Muriel Elliott (1898-2005) Australian, Still Life Oil on Board. Flowers in a glass jar. 

Overall: 17 3/4 X 14 3/4 in. 

Sight: 14 1/2 X 11 1/2 in. 

#3891 . 

Muriel Annie Elliott (nee East) was born on November 28th, 1898 in Petersham, New South Wales, Australia. She became interested in the arts at a young age, and studied model drawing and china painting at Sydney Technical College in 1914. After graduating she continued her studies at the Royal Art Society with Antonio Salvatore Dattilo Rubbo, an Italian-born artist who was one of the biggest proponents of modernism in Australia throughout his life. She concentrated on flowers and still lifes, mainly, and continued to paint as a hobby after meeting and marrying Dr. George Elliott in the early 1920s. During World War II she stopped painting and volunteered for the war effort, and although she resumed once the War ended she didn’t consider it as a profession until she met Queen Elizabeth during the Royal Tour in 1954. The Queen, who happened to see her work, requested that she paint a special Australian flower for her to keep at Buckingham Palace, and the recognition inspired Muriel to enroll in new lessons at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. Able to survive comfortably on her husband’s salary and later retirement, she dedicated the last fifty years of her life to donating most of her paintings to charity, often raising money for animal rights and feminist causes. She passed away on September 10th, 2005 at the remarkable age of 106 in her home in Darling Point.