Australian art history under-recorded its women for most of a century, and the correction is recent enough that several of the reassessments are still happening. This page covers both halves of that: the historical names worth knowing, and the women painters SOHO Galleries currently represents and sells.
Famous Australian women artists
Emily Kame Kngwarreye (c.1910–1996) is, by most reckonings, the most significant Australian artist of the late twentieth century. She began painting on canvas at Utopia in Central Australia late in life and produced in barely eight years a body of work of extraordinary force. Minnie Pwerle (c.1910–2006), from the same community, painted Awelye women’s ceremony designs with a directness that made her instantly recognisable — SOHO represents her daughter and grandson, in the Aboriginal art collection.
Margaret Preston (1875–1963) turned Australian modernism toward native flora and revived woodblock and stencil printing in this country. Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) brought post-impressionist colour to Sydney and painted the Harbour Bridge mid-construction in The Bridge in-curve. Clarice Beckett (1887–1935) worked in near-obscurity and has been substantially reassessed in the last decade, now regarded as one of the finest tonal painters Australia produced.
Among living artists, Del Kathryn Barton has won the Archibald Prize twice. In sculpture, Inge King (1915–2016) and Bronwyn Oliver (1959–2006) are the names most often cited — see our guide to Australian female sculptors.
Female painters represented by SOHO Galleries
Those names largely hang in public collections. Below are the painters whose work we actually carry.
Conchita Carambano
The largest body of work in our collection by any painter, male or female. An Australian artist of Spanish origin, Carambano has refined a textured, multi-layered abstraction across more than 40 years, with the Australian landscape a constant source rather than a literal subject. Her record is substantial — winner of the Camden Art Prize on multiple occasions, shortlisted for the Blake Prize, a Paddington Art Prize finalist, and commissions and collections spanning hotels, hospitals and corporate collections across Australia and Asia. View available works →
Alison Mitchell
A still-life painter working near Riverton in rural South Australia, entirely from life. Self-taught, with a background in anthropology, she has exhibited nationally for over three decades and recently at Arcadia Contemporary in New York. She has been a three-time finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award and received a judges’ commendation at the 2023 STILL: National Still Life Award. Her touring exhibition Unlemon — a meandering tale of citrus has travelled regional galleries nationally. View available works →
West Cove – 120x180cm — more by Conchita Carambano →
Clivea and Jasmine – 70x70cm — more by Alison Mitchell →
Amanda Ketterer
Melbourne-based and English-born, Ketterer works intuitively at the junction of pattern and botanical form, drawn to the tension between orderly shapes and untamed abstract nature. She holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of the Creative Arts in the UK, moved to Australia in 2008, and works from a studio on the Mornington Peninsula. Her wildflower series takes the resilience of women as its explicit subject. View available works →
Marilou Palazon
Twenty years of large-scale botanicals, Australian birds and water subjects, treated less as studies than as dramatic landscapes — texture, range, light play and folds. View available works →
Midnight Confession – 153x153cm — more by Amanda Ketterer →
White Silks – 125x125cm — more by Marilou Palazon →
Zoe Ellenberg
Nature is the whole perspective — specifically the littoral, where reef meets rainforest. Ellenberg has worked from Cape Tribulation, Bali, Lombok, Vietnam and the South Pacific, painting corals, mangroves, ferneries and orchids in mixed media on heavy watercolour paper. She sculpts as well, in polished stainless and bronze. View available works →
Leah Ramage
A self-taught watercolourist who uses the work as advocacy — capturing places and moments while making a case for animal welfare and environmental sustainability. View available works →
Linda Dry Parker
Colour first, subject second: Dry Parker describes colour as the mechanism through which she interprets a subject and initiates her own response to it, in oil and watercolour. View available works →
Garden Enchantment – 266x135cm — more by Zoe Ellenberg →
Summer Vacay – 150cm — more by Leah Ramage →
Internationally recognised
Nafisa Naomi won the Gold Medal at the Florence Biennale — the only Australian artist to have done so. Born in Mumbai and educated in Hong Kong and Sydney, she works at architectural scale; the piece we currently hold runs to four panels across nearly six metres.
Margarita Georgiadis studied printmaking and painting at the National Art School and Sydney College of the Arts, has held many solo exhibitions, and has won and been shortlisted in significant prizes.
Alexandra Spyratos was born in Nairobi and works between international studios, with a thirty-year career and 42 solo shows worldwide behind her.
Masako Gordon was born in Tokyo and educated at Joshibijutsu University of Art, exhibited in London and Spain, and settled in Australia in 1977.
Also represented
Julie Simmons, a plein-air watercolourist and associate member of the Royal Art Society; Ann Skelly, UK-trained with a Bachelor of Arts and Design; Onela Keal, who finds her subject in industrial and man-made structures; Marisha Matthews in still life; Amica Aindow; Leanne Halls, who trained under a master of traditional Japanese art; and Margaret Hadfield.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the most famous Australian female artist? Emily Kame Kngwarreye is the most widely acclaimed, and is frequently described as the most significant Australian artist of the late twentieth century. Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith are the central figures of Australian modernism, and Del Kathryn Barton is the best known among living painters.
Which female artists does SOHO represent? Nineteen women painters currently, led by Conchita Carambano, Alison Mitchell, Amanda Ketterer, Marilou Palazon, Zoe Ellenberg, Leah Ramage and Linda Dry Parker, alongside internationally recognised artists including Nafisa Naomi, Margarita Georgiadis and Alexandra Spyratos.
Do you represent female sculptors as well? Yes — seven, several with major public commissions. See Australian female sculptors.
Can I buy these works online? Yes, with Australia-wide delivery, or view them in person at our Woollahra gallery in Sydney. Contact us to arrange a viewing or to ask about a specific artist.