Annie Maud Bowden

Date of birth
1893
Place of birth
Clare, South Australia
Date of death
1970
Place of death
Adelaide
Nationality
Australia
Biography

Annie Maud Bowen (1893–1970) was a student of the Adelaide School of Art and Crafts where students could learn woodcarving, repoussé, metalwork, jewellery making, china painting, pottery and embroidery, as well as composition and geometry. Based on the South Kensington system of art education, the course was rigorously taught, with students exhibiting their work annually.

The surviving examples of work by Annie Maud Bowden provide a case study for art and craft education in South Australia during the early twentieth century. The Adelaide School of Design was arguably the most rigorous and comprehensive of all the arts school in Australia at the time, energised by the philosophies of William Morris and based on the principles of the South Kensington system of art education. Under the direction of, first, Harry P. Gill and, later, L.H Howie, the school produced a wealth of material, largely made by young female artists, much of which is still being discovered – and valued – today.

The Art Gallery of South Australia collection includes examples from Bowden's artistic practice.

Rebecca Evans, Curator, Decorative Art and Design and Ingrid Goet, Vernon-Roberts Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Design (2024)