Miss Eva Ellenor Benson b. 23 March 1875

Also known as Eva Benson
  • Artist (Sculptor),
  • Artist (Painter)
Eva Ellenor Benson was a talented sculptor who trained in Perth and London where she received regular recognition through awards and commissions. Returning to Australia in 1920, Benson's high profile continued as she redirected her sculptural practice towards major architectural commissions. Despite this, little is known of Benson after 1927.

sculptor, was born on 23 March 1875 in Gawler, South Australia. After moving to Perth in 1906, she won a scholarship to study art under James Linton at the Perth Technical College where she was awarded the Lady Hackett prize for drawing from the antique from the WA Society of Arts. She taught at the College in 1908-11, then left to study in London.

In 1914 Benson won a bronze medal for her work, Age , in a national competition among art schools of the British Empire. The following year she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London. There she won many distinctions, including the highest award in still-life painting. In 1915 her life-size marble bust of Sir Winthrop Hackett (SLWA) and two other works were shown at the Royal Academy.

In 1915-20 Benson studied at the City and Guilds of London Institute under the sculptor R.B.S. Stephenson. His instruction, plus the favourable comments she received when her bronze relief of Dr H.A. Ellis was shown at the Royal Academy in 1917, led her to concentrate exclusively on sculpture. In 1918 Persephone and two life size reliefs were shown at the Royal Academy, the former – which reportedly 'caused something of a sensation’ – being purchased by Colonel Hugh Reid, President of the Royal Glasgow Institute. Casts of Persephone and other works were shown in the British and Colonial Artists Exhibition in London, at the Royal West of England Academy and at the Royal Glasgow Institute that year. Benson’s studio was in St Anne’s Villa, Holland Park Avenue.

Her stay in London was extended due to the war, but Benson returned to Australia in 1920 to mount a comprehensive exhibition of her work at the Gayfield Shaw Studios, Sydney. She is known to have exhibited again only twice; in 1922 her Psyche and her Bacchante (1918) were shown with the Society of Artists in Sydney and in 1926 Persephone was shown at the Old Salon, Paris.

In Australia Benson redirected her sculptural practice towards architectural commissions. Between 1921 and 1925 she received three major Sydney commissions from G.H. Godsell, a building contractor from the architectural firm of Robertson & Marks: a Roman frieze for the W.T. Waters & Co. Building, six relief plaster castings known as Cinderella for the entrance of the Ambassador’s Cafe (1) and the spandrels above the proscenium arch in the Prince Edward Theatre. She was mentioned in 'The Revival of Sculpture’ ( Art in Australia 1927) as a sculptor who would have been doing more work if the advent of the Depression – which resulted in a building freeze – had not had such a marked affect on sculptural commissions generally. It is believed she was dismissed from the Shrine of Remembrance project in Melbourne only to be offered the design of cakes of soap!

Little is known of Benson between 1927 and 1949 when she died of Parkinson’s disease. She did not marry and may have had to sacrifice an artistic career for a regular wage.

(1) “The Ambassador vestibule featured six low relief panels commissioned by the architects Robertson and Marks and designed by the Australian sculptor Eva Benson celebrating events in the life of Cinderella lined the walls. The reliefs were described as the largest works of their type in the nation.” [William Moore, “Sculpture and Architecture.” Architecture v.15:1, April 1926, p.4.]

Writers:
Larkin, Annette
duggim
Michael Bogle
Date written:
1995
Last updated:
2025