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USS RELIEF American Red Cross Ship near Gabo Island Memorial, Sydney Harbour

Artist Maude Edith Gum (1885 - 1973)

Datec 1925

Object number00046688

NamePainting

MediumOil paint on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 380 x 470 x 25 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionThis painting depicts the white single funnel hospital ship USS RELIEF in Sydney Harbour. The vessel is at anchor surrounded by three launches, one with an American flag and one with a Royal Australian Navy ensign. RELIEF is depicted flying four signal flags and the American flag at its stern.HistoryAustralian artist Maude E Gum was an oil painter, watercolourist and china painter. Born in Amyton, South Australia, Gum attended the local school and first studied art as a teenager. After her fathers death, Gum decided to become a professional artist and her family relocated to Adelaide. In 1916 Gum enroled in James Ashton's Academy of Arts where she excelled in her studies. In the early 1920s she took further drawing classes in the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts. In 1925, Gum extended her studies under the guidence of Will Ashton in Sydney. In February 1925, a notice in the Register informed readers that the Misses Leila McNamara and Maude Gum were sailing to Sydney 'on a sketching tour, which will include Sydney harbour, the Blue Mountains, and the Hawkesbury River'. ('The Social Round', Register, 19 February 1925, p. 3) Upon returning to Adelaide, Gum had assembled enough paintings to hold her first solo exhibition in 1926 at the Society Arts Gallery, Adelaide. She exhibited paintings from New South Wales and South Australia. In 1934 she exhibited china paintings at the South Australia Federal Exhibition in Adelaide. She taught art at a private school near Adelaide until her retirement in about 1955 and continued to teach privately after that.SignificanceThis painting depicts USS RELIEF in Sydney Harbour during the Pacific Fleet's goodwill tour to Australia, which renewed the Australian-American alliance established by the Great White Fleet visit in 1908. The 1925 visit contributes to a long history of US Naval visits to Australian ports starting with the US Exploring Expedition in 1839-1840, followed by the 1908 visit of the Great White Fleet and later visits in the 1940s in the lead-up to World War II.