Design and Art Australia Online

cartoonist, illustrator, printmaker (etchings and woodcuts) and journalist, was born in Hertford, England and educated at Portsmouth High School followed by training as a fashion artist at Portsmouth Technical College. Coming to Australia at the age of 18, she worked as a fashion illustrator and occasional Bulletin cartoonist. Dorothy Ellsmore married Mick Paul , another Bulletin cartoonist and son of Emily Letitia Paul, in 1925 – “And I married an encyclopaedia as well as an artist”, she commented in 1927. Before her marriage, when living in Manly, she signed her Bulletin cartoons 'Dorothy Ellsmore’, afterwards 'Dorothy Ellsmore Paul’.

Occasional political cartoons by Dorothy appeared in the Bulletin in 1922, eg The Coal Position . 'INDUSTRY: “Oh, dear, this suspense is killing me”’ ['Capital’ and 'Labour’ fighting over 'Industry’ – a young woman suspended over a cliff] 8 June 1922, 8. She also drew a cartoon showing NSW as a young woman deciding whether to become 'Extravagance’ or 'Economy’ (the two women flanking her), published 27 April 1922, 9. But she usually drew more naturalistic, 'feminine’ 'society’ cartoons, eg With Her To Help Him . 'MISS WHITE: “I don’t believe there is a thing in the world that George would not dare do with me to help him.”/ MISS BLACK: “Yes, he proposed to you, didn’t he dear?”’ (original ML Px*D503/11), published 13 March 1924; Over-Worked . 'MISS WHITE: “What’s the matter with Dauber? He’s not looking at all himself lately.”/ MISS BLACK: “No, he’s painted a self portrait and he’s trying to look like it”’, ML original Px*D503/13 (colour), published 26 February 1925. The ML Bulletin collection has 78 original cartoons by Ellsmore Paul, dated 1922-32 or undated. NGA has five prints c.1930. Also did bookplates (which NGA may have).

Encouraged by her husband, Dorothy studied painting under Lawson Balfour , Julian Ashton and Sydney Long at Ashton’s Sydney Art School. (She was included in the 1933 Sydney Art School Retrospective exhibition with a drypoint Nude .) Possibly as a result, her cartoons are stylistically schizophrenic. (Or did it have something to do with the fact that she was perfectly ambidextrous?) In black and white work, she said, she most liked the Americans Raleigh and Gruger while among overseas contemporary painters William Orpen was most revered, especially for his portraits. In a 1927 interview she added that the Australian artist she most admired was George Lambert , especially his self-portrait, which she considered was 'the best portrait ever painted by an Australian’. The male in her 1930 cartoon of a couple at the beach Safety in Numbers (ML original) closely resembles Lambert – evidently a deliberate in-joke. A journalist noted she had 'a quaint humor of her own’ after Dorothy told her a story about a policeman visiting the Pauls to check that the occupation of 'domestic duties’ on the electoral rolls really did apply to Mick, not to her.

Ellsmore Paul illustrated stories in a naturalistic style, eg illustration captioned 'Big Ben’s daughter found herself sitting in the dust of the stockyard with the man’s head upon her lap’ for a story in the Sydney Mail of 5 February 1929, 17 (which also has a stylish flapper illustration by her), or a drawing of two flappers with a man on the beach for 'The Flapper’s Romance’, Wentworth Magazine December 1929, 4-5. She did regular illustrations for the Australian Women’s Mirror in the 1920s. Most of all, she drew society cartoons for the Bulletin , eg The Ruling Passion . 'THE DOCTOR: “Well, young lady, what do you imagine is the matter with you now?”/ THE INVALID: “I’m not sure, doctor. Is there anything quite new?”’ 1 April 1926, 18; (blonde artist – possible self portrait? – painting a portrait of a brunette friend) “An artist’s life is terribly poverty-stricken. I have to pinch whenever I want a new frock.”/ “Oh, but do be careful dear. They’re so hard on shoplifters now” 23 December 1926, 16; Well Balanced [two very stylish modernistic women fencing]. '“But, dear, he has such offensive ways.”/ “Yes, dear, but such defensive means”’ 15 December 1927, 3 (paid 45/-); More Of This Depression : '“I MUST have pretty things – you married me for my looks, remember!”/ “Well, you married me for my money – and there’s been a slump in both markets”’ 23 July 1930; Another Case Of Safety In Numbers : '“So you think it is better to pay six small bills than one big one. On the principle that it makes six creditors happy instead of one, I suppose.”/ “Oh, no – because it is easier to dodge one creditor than six” (A3 original ML Px*D503/27) published 11 October 1930; The Mistress of Her Fate 29 July 1931. These are among her 78 original Bulletin drawings in ML (Px*D503).

Some of Ellsmore Paul’s cartoons in Aussie are extremely elegant and stylised (a whiff of Souter?). She was also very fond of puns. Her Aussie cartoons include: two stage performers in gym clothes with giant modernistic balls – yet there is also a far straighter cartoon of three women in short evening dresses by her in the same issue, 15 December 1927, 31 & 43; (woman at dressmakers) “Yes, miss, you just leave yur trousseau to me and there’ll be no mistakes; I never make no bloomers” 15 February 1928, 47; (couple in train – snooty female) 15 January 1929, 18; (formal dance setting) '“What happened to all those nice Jones girls?”/ “Oh, one is living, and two are married!”’ 15 April 1930; (woman and lawyer crossing street) '“But why was the revolver loaded in only one chamber?”/ “Great Scott, man! How many husbands do you think I have?”’ 15 September 1930; (elegant couple at home) '“Do you know, my dear, that in these hard times you’re spending more than you ever did.”/ “Of course, isn’t this the rainy day we’ve always been saving up for!”’ 15 January 1931: two women dressing: '“I’ve changed my mind.”/ “Excellent! Does the new one work any better?”’ 15 June 1931, 17; (modernistic linear drawing of a flapper in pyjamas reclining on a lounge with an angry man in a dinner suit behind her) '“Sowing your wild oats, indeed! I’ve never heard of such a thing – didn’t I tell you I wouldn’t have it!”/ “It’s quite all right, Father, as I am trying to tell you, the crop failed.”’ 15 December 1931; (stylised beach scene) '“They say the bustle is coming in again.”/ [elegant & expressively lethargic woman] “Not into our office; I work for the Government!”’ 15 December 1931.

Some of Dorothy Ellsmore-Paul’s cartoons are more naturalistic, e.g. a crowded mass of women’s heads (more like Esther Paterson ) '“I’ve never heard a word uttered against her.”/ “Goodness! Has she no friends?”’ Aussie 15 October 1931. Several cartoons use figures in fancy dress, eg The Mistress of her fate [English Victorian hunting dress], published Bulletin 29 July 1931, and especially ones in Aussie : (crinolined powdered lady and early Australian military man) '“But, why were you so surprised? I told you that I was coming as my grandfather, and that Grannie used to say I am the image of him!”/ “Yes, but I had no idea the convicts wore such attractive uniforms!”’ 15 November 1928, 25; (early colonial scene comparable to Ure Smith or Thea Proctor figures) 15 [illeg.]ary 1930, 43; (more crinolines) 15 September 1932, 45; (fancy dress ball) 1931; 18th century curls and hats (date obscured).

Ellsmore-Paul also wrote art criticism, including 'The etched work of Sydney Long’, Attic Sydney 1928 and reviews in the Sydney Mail . For the Australian Women’s Mirror she wrote about domestic decoration, e.g. 'The Lily in Design’ 8 May 1934, 13, and 22 May 1934, 13, and 'Art in the Home’ (mildly cynical do-it-yourself advice) 8 November 1927, 18. In 1932 she and Mick Paul exhibited bookplates at David Jones It is unknown if the bookplates were Paul’s own work, her husband’s, both and/or her/their collection as she noted in 1927 that she was a collector of bookplates. She also claimed to have ambitions to be a sculptor then too, despite being already involved in etching.

Writers:

Kerr, Joan

Date written:

1996

Last updated:

2007