Marian Ellis (Ellis) Rowan Australia, 1848-1922
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Ellis Rowan
Auction Houses
About Ellis Rowan
Born in Victoria in 1848, Rowan had no formal art training, but travelled extensively, studying and painting the birds and wildflowers of northern Australia, Thursday Island and New Guinea. In 1879-93 Ellis Rowan exhibited her work in international exhibitions in Australia, India, England, Europe and the United States of America, in America illustrating books on flora by Alice Lounsberry. In 1916-18 she twice visited Papua and New Guinea, illustraing flowers and 47 species of birds. On her return from New Guinea she held an exhibition of 1000 paintings in Sydney, the largest collection exhibited to that time in Australia, most of which were purchased by the Australian Government and are held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
Ellis Rowan is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1969 of 975, of which 732 (75%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $90,000 for Chrysanthemums (c.1890) sold by Sotheby's in November 2011. This year 2 works have been offered for sale. Works by Ellis Rowan are held by the National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).
Ellis Rowan 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 842
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 361
- 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…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
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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