{{Short description|Australian artist (1882–1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox artist | name = Mary Cockburn Mercer | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1882|4|19|df=y}} | birth_place = Almerston, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|8|14|1882|4|19|df=y}} | death_place = Aubagne, France | education = South Australian School of Design | field = Painting | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = | partner = Alexander Charles Robinson }} '''Mary Cockburn Mercer''' (1882–1963) was an Australian painter.<ref name="ngv">{{cite web |title=Mary Cockburn Mercer |url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/14217/ |website=National Gallery of Victoria |access-date=13 July 2018}}</ref> She spent the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, and the 1940s in Melbourne, Australia.<ref name="daao1">{{cite web |last1=Kerr |first1=Joan |title=Mary Mercer b. 19 April 1882 |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/mary-mercer/biography/ |website=Design & Art Australia Online |access-date=17 July 2018}}</ref> Her final years were spent in France.<ref name="daao1" /><ref name="ngv" /> She exhibited with the Contemporary Art Society in Australia.<ref name="daao1" />
== Biography ==
Mercer was born in Almerston, Scotland on 19 April 1882. She spent her childhood in Victoria, Australia. After World War I, Mercer arrived in the Montparnasse section of Paris, where she became acquainted with Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Marie Laurencin, Jules Pascin and Kees van Dongen. Mercer recounted nostalgia for French cooking when painting, eventually leaving Australia to live in other parts of France, Italy, Spain, and Tahiti.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Misses France And French Cooking - The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) - 11 Aug 1950 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244255353 |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref><ref name="daao1" />
In 1938 Mercer returned to Australia, settling in Melbourne.<ref name="NGVArtJournal">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Elena |title=Mary Cockburn Mercer's Ballet |url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/mary-cockburn-mercers-ballet/ |website=Art Journal 49 |publisher=National Gallery of Victoria |access-date=17 July 2018}}</ref> There she associated with George Bell, William Frater, Lina Bryans and Arnold Shore.<ref name="AustralianArtAuctionRecords">{{cite web |title=Mary Cockburn Mercer (1882-1963) Australia |url=https://www.artrecord.com/index.cfm/artist/8472-mercer-mary-cockburn/ |website=Australian Art Auction Records |access-date=22 July 2018}}</ref> She also renewed her friendship with Janet Cumbrae Stewart, who she previously met in Paris in the 1920s.<ref name="daao1" /> While in Melbourne, Mercer took art classes from George Bell and later taught at her private studio, where her students included Colin McCahon, Cumbrae Stewart and Lina Bryans.<ref name="daao1" /><ref name="NGVArtJournal" />
In 1939 Janet Cumbrae Stewart made a portrait of her and it is in the National Gallery of Victoria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Works {{!}} NGV {{!}} View Work |url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/135422/ |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au |language=en-AU}}</ref>
In the 1940s Mercer exhibited at the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne.<ref name="AustralianArtAuctionRecords" />
In 1953, Mercer returned to France and died there on 14 August 1963.<ref name="AustralianArtAuctionRecords" /><ref name="daao1" />
== Legacy ==
In 2017-2018 Mercer was included in the Australian National Trust show ''Intrepid Women – Australian women artists in Paris 1900-1950''.<ref name="NationalTrust">{{cite web|title=Intrepid Women – Australian women artists in Paris 1900-1950|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/event/intrepid-women/|website=National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery|access-date=22 July 2018|archive-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328231559/https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/event/intrepid-women/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
A group of Mercer's watercolour paintings and drawings from the 1940s were found as a part of a curatorial restructure between The Department of Australian Prints and Drawings in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1999/2000, PP no. 221 of 2000 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1615622310 |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=August 2025}}
in 2022 Mercer was featured in the exhibition QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Art |first=Queer Australian |title=QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection |url=https://queeraustralianart.com/database/exhibitions/queer-stories-from-the-ngv-collection |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=Queer Australian Art |language=en}}</ref>
Mercer's frank depiction of sexuality is notable within the Australian LGBTQI community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Art |first=Queer Australian |title=Mary Cockburn Mercer |url=https://queeraustralianart.com/database/artists/mary-cockburn-mercer |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=Queer Australian Art |language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/14217/ images of Mary Cockburn Mercer's work] at the National Gallery of Victoria
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Mary Cockburn}} Category:1882 births Category:1963 deaths Category:20th-century Australian women artists Category:Australian expatriates in France Category:Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Category:20th-century Australian painters