Literature

The Brisbane Courier Sat 6 Dec 1930 p. 20  ‘Art and Artists : High Honour’

“It was announced some time ago that Bessie Gibson had had the honour of having a work purchased by the French Government. In answer to a request for further particulars, Miss Gibson writes that it was acquired for the Jeu De Paume, which now houses pictures by modern foreign artists, which belong to France. It used to be in the Luxembourg Gallery, and which is now confined to the display of works by French artists. The pavilion known as the Jeu de Paume is the annex to the other gallery. To have a work purchased for the former is the highest honour that France bestows on a foreign living artist. No consideration for the selection of a work for the Louvre can be given till at least ten years after the death of an artist. The only Australian artists represented in the Jeu De Paume besides Bessie Gibson are Rupert Bunny (Victoria) and E Hilda Rix Nicholas (New South Wales), Charles Conder, who lived in Australia for about six years is also represented. Miss Gibson mentions that her portrait of Miss Somerset, the Queensland singer, had a prominent place in the Old Salon last year, where her other work, “La Robe Rouge”, was purchased by a Czecho-Slovakian banker, who is well known as a collector of pictures. She exhibited at the Autumn Salon this year.”