Media Kit Article: Chronology: Jane Sutherland 1855-1928

1853 Sutherland is born on the 26 December in New York to parents George and Jane Sutherland who quickly return to the family’s hometown of Dumbarton, Scotland.

1864 Sutherland family emigrates to Sydney.

1870 Sutherland, with her parents and five siblings (later seven) move to Melbourne and live at 1 Lytton Street, Carlton.

1871 At 18, Sutherland enrols in the School of Design at the National Gallery School with her father, and fellow artist Frederick McCubbin, then aged 16.

1877 Enters the School of Painting under the instruction of Eugéne von Guèrard.

1878 Whilst continuing to attend the Gallery School, Sutherland begins exhibiting professionally with the Victorian Academy of Arts, and later with the Australian Artists’ Association and then the Victorian Artists’ Society until 1911.

1883 Sutherland is the first woman elected to the Buonarotti Society, established for the promotion of literature, art and music.

1885-7 Joins sketching trips to the Melbourne bush, including the first artist’s camps at Box Hill with Tom Roberts, McCubbin, Arthur Streeton, Louis Abrahams and others, although returning each night to the city.

1889 Sutherland shares a studio with Clara Southern in the newly opened Grosvenor Chambers at 9 Collins Street with Roberts, George Walton and Jane R Price as neighbours. She later takes a second studio at Buxton’s Rooms, 119 Swanston Street for teaching purposes. Whilst not contributing to the famous 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition, Sutherland supports her fellow artists by acquiring Roberts’ Andante for her personal collection.

1892 Becomes a member of The Field Naturalists Club, established to explore Australian natural history.

1900 She is the first woman elected to the Council of the Victorian Artists’ Society.

1903 Records highest ever asking price for her work at £21. Despite being eventually judged the best known and most professional of the women painters associated with the Heidelberg School, her works did not command high prices in her lifetime and her output was limited in comparision with male colleagues – a reflection of the position of women at the time.

1900-11 Failing health and limited mobility during this period reduces Sutherland’s output of works, now often in pastel. Upon the death of her brother and carer William in 1911, Sutherland retires although continues to exhibit occasionally until 1920.

1928 Jane Sutherland dies.