Fox, Ethel Carrick (1872–1952)

British trained painter Ethel Carrick Fox married Australian artist Emmanuel Phillips Fox in 1905 and spent her five-decade career closely associated with Australian artists. Although based in Paris, she frequently visited Australia between 1908 and 1952. By 1910 she had become quite active and high profiled in Paris, surprising at the time for an artist who was both English speaking and female. She was elected a sociétaire of the Salon d’Automne in 1911, and served on its selection committee in 1912. Fox was also active in organizations promoting women artists in Paris, serving as vice president of the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs in 1912, and exhibiting with progressively orientated groups such as the LibreAesthetique in Brussels, 1909. While the advent of World War I diminished her career internationally, until her death in 1952 she was renowned in Australia for her cosmopolitan outlook, her work in public and patriotic fundraising, and her activities as a de facto agent in Paris for Australian-based artists. Fox was also widely admired for setting an example as an enterprising woman artist, painting and exhibiting extensively whenever she was in the country. On her first visit to Australia in 1908 the women artists of Melbourne held a reception in her honor, and during both this visit and her second visit in 1913–1916, she was frequently interviewed by Australian reporters regarding her opinions of art in Paris.