Watercolorist Ellen Chappell was born in Nottingham, England and came to Australia as a child. Her brother was the sculptor Victor Wager. She studied art at Perth Technical School under J. W. R. Linton and A. B. Webb. Chappell exhibited watercolour scenes with the West Australian Society of Arts in 1922 and 1923 under the name Ellen Wager.
She married John Chappell and exhibited thereafter as Ellen Chappell. She exhibited with the Western Australian Women Painters’ and Applied Arts Society in 1939 when the critic Charles Hamilton described her work as, “[f]lower paintings are not numerous, but M. Kimber and E. Chappell have some good ones. E. Cappell’s Kangaroo Paws are her best being strongly and cleanly painted though rather over-detailed in style.”
She was a member of the Perth Society of Artists and exhibited regularly from 1950 into the 1960s. Chappell also had a number of solo exhibitions. Her oeuvre was Western Australian wildflowers and landscapes, which were described as “strong and vigorous”. Chappell exhibited Banksias and Sunflowers in the Art Competition at Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1950.
She was a member of the Perth Studio Club – a group of women artists who met weekly and shared a studio in the Turf club building in Howard Street. Chappell was art mistress at St Hilda’s School for five years. She also was a member and President of the Western Australian Women’s Society of Fine Arts and Crafts in 1951.
Chappell did not enjoy good health and was not always being able to work. A painting of hers was used on a 1962 souvenir calendar for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Perth. Chappell’s work was also included in an exhibition entitled 'Wildflowers in Art’ shown at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1991 to coincide with an International Protea Conference.
- Writers:
- Dr Dorothy Erickson
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2011
