B. 1888 – 1961

Eveline Syme was a British-Australian painter and printmaker, originally from Thames Ditton, Surrey, England. She was raised in the family’s mansion in St Kilda, Melbourne and completed her studies first at the University of Melbourne and then at Cambridge University, England. 

An avid traveller, Spowers studied art under Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School in England and in Paris under Cubist painter Andre Lhote. She was a close compatriot of artists Ethel Spowers, Edith Alsop and George Bell, propelling Australia’s relief printmaking movement in the 20th century. 

With forms moving rhythmically across the page, Syme's imagery is characterised by a musicality. She is represented across public collections including at the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia, where curator Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax describes her as among the cohort of artists through which “Australian art slowly came of age.” 

To read a more in-depth biography of the artist, click here.