Johnstone, O'Shannessy and Co, hand-colouring photographs. She married photographer Saville Whiting in 1888. Her husband had also been employed at Johnstone, O'Shannessy and Co. After a difficult marriage and two children, they eventually divorced in 1899, with Whiting citing "desertion and habitual drunkenness" as the causes. Whiting had already found a studio and was working to support herself and her children as early as 1893. She acquired the skills necessary, including "stippling with a camel hair brush", By 1901, Whiting had established her studio on Collins Street, Melbourne. Her success at the Royal Academy resulted in a steady stream of commissions from influential people, and her skill in creating miniatures was widely recognised.

In 1902, it was noted in the Melbourne newspapers she was undertaking a number of commissions, mostly of children from prominent families.

In 1904, the then National Art Gallery, Sydney (now known at the Art Gallery of NSW), was exhibiting a small set of her miniatures and in 1905 acquired three of these for their collection, including one of Miss Ruby Webb.

In 1909, Whiting was invited to submit works for the Federal Art Exhibition in South Australia, with her four miniature pictures being regarded as "all that can be desired in this delicate branch of art".

From 1915, Whiting continued to exhibit and receive prestigious commissions. with regular complimentary references in the newspapers of the day, such as: "Mrs Whiting ... stands at the head of her profession in the miniature branch of portraiture". A newspaper columnist for the Arena-Sun, Melbourne described Whiting as being "the most accomplished of the Melbourne practitioners of the art", with one of her miniatures to be given to one of Melba's friends, Miss Violet Clarke, the daughter of the then State Governor. In 1904, Whiting received a message from Melba in Paris, asking her to paint her father, David Mitchell. Despite his initial objection to sitting for a portrait, it was quickly completed and was dispatched to Melba in London. Melba regarded the miniature as her "dearest treasure". One of the miniatures painted by Whiting, completed in 1919, was of Melba in one of her famous tiaras and the arts writer for one of Melbourne's newspapers expressed the wish that Whiting had had "a wider field of action". Melba continued her patronage and, when interviewed by The Argus on the eve of her departure for London in 1919, she spoke of her friendship with Whiting saying: "I have had some miniatures painted by Mrs Whiting and they are very beautiful. She talks of coming to London. I hope she will." Whiting also completed a miniature of Melba's granddaughter Pamela, which was "a dainty bijou carried off in Melba's suitcase like a mascot".

Later years Despite the waning of interest in the miniature, Whiting continued to receive commissions and regularly exhibited, with mentions of her participation in the annual exhibitions of the Victorian Society of Artists in 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1933. In 1934, Whiting was invited to send her work to the Paris Salon. She included her portrait of "Australia's loveliest girl", Jessica Harcourt.

Exhibitions 1896-1916: Victorian Society of Artists 1900: Royal Academy London 1905: Royal Art Society, Melbourne 1909: Federal Art Exhibition, South Australian Society of the Arts 1917: Royal Scottish Academy 1934: Royal Hibernian Academy 1934: Paris Salon