BARLING, MABEL (1881-1961)

"Lions At Taronga Park Zoo" (1930) 
oil on canvas
37 x 52cm
signed lower left
*private collection, Melbourne
 
Somers Mabel Elliott Barling (1881-1961) is a forgotten Australian Animal Painter & Designer. Born on Richmond River & raised in the country town of Manilla (near Tamworth), she arrived in Sydney in the early 20th century, studying at the Royal Art Society under Antonio Dattilo Rubbo, Sydney Long & James R. Jackson. She began exhibiting regularly at the R.A.S. from 1908-23. During this time she worked from her studio in Raglan Street, Mosman; in close proximity to the R.A.S. From 1916, she was secretary for the recently established Society Of Women Painters & Sketchers, & was a regular exhibitor. She also lived in close proximity to Taronga Park Zoo in Cremorne, & ceased upon the opportunity to hone her skills by painting the animals in their enclosures. She also designed pottery pieces & toys, most notably in 1918 a Noah's Ark toy for the Red Cross Toy Shop, according to biblical descriptions, complete with animals. Animals would become the central inspiration for her work & she became well known as a premier animal painter & ceramicist. She also exhibited with the Watercolour Society & the Painters & Etchers Group from the early 1920s. In 1939, Barling opened her first one-woman exhibition of her pottery, sketches and paintings at her studio in the Victoria Arcade. The Bulletin noted: "Mabel Barling, who stages an exhibition of pottery & drawings in water color at her studio in the Victoria Arcade, Sydney, is, as her drawings & models testify, a close & intelligent student of animal anatomy; Australian fauna & the denizens of Taronga Park Zoo provide the greater part of the subjects for her decorative pottery, and experiments with the variously-colored clays to be found in N.S.W. have added to the effectiveness of her color schemes." Later, she dabbled in portraiture, and was a multiple Archibald Prize Finalist. However, she is most remembered for her animal depictions. From the 1920s, she began teaching many art students from her Raglan St Mosman studio. She would continue teaching until her death in 1961.