"Vintage" "ORIGINAL PRINT" by Australian Artist, "BROWNIE DOWNING" "THE TUTU FROCK"


Australian artist, Viola Edith “Brownie” Downing was born in Sydney, Australia in Manly on the 9th May 1924 and passed away on the 16th May 1995.

She was said to be an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life.


The following is an extract of the article published in THE AUSTRALIAN Newspaper.

For generations of children and adults in Australia and overseas, Brownie Downing brought out the magic of childhood, the Australian bush and its native inhabitants in an art career spanning several decades. Through her sketches, watercolours, porcelain items and, later, illustrated children’s books, she earned a distinct place in Australia’s art world. Downing’s achievement is intriguing – her most successful subject, Aboriginal Australia, was one she did not really know first hand; only in an idealised form. Her success lay in an ability to capture the simple, naive beauty and innocence of children and wildlife in a way that transcended any one culture. That quality, developed early on in a corner of Sydney’s northern suburbs, never left her, staying with her in the second half of her life lived entirely overseas. - 18th July 1995 By: EAN HIGGINS Foreign Correspondent. © THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER