“The Green Parasol” by E. Phillips Fox

“The Green Parasol” by E. Phillips Fox delightfully captures the color differences in light and shade. Fox was an Australian Impressionist painter who had a considerable influence as a teacher on Australian art during the late 1800s.

When compared with other leading Australian artists of the time, Fox shows more interest in exploring the “effects of dappled light.” Rather than to the “sunny vistas,” one finds in the other Heidelberg School painters. He is described as an artist who “paid homage to Impressionism while retaining the tonal values of academic realism.”

The model in this painting was Edith Susan Gerard Anderson (1880 – 1961), who was an Australian artist, dramatist, and painter. She was featured in several Emanuel Phillips Fox essential paintings. Anderson wrote several dramas that were staged, as well as radio, plays for the ABC or Australian Broadcasting Commission.

E. Phillips Fox

Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865 – 1915) was an Australian impressionist painter. After studying in Melbourne, Fox traveled to Paris to study. He remained in Europe for five years and returned to Melbourne in 1892 and led the second phase of the Australian Heidelberg School, an impressionist art movement.

Heidelberg School

The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. This art movement has been described as Australian Impressionism.

The works of these artists are notable, not only for their merits as compositions but as part of Australia’s cultural heritage. The period leading up to Federation in 1901 saw an upsurge in Australian nationalism. The Heidelberg School’s artists are well-represented in Australia’s major public galleries, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.