Marie Tuck

Marie Anne Tuck (5 September 1866 – 3 September 1947), was an artist and art educator in South Australia.

History Marie Tuck was born at Mount Torrens, South Australia, one of eight children of Edward Starkey Tuck (1827 – 1898) and his wife Amy Harriet Tuck, née Tayler (1827 – 1901), on 5 September 1866, though she later claimed 1872 as her birth year. Her father was a schoolteacher at Mount Torrens.

From 1886 she received arts training at night classes with James Ashton at his Norwood studio, then in the late 1880s at his Adelaide Academy of Arts, while working at a Payneham plant nursery and assisting Ashton as a way of paying for her tuition while saving for her big ambition – to study in Paris. She was an early member of the Adelaide Easel Club. In 1896 she achieved Division 1 honours from the Royal Drawing Society of Great Britain and Ireland through her affiliation with James Ashton's Adelaide Academy of Arts.

Later in 1896 she moved to Perth, Western Australia, where she gave private tuition in her studio and established the Perth Art School in the Nicholl's Buildings in Wellington Street, Perth, opposite the Railway Station. She also worked at a photographer's studio in St George's Terrace, while continuing to send artworks back to Adelaide for inclusion in the Adelaide Easel Club exhibitions and the Federal exhibitions.

It took ten years, but in 1906 she sailed by the Runic to Paris, and there studied under expatriate Australian Rupert Bunny, developing a great love of French people and culture. She exhibited at the "Old Salon" (salon of the Société des Artistes Français), receiving an honourable mention for her painting Toilette for the Bride (now held by the Queen Adelaide Club in Adelaide). While in France, Marie maintained her connection with Australia and in 1909 she was elected to the Art Society of NSW. Her many students included Ivor Hele, Dora Cecil Chapman, David Dallwitz, Ivor Francis, Jacqueline Hick and Noel Wood.

She held exhibitions in her studio in the Onslow Buildings in Pirie Street and later at 74 Frome Street, Adelaide as well as exhibiting in the 1924 South Australian Society of Arts exhibition; impressionistic landscapes, figures and portraits in oils. She retired in 1940 and had a stroke, aged 74 years.

Marie Tuck never married and after her death in 1947, the Royal South Australian Society of Arts (RSASA) held the "Marie Tuck Memorial Exhibition" and at the opening John Dowie described her as the "mother of painting in South Australia". The "Marie Tuck Retrospective exhibition" was held at the Cricklewood Art Centre in Aldgate in 1971. Toilette de la Mariée (Attirement of the Bride) is held by the Queen Adelaide Club in Adelaide. The Red Geranium is held by the Adelaide Casino. both were modernist watercolorists. They had a son Mark in 1945 and twin daughters Michele and Angelina in 1953. Elizabeth Tuck (– 13 October 1883) Harriet Tuck (c. 1819 – 26 June 1887) Sophia Tuck (c. 1823 – 30 November 1906) of Kenton Valley, South Australia Edward Starkey Tuck (13 March 1827 – 9 August 1898) married Amy Harriet Tayler (29 April 1827 – 13 January 1901)

Amy Jane Tayler Tuck (December 1849 – 4 October 1933) married George Edward Masters (–1912) in 1870 Edward John Tayler Tuck (1853 – 10 June 1926) married Mary Ann "Annie" Tobell (– 11 August 1926) in 1875. He was a minister of religion in Broken Hill. Sophia Mary Tuck (1855–1943) Head Teacher Mt Torrens School (1877–1912) who undertook her teacher training in the first intake at Adelaide Teachers' College 1876. Bernard Henry Tuck (1858–1942) married Emma Jane Masters (–1922) on 28 September 1882, lived Forestville, South Australia Alfred Robert Tuck (1860–1938) married Elizabeth Roach (–1962) on 6 September 1888 Henry Joseph "Harry" Tuck (15 May 1863 – 15 August 1946) married Eliza Playford (9 February 1866–1941) on 1 January 1889. Eliza was the second daughter of Hon. Thomas Playford Marie Anne Tuck (5 September 1866 – 3 September 1947) Elizabeth Frances Starkey "Francie" Tuck (1869 – 1 September 1946) trained as a school teacher, and had a career as a teacher of singing and piano. She had a short period in Europe, studying music and traveling. She also studied Art and acted as her sister, Marie's press agent, during the time that Marie Tuck was living in France.

Exhibitions

The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires at the Art Gallery of South Australian (2004)