Melbourne-born artist Ivy Shore (1915–1999) was raised in Adelaide and moved to Sydney in 1938, marrying financier Ray Shore. In the late 1950s, she enrolled in painting classes with Graeme Inson, who trained her in the methods of his art teacher, Max Meldrum. On separating from her husband in 1960, she bought her own house in Woollahra, and two years later, Inson moved in. He painted several portraits of Shore, but thought this one best expressed the principles of tonal realism. Inson kept the work and exhibited it repeatedly to demonstrate his style of portraiture to would-be clients and sitters. Through the 1960s, in her own painting Shore moved away from the principles Inson had taught her and began to focus on entering the Portia Geach Memorial Award instead of the Archibald Prize. She won in 1979 with her portrait of trade unionist Della Elliott. Shore used her prize money to have a studio built above the garage of her house, so that she could paint away from Inson and his disapproval of her ‘non-Meldrumite’ style. Shore continued to exhibit in the Portia Geach Award until 1992.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Harvey and Russell Shore 2014
© Harvey Shore
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Drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection, this salon-style hang references the lavish 18th- and 19th-century European salons where paintings were hung floor-to-ceiling.
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