Ethel Carrick

Ethel Carrick, later Ethel Carrick Fox (7 February 1872 – 17 June 1952) was an English Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter. Much of her career was spent in France and in Australia, where she was associated with the movement known as the Heidelberg School.

Life Ethel Carrick was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, to Emma (Filmer) Carrick and Albert William Carrick, a wealthy draper. She trained in London at the Guildhall School of Music and at the Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks (ca. 1898-1903). They moved to Paris, where they remained until 1913. Of particular note is her paintings of St John's Church in Reid, and Parliament House in Parkes, Canberra. Between 1941 and 1943, Carrick supported Australian women's efforts for national service by painting scenes of the Lady Gowrie Services Club and the Canberra Services Club in Manuka, Canberra.

Her husband, Emanuel Phillips Fox, died of cancer in 1915. The following year, Carrick began two decades of travels that took her through the Middle East, South Asia including India, and Europe. She returned intermittently to Australia to exhibit her work and go out on painting expeditions around the country.

Art career and critical estimation

Untitled (Royal Avenue, Versailles), c.1909. Castlemaine Art Museum

Mainly a painter, Carrick is known for her floral still life, landscapes and scenes of outdoor urban life in parks and on beaches. Some of these draw on her international travels, such as her paintings of outdoor markets in the Middle East and elsewhere.

In 1993, the Waverley City Gallery in Melbourne held the exhibition "Capturing the Orient: Hilda Rix Nicholas & Ethel Carrick in the East", and in 2011, the Queensland Art Gallery held a joint retrospective of the work of Carrick and her husband.

Exhibitions Solo 1908: Bernard's Gallery, Collins Street, Melbourne, August 1913: 'Paintings by Mrs E Phillips Fox (Miss Ethel Carrick)', The Guildhall, Melbourne, 11 - 26 July 1913: 'Exhibition of Pictures by Mrs E Phillips Fox (Ethel Carrick)', Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery, Sydney, 6 - 22 November 1916: 'Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Mrs E Phillips Fox', Anthony Hordern's Fine Art Gallery, Sydney, April 1925: 'Exhibition of Paintings by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', The New Gallery, Melbourne, 2 -13 June 1928: 'Exposition Ethel Carrick', Galerie de la Palette Française, Paris, 5 -19 June 1933: 'Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox) Exhibition of Pictures', Everyman's Lending Library, Melbourne, 24 May - 7 June 1949: 'Pictures by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', Melbourne Book Club Gallery, 20 June - 2 July 1949: 'Exhibition of Pictures by Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox)', John Martin's Gallery, Adelaide, 4 - 18 October 1979: 'Ethel Carrick (Mrs E Phillips Fox): A Retrospective Exhibition', Geelong Art Gallery, 30 March - 4 May 1979 ; toured to SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 11 May - 3 June; University Art Museum, Brisbane, 13 June - 5 July 2024: 'Ethel Carrick', National Gallery of Australia, 7 December 2024 - 27 April 2025