Mildred Esther Lovett was a major figure in the early 20th century Tasmanian and Australian art scene, known as both an influential teacher and a versatile artist.
Artistic career
Lovett studied at Mrs H. Barnard's Ladies School, Hobart, Tasmania from 1887 to 1893, where her art teacher was William Henry Charpentier. She left school at 13 and found work as a photographic retoucher at McGuffie's 'Alba Studio' in Hobart. After that she spent five years at Hobart Technical College, studying painting, modelling, life drawing and china painting, under Ethel Nicholls and Benjamin Sheppard. In 1901, Lovett moved to Sydney to study under Julian Ashton at his Sydney Art School, where she eventually became his assistant teacher. In 1904 she returned to Hobart and began a successful career teaching in the Art Department of the Technical College, where she obtained a full-time post with a salary of £50 per annum, working under the leadership of Lucien Dechaineux. By 1925 she had been appointed an art instructor at the College. Many of her students there became prominent artists, including Edith Holmes and Dorothy Stoner. Lovett was a key figure in the Hobart art scene, acting as a council member of the . Highlights in her career included representing Tasmania in the British Empire Exhibition in London in 1924 and joining the 1926–27 Group of Modern Painters founded by George Lambert, who exhibited in Sydney. In 1929 Lovell took leave from her position at the Technical College to make a study tour of Europe, where she enrolled at the Westminster School of Art, London, and at the Academie Lhote in Paris. Lovell was highly proficient in oil, water and pastel painting, sculpture and miniatures. What brought her the most critical acclaim was her china painting: The Lone Hand in 1913 described her as being "amongst the three or four great Australian painters on china". A vase she painted now resides in the Art Gallery of NSW, as one of Australia's key works of decorative art in the art nouveau style. Work of hers can also be found in the National Gallery of Australia and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Personal life
Born in Hobart, Tasmania on 13 September 1880, Lovett lived primarily in Tasmania and Sydney. She was the eldest of four children of Edward Frederick Lovett, and Alice Edith, née Gibson. They were a middle class family, with her father working as a railway clerk. At the age of 33, Lovett married Stanley Livingstone Paterson and became the family's major breadwinner for the 40 years of their marriage, supplementing her teaching wage with the sale of her work. Lovett and Stanley had no children. She retired from the Hobart Technical College in 1940 and returned to Sydney with Stanley, where they lived until his death in 1952. Lovett died in Hobart in 1955 at the age of 75.
