painter and illustrator, was born on 9 June 1888 at Carlton, Melbourne, the second surviving daughter of Rev. John Laurence Rentoul and his wife Annie Isobel née Rattray. Her early life was spent in Ormond College at the University of Melbourne where her father was Professor of New Testament Greek. Ida showed artistic ability from an early age, but received no art training beyond help from her mother (who painted watercolours), her parents fearing that she would lose her individuality at art school. Her elder sister, Annie Rattray Rentoul (1882-1978), was the literary one of the family: she was awarded a first-class honours degree, a classics scholarship and shared the Higgins poetry prize in 1905. The sisters first collaborated on six fairy stories published in New Idea in 1903 (when Ida was just 16), a collaboration that was to continue for many years. Their first book, Mollie’s Bunyip , appeared the following year. Their Australian Songs for Young and Old was exhibited at the 1907 Women’s Work Exhibition in Melbourne. In an article on the exhibition for New Idea , William Moore stated that 'in pen-and-ink drawings the works of Miss Ida Rentoul (V.) and Miss Courtney attracted most attention’. In the Native Companion Moore wrote: 'Some of the best examples of her work were exhibited at the Women’s Exhibition, particularly her imaginative rendering of the North Wind – a weird conception, cleverly worked out; and some of her coloured drawings, such as “The Sunset,” with its row of sombre trees in the background, give effective glimpses of the realms of fancy.’
Contributed to the Lone Hand , e.g. illustration to story by C.A. Jeffries, 'That portion of Heaven, where the soul of unborn babes await the day of birth’, May 1908, 95, and illustrated a poem by K.M. Beauchamp (New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield), A day in bed 1 October 1909, 626. She illustrated her own 'A teddy-bear story’ 5 (August 1909), 415, and did a black-and-white drawing, The Coming of Spring 5 (Sept 1909), 586. She also exhibited with the VAS in 1909: 'Miss Ida Rentoul’s pen drawings of dainty fancy and execution called for more than passing notice’, remarked the Lone Hand critic in 'The art of the year’ (1 April 1910, 672). She apparently replaced May Gibbs on the Western Mail in c.1909.
On 9 December 1909 Ida Rentoul married Arthur Grenbry Outhwaite, a lawyer turned successful businessman, and thereafter signed her work 'Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’. The newly-weds lived at South Yarra, with a separate studio for Ida in the grounds. Her husband encouraged her work, to the extent of subsidising her Elves and Fairies (1916) to the tune of £400. The book was a great success. Although Annie provided the text for this and some subsequent books, it was Ida who took top billing from then on.
Ida and her husband visited Europe in 1920. She exhibited in Paris and London and signed up with the British publishers A. & C. Black. They published several of her books: The Enchanted Forest (1921) with text by Grenbry; The Green Road to Fairyland (1922) with text by Annie; The Little Fairy Sister (1923) with text by Grenbry; Fairyland (1926) with text by both Grenbry and Annie; and Blossom (1928) with text by Ida herself. None matched the sumptuous production of the Australian Elves and Fairies , nor did they receive the public attention that A. & C. Black had hoped for. Taste for Outhwaite’s work and for fairies in general had also waned back in Australia. Angus & Robertson published two of her books in 1930 and 1933, and her last public exhibition was held in 1933.
Outhwaite also designed stained-glass windows in Victoria in the 1920s.
Grenbry died in 1938, and both their sons died in World War II, after which Ida shared a flat with Annie in Caulfield. She died on 25 June 1960, survived by her two daughters. Her life has been admirably documented in Muir & Holden’s biography.
- Writers:
- Callaway, Anita
Note: Heritage biography.
Kerr, Joan
Note: Additional information regarding black and white art and stained glass.
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 1992
