Early Life and Artistic Training
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Florence Fuller migrated to Melbourne as a child. She began her formal training at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where she took classes in 1883 and again in 1888. During her development, she studied under Jane Sutherland and her uncle, Robert Hawker Dowling. By the late 1880s, she had become a professional artist and opened her own studio before the age of twenty.
Her early career included significant commissions and exhibitions. In 1889, she received a prize from the Victorian Artists Society for the best portrait by an artist under twenty-five. Her work during this period included:
- A portrait of the Wurundjeri leader, William Barak
- Weary (1888)
- Desolate (1888)
- Gently Reproachful (circa 1889)
Travels and Later Career
Fuller's career was marked by extensive travel. In 1892, she traveled to South Africa, where she met Cecil Rhodes, who commissioned her to paint a landscape of his home. She subsequently spent a decade studying in Europe, exhibiting at the Paris Salon and London's Royal Academy. Between 1895 and 1904, her works were shown at these prestigious venues.
After returning to Australia, she lived in Perth and later settled in Sydney. In 1908, she traveled to India, staying at Adyar, where she painted works such as Portrait of the Lord Buddha. In 1920, she became the inaugural teacher of life drawing at the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Sydney. She died in 1946.
