Wilson, Dora Lynnell, 1883-1946.

Dora Wilson's family moved to Melbourne from Newcastle upon Tyne in 1884. She was educated at Methodist Ladies' College and then studied at the National Gallery schools under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin. Wilson excelled in pastels, contributed to the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work in Melbourne in 1907, and from her studio in Collins Street sold her etchings, pastels and oil paintings of still lifes, nudes and portraits. In the 1920's she began to concentrate on street scenes and in 1931 she had an exhibition entitled "The lure of Melbourne". In 1927 Sir Baldwin Spencer had commissioned her to paint European landmarks, thus Wilson went abroad, and during that time she exhibited work in London. During the 1930's she painted a series of Australian historical pictures, set mainly during the Victorian era, and during World War Two she worked with the Women Painters' Service Group.