Elsie Barlow

Elsie Frederica Barlow (1876 – 15 November 1948), was an Australian painter and printmaker. She was a founding member of Twenty Melbourne Painters. She was also the first woman to have a solo exhibition in Castlemaine, Victoria.

Biography Elsie Frederica Barlow née Hake was born in 1876 in Melbourne, Australia. Her painting Welcome News came second to Max Meldrum for the National Gallery School Travelling Scholarship in 1897. Arthur Barlow, assistant to Sir John Madden. then in 1912 held a one woman show at the Mechanics' Institute in Castlemaine, where she displayed 90 paintings. This led to the eventual creation of the Castlemaine Art Gallery.

Barlow died in a private hospital in Mentone, Victoria on 15 November 1948.

Legacy Retrospectives of her works were held in 1977 (at the Castlemaine Art Gallery) and 1978 (at the Duvance Galleries) to honour her as one of the founders of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historic Museum.