Maisie

Lady Maisie Drysdale (1915–2001), children’s librarian and artists’ muse, met Peter Purves Smith and Russell Drysdale at George Bell’s art school in Melbourne. In 1935 Drysdale married Elizabeth ‘Bon’ Stephens and two years later, Purves Smith left for Europe, followed in 1938 by Maisie and her mother. This portrait of Maisie by her husband-to-be is thought to have been painted while they were both in London, before he joined the British Army in 1940. The restricted colour palette and energetically painted blue background focuses our attention on Maisie’s striking profile, framed by her fur collar.

After Maisie returned to Australia, Purves Smith cabled his proposal to her but they were separated for the duration of the war. They married in 1946 in Melbourne, with Drysdale as best man; however, Purves Smith died following surgery to relieve symptoms of tuberculosis in 1949. Maisie completed library studies and became a librarian at the City of Coburg Library and later, the Camberwell City Library. She also served on the Editorial Committee of the Children’s Book Council of Victoria. In 1963, Bon Drysdale died, and seven months later Maisie married Russell Drysdale. They bought a block of land near Gosford, Bouddi Farm, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001