Fairy-tales, feminism and fame: The story of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
For most of us, the word 'fairy-tale' conjures up the stories of Hans Christian Andersen and the magical worlds of Disney.
But Australia needn't look to Europe or the US to find inspiration — we have a surprising, rich history of our own.
At the beginning of the 20th century, one woman in particular was bringing fairies to life for generations of Australian children.
Her name was Ida Rentoul Outhwaite.
Well before modern fairy-tale iterations saw Frozen's Anna and Elsa crowned as unexpected feminist icons, she was celebrating the power of the feminine in subtle ways.
"I think my favourite scene of hers is from [the book] Elves and Fairies, in which you have koalas sitting around a table and they are all in tails and smoking cigars," says Rebeccca-Anne do Rozario, a lecturer in fantasy and fairy-tales at Monash University.
"That really encapsulates that kind of Anglophile, middle-class Australian at the time, particularly the men I am afraid.
"And then she has the ephemeral fairies serving them.
"That really struck me as emblematic of what society was li
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Biography
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite was born in Carlton, Victoria in Though denied formal training — her father believed art school would spoil her natural ability — she was encouraged at home and in , when only fifteen, had several fairy drawings published in The New Idea, and had designed and illustrated a series of Christmas cards for which her father wrote the verse.
Her first book, Mollie ’s Bunyip, was published when she was the grand old age of sixteen and was quickly followed by others, in collaboration with her sister Annie, who wrote many of the books Ida illustrated.
In she married writer Grenbry Outhwaite and thereafter signed her. work Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. One of the first works to bear her married name was the magnificent Elves and Fairies, published in a deluxe limited edition of numbered copies in and celebrated in by Australia Post.
Ten years later she illustrated a companion volume entitled Fairyland, which again contained verse by Annie but also included prose by her husband. Like Elves and Fairies, Fairyland was a great success with the critics both at home and overseas, but it too was published in a limited edition of only copi
Artist's Biography
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite () is one of Australia’s most famous and beloved artists. She rose to fame in the early ’s as an illustrator of children&#;s books, working in watercolour and pen and ink. Her beautiful and exquisitely delicate artworks, which depicted mostly magical creatures, such as elves and fairies, were exhibited throughout Australia, as well as in London and Paris, mainly between and
Rentoul Outhwaite’s much admired work is now very valuable, highly collectable, and very rarely appears for sale.
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite was born on 9 June in Carlton, Melbourne. She grew up in an artistic and literary family. Her father, the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul, a Presbyterian minister and professor at Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. When World War I broke out, he became chaplain-general of the First Australian Imperial Force.
Encouraged by her gifted family Ida drew prolifically from childhood. She and her elder sister Annie, attended Presbyterian Ladies&#; College and whilst still at school Ida contributed to magazines produced in the family home.
Ida’s artistic talents complemented the literary ability of her sister, Annie Rattray ().
AustLit
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite was the second surviving child of Reverend John Laurence Rentoul and Annie Isobel Rentoul (née Rattray) (q.v.), and her sister was Annie R. Rentoul (q.v.). She benefited from the encouragement of her artistic and literary family, and while she was being formally educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College, found time to contribute to magazines which her family produced in their home at Ormond College, University of Melbourne.
In six fairy stories, illustrated by Ida and written by her sister, were published in New Idea, and the following year the sisters produced Mollie's Bunyip, which used an Australian setting as a background for the adventures of fairies and elves which appeared as in European tradition. Ida also illustrated a book with text by her mother, Mollie's Staircase (), and in the Rentoul sisters attended the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work where they showcased their Australian Songs for Young and Old, with music by Georgette Peterson (wife of Franklin Peterson.)
On 9 December Ida married Arthur Grenbry Outhwaite (q.v.), manager of the Perpetual Executors and Trustees Association of Australia Ltd. Ida and Grenbry had six
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