Bessie Ellen Davidson Australia, France, 1879-1965
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Bessie Davidson
Auction Houses
About Bessie Davidson
Born in Adelaide in 1879, Bessie Davidson studied under Margaret Preston in Adelaide. She began exhibiting with the South Australian Society of Arts as early as 1901. In 1904 she went to Europe and lived in France from 1905. She studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and became a member of the New Salon and the Salon des Tuileries, and was president of Femmes Artistes Moderne. In 1931 she was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. She visited Australia on several occasions.
We have records of art auction sales by Bessie Davidson from 1971 and in total 228 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 176 (77%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $810,000 for Lecture Au Jardin, C.1935 sold by Deutscher and Hackett in November 2021. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by Bessie Davidson are held by the Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia and a further four major public national galleries (see list below).
Bessie Davidson is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 367
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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