Related Artist

Iso Rae (1860–1940)

How Iso Rae connects to Ambrose Patterson, and where to read and see more.

Isobel (Iso) Rae (1860–1940) was an Australian Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter who spent most of her career in France as part of the Étaples art colony. She is particularly notable for being one of only two Australian women artists to document the First World War firsthand, producing hundreds of pastel drawings of the Étaples Army Base Camp. Her work is held in major institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian War Memorial.

Connection to Ambrose Patterson

Like Patterson, Rae trained at the National Gallery School in Melbourne before continuing her artistic development in France, joining the Étaples art colony in 1890 — part of the same wave of Australian expatriate painters who left Melbourne for France around the turn of the century and built careers exhibiting and painting abroad.

Biography & Background

Iso Rae — Wikipedia

A comprehensive biographical overview of Rae's early life in Melbourne, her move to France, her involvement in the Étaples art colony, and her unofficial war art during World War I.

Her painting 'Young Girl, Étaples' and archival material.
Iso Rae, the Unrecognised War Artist — Kathryn's history blog

A historical blog post on Rae's time in Étaples during WWI, her decision to stay in France, and her 200 drawings documenting life in the military camps.

A photograph of Iso Rae seated in a group.

Galleries & Museums

Iso Rae — Young girl, Étaples (c. 1892) — NGV

The NGV's collection page for Rae's large-scale oil painting 'Young girl, Étaples', with artwork details, provenance, and context about her time in the French fishing village.

High-resolution image of the painting.
Iso Rae — Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial's overview of Rae's contributions as an unofficial war artist, and its collection of her pastel drawings of the Étaples army camp.

Several pastel drawings from the WWI Étaples army camp.

Image Sources

Category: Étaples art colony — Wikimedia Commons

A Wikimedia Commons category of public-domain images from the Étaples art colony, including several works by Iso Rae such as 'Cinema Queue' and 'Les Rogations'.

High-res images of paintings by artists in the Étaples colony.

Influences & Related

Colonie artistique d'Étaples — Wikipédia

The French Wikipedia page for the Étaples art colony, the international group of artists Rae joined in 1890, with context on the movement and its members.

Paintings by artists of the colony.
Behind the lines — NGV

An NGV essay on the role of women artists during WWI, contextualizing Rae's work alongside other female artists who documented life behind the front lines.

Rae's WWI pastel drawings, including 'German prisoners putting up tents'.

Further Reading

Women Artists of WW1: Iso Rae — Josie Holford

An article on the exclusion of women from Australia's official war artist appointments in 1918, focusing on Rae's unrecognized contributions.

Reproductions of her wartime pastel sketches.

News & Press

Isobel (Iso) Rae — Gibson's Auctions

A 2022 article on the rising market and institutional interest in Rae, noting the NGV's record-breaking acquisition of her work.

Images of 'Breton Family' and 'Young Girl, Étaples'.
Exciting art changeovers in the First World War, Second World War and Korea galleries — Australian War Memorial

A 2024 update from the Australian War Memorial on the installation of two of Rae's pastel drawings in their First World War Galleries.

Images of the newly installed pastel drawings.
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