Art Australian paintings watercolours watercolors oil acylic

LARGE oil painting PIXIE O'HARRIS 1953 Rolf Harris aunt
children book illustrator listed artist writer 1903-91

Item number: ART05111234

Price: $6250

This is a HUGE ( 4 feet x 3 feet = 122 cms x 91 cms) oil on board painted by listed Australian Artist PIXIE O'HARRIS....A magic & Romantic painter in oil and watercolour, printmaker and illustrator of children's books and portraitist. One of nine children whose father George F. Harris was a noted portrait painter; Aunt to ROLF HARRIS. At age of 14 she was the youngest person admitted to the South Wales Royal Art Society, UK. Soon after her arrival she became known for her drawings for children and has written & illustrated 22 children's books;Over the years she has decorated the walls of over 60 hospitals, day nurseries, orphanages and schools.
Exhibitions Has held many one woman show is Sydney & Melbourne.
Represented Princesses' Nursery, Buckingham Palace; National Collection, Canberra; University of NSW. REFERENCE- Artist and Galleries of Australia - Max Germaine
Here is some more on Pixie O'Harris
Pixie O'Harris, Illustrator and Author: Born: 15 October 1903  Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.  Died: 17 April 1991  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Pixie O'Harris was an artist and author particularly of children’s books. On 1 January 1976 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) for services to the Arts. In 1953 she was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal and in 1977 she received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1977 she became patron to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney.

Pixie O’Harris was the daughter of George Frederick and Rosetta Elizabeth (née Lucas). Her father was an artist who was chairman of the Royal Art Society Cardiff. The fifth of nine children she was educated at Sully village school and Allensbank Girl's School Wales. At age 14 she was a member of the South West Art Society.

The Harris family migrated to Australia in 1920 and settled in Perth before moving to Sydney the following year. It was while on the ship to Australia that she adopted the name ‘Pixie.’ Being referred to as ‘the Welsh pixie’ and not liking the name Rhona, she decided to use Pixie. A change in her surname followed after a printer at the Sydney Morning Herald added an apostrophe to her second initial.

During her career she contributed poems, stories and illustrations to many publications as well as illustrating the work of other authors. These included Frank Dalby Davison, Lydia Pender and Kenneth. On 16 July 1928, Pixie O'Harris married Bruce Pratt, editor of the Australian Encyclopaedia. At the time of the births of her three daughters, she found the hospitals cold and clinical and decided to paint fairy-style murals for children. Over 50 children's hospital wards, schools, day nurseries and baby clinics throughout New South Wales have been decorated with her work.

The painting is in reasonably good condition...please consult attached photographs...it was painted on board and fixed with a frame behind...the edges are rounded. I do not know of the screws are original. It also appears (LL corner) that at one time the painting was framed with a paper border/frame which even covered up the artist's signature. There is some damage to the artwork here of there but does not really affect the painting as a whole. It may have also had a repair here or there, I am not sure. I am happy to take some more photos if required and answer any questions.

The only information about her previous sales of oil paintings that I could access from the web was:

Artist	Pixie O`harris  (1903 - 1991)   Australia
Title	Fleeting Joy
Medium	Oil on composition board
Size (H x W x D)	16.5 x 12 in  / 42 x 30.5 cm
Signed	Yes
Stamped	No
Inscribed	Yes
Dating	N/A
Lot number	402
Auction time	17 March 2005
Auction house	Deutscher-Menzies – Australia: Sydney
Estimated price	500 - 800 AUD
Auction result	Unsold
With premium	No
Edition	N/A
Foundry	N/A
Impression	N/A

Note this painting which had an estimate of $500-$800 was only 16.5 inches x 12 inches...the painting we are selling here is 48 inches x 36 inches....THAT IS, 8.7 TIMES BIGGER....our asking price is based on the lower end of this scale...please also note the fact that this is a RARE find and is quite unusual for it's size. Such a work should ideally be located in a Museum or Art Gallery, and I guess ultimately that is where it will go. This makes this painting a fabulous investment.

The painting is obviously too large to post and the buyer will have to organize a courier to collect it and transport it, if not from Perth. I am happy to liaise with the courier and I will wrap the painting securely for you. I expect it will cost something around $150 to transport it across Australia but a lot of that really depends on where you live, and who you use to transport it, etc..

Please look at the supersized attached photographs, as they form an integral part of this description.

Further reading: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-08/lost-paintings-by-renowned-australian-artist-pixie-oharris/10122884
https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/pixie-oharris-1903
https://mrag.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/Exhibitions/Past-Exhibitions/Pixie-OHarris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixie_O%27Harris
https://www.annenewman.com.au/pixie-o-harris-and-the-missing-paintings/
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harris-11886 (copy of this painting in here)

This is a lovely little oil on cardboard paper painting which I acquired from a deceased estate. It is signed but I cannot make out the signature. On the back there is a considerable amount of writing. It appears to me that the painting was given to the now deceased as a going away present when he left his native Zagreb (Yugoslavia) in 1953. The frame size of the painting is: 38.5 cms x 33 cms. the artwork is extremely well executed and very detailed with a small brush. The painting is also glazed.

This is a lovely watercolour of Perth City from Matilda Bay Crawley painted by Hibert. The size of the painting is 37.5 cms x 30.5 cms. The painting is framed but needs to be reglazed.

Two absolutely lovely floral paintings (oil on board) with gilded wooden frames. One is signed Chen Mao, who is actually a listed artist from China who paints flower stills. Most of his painting sell for about $150 USD, although one sold for $12,500 USD. I kid you not. No idea why so much. The other one is obviously by the same artist. The frame size of the paintings is 42 cms x 37 cms, and the artwork size is 24 x 19 cms. The frames are quite spectacular and solid wood. 

A framed oil on canvas of a lakeside landscape signed L. Dixon. The frame size is 39 cms x 28.5 cms.