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pastellist, studied art in Melbourne in 1872-76 under her father John Shearer Bowman , a Scottish professional painter who had come to Victoria in 1853, presumably after gold, and set up a studio in Melbourne in about 1871. At first Zenobia exhibited as her father’s pupil; in 1872 John Shearer Bowman included three of his daughter’s drawings – Sketch on the Yarra (a vignette), A Victorian Township (School Dismissed) and Gippsland Plains (View from the Hill Head) – in the collection of works he sent to the Victorian Exhibition at Melbourne held in preparation for the 1873 London International Exhibition. He also included examples of his own work: a portrait of the Melbourne art patron Dr Blair and six 'large studies from nature’. All were executed in 'Victorian crayons’, pastels invented by J.S. Bowman 'principally from Victorian Earths and Clay’, which he patented and sold. He exhibited a case of his Victorian crayons alongside his and Zenobia’s work, although it is unclear if they were also offered on the potentially lucrative London market.

J.S. Bowman sent four oil (sic) sketches of his own to the 1875 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition held preparatory to the Philadelphia Centenary Exhibition, along with 40 works by his pupils. Two of the 40 were 'crayons’ (pastels) by Miss Bowman: On the Yarra and The Knob in the Alps . In 1876, as 'Miss Bowman, Art Student, Victoria’, Zenobia exhibited alone with the New South Wales Academy of Art, showing Sketch on the Glenelg , an original work in 'Colonial Crayons’ for sale at three guineas. Her father exhibited several landscapes on this occasion too, all executed in his colonial crayons. It was a triumphant year for him; he was a awarded a silver medal for his Pool near Snowy River and a certificate of merit for his portrait of Charles Dickens, which he presented to the Academy of Art for the new National Gallery of New South Wales (it was still the only pastel in the gallery’s collection in 1883). A certificate of merit was awarded to 'Mr Bowman and pupils’ – who still included Zenobia.

As 'amateur, Victoria’, Miss Zenobia Bowman separately exhibited three pastel landscapes at the NSW Academy of Art’s sixth annual exhibition in April 1877. The 'amateur’ label was more a tribute to her gentility and gender than her actual status since all three works were for sale. Coast near Loutit Bay, Gipps Land was priced at 12 guineas, Near Melbourne was five, while for Mount Greenock she was asking the substantial sum of 25 guineas. (By way of comparison, J.S. Bowman’s asking price for his silver-medal winner the previous year was 30 guineas, while his other pastel landscapes ranged from two to 20.) Zenobia evidently considered Mount Greenock an outstanding effort, especially for someone just out of art school – and she was right. Yet she disappears from the exhibition scene after this.

Writers:

Kerr, Joan

Date written:

1995

Last updated:

1992