Ethleen Palmer (1906-1958) was a renowned Australian linocut artist who combined an eclectic borrowing of artistic sources with a fascination for exotic fauna. Both of these hallmarks presumably derived from the cosmopolitan milieu, which she enjoyed as a child before her family settled in Australia in 1921. Palmer was then almost 15 years old and, soon after, she enrolled in the East Sydney Art School. She seemed destined to a career as a commercial illustrator. However, in 1933, she exhibited her first linocuts and once this medium became her acknowledged forte she avidly pursued a mainstream art career. Within six years, Ethleen Palmer was described as "Australia's leading linocut artist." (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 Aug. 1938, p6)

Palmer's exceptionally quick popularity owed much to the profile which printmaking was achieving in Australia at the time. She was particularly encouraged by the example of such fellow practitioners as Margaret Preston, Ethel Spowers, Thea Proctor and Violet Teague. Like them, she looked to a Japanese printmaking aesthetic. This was something her own childhood experience had provided: she had grown up surrounded by oriental colour prints which her mother had collected while living in the Far East.

The Sydney Morning Herald (29 April 1939) acknowledged this debt: "Occasionally, Miss Palmer had been mindful of the great achievements of Hiroshige and Hokusai." Their accolade was

further endorsed by Australia's leading art journal of the day - Art in Australia. Its August 1939 issue honoured Palmer as "An Australian Hokusai."

Palmer also emulated the Austrian printmaker Norbertine von Bresslern-Roth (1891-1978) who had successfully showed in Sydney in three exhibitions between 1926 and 1928. Thus, on 10 August 1937, a Sydney Morning Herald review of one of Palmer's exhibitions observed: "It is irresistible that the artist should be compared with Bresslern-Roth." This artist had achieved an international profile with her linocuts of exotic fauna. Palmer, likewise, derived her earliest success from depictions of exotic fauna, particularly birds, but added a distinctive touch of Japonisme. In the second half of the 1930s, these works won Palmer instant acclaim. Then, in 1939, Spindrift was recognised as her masterpiece. By now, all of the major state art galleries had acquired examples of Palmer's work. Only the year before, she had won the "Linocut Section" of both the 150th Sydney Anniversary Celebrations Art Competition and the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Exhibition. She had also been appointed to her old art school to teach linocutting. Eventually, Palmer held at least four solo exhibitions in the 1930s and contributed to numerous group exhibitions between 1926 and 1949.

During the war, and for some time after, Palmer taught remedial craft work to repatriated soldiers and eventually founded an art school in Sydney - the Double Bay Studio which operated from 1945 until 1951. It stimulated her to produce a prolific range of items - primarily screenprinted fabrics, cards and calendars.

Ethleen Palmer eventually developed her linocutting technique to a virtuoso standard seldom seen in Australian printmaking - sometimes as many as twelve blocks were used to complete one print. Her willingness to experiment with paper, printing mediums and methods gave a subtle gradation to her colour printing. All these efforts resulted in linocuts with a depth and a vibrancy which were unequalled in Australia in her time.

ROBERT HOLDEN