B. 1902 – 1993

Born in Adelaide in 1879, Bessie Davidson was a prolific artist throughout the twentieth century both in Australia and France. Classmate and close companion of iconic Australian painter Margaret Preston, Davidson moved to France in 1904 with Preston, where both artists thrived within the newly emerging Modernist approaches to painting. Adopting an Impressionist style, Davidson soon rose to prominence within this foreign country, with two of her works exhibiting in the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1906. 

Celebrated internationally and within Australia, Davidson is best known for her still lifes, landscapes and interior paintings. Using loose brushstrokes and a light-filled colour palette, Davidson creates hazy, dream-like impressions of domestic life. A keen student of French Impressionism, Davidson spent the majority of her life within France, where she was a founding member of the Salon des Tuileries and the La Societe Femmes Artistes Modernes. Davidson remained in France until her death in 1965.