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Judith Fletcher

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Judith Fletcher
Born
Ann Judith Fletcher

(1886-06-30)30 June 1886
Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia
Died30 July 1970(1970-07-30) (aged 84)
Glenorie, New South Wales
Occupation(s)Photographer and Fashion designer
Parents
Relatives

Ann Judith Fletcher (30 June 1886 - 30 July 1970), known in later life as Judith Paszek, was a portrait and fashion photographer from Sydney.

Early life

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Fletcher was born, Ann Judith Fletcher on 30 June 1886 in Katoomba, New South Wales.[1] Her parents were Ann Marian Fletcher nee Clarke, an embroiderer who made the velvet bag to hold The Ashes urn, and John Walter Fletcher, a teacher, cricketer, and police magistrate, who is known as the 'father of Australian football' for his role in introducing soccer to Australia. Fletcher has five siblings including Nora Kathleen Fletcher, a nurse who led the British Red Cross in France and Belgium as principal matron in World War I; and John Fletcher a Cricketer and Queensland politician.[2] Fletcher grew up in Katoomba until the family moved to Greenwich in Sydney, where she stayed until she was married in 1934.[3]

Career

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She had a photography studio in Sydney's North Shore, where she worked from 1905 until 1930.[1] The first few years in her studio and practiced and refined her skills as an amateur art and at-home portrait photographer, particularly focussing on portraits of women and children, and exhibited her work in photographic salons.[4] She turned professional in 1908, with a focus in portraiture fashion and artistic photography.[1][4] She opened a studio in the city of Sydney in 1909 at 313 George Street, above the tailor Chorley and Co.[4][5]

Fletcher advertised her art photography using full page portraits of celebrities and socialites in Sydney Ure Smith's Art in Australia publication.[6][4] As well as portraiture, Fletcher also worked in fashion photography. She

Fletcher associated with other artists, including Arthur Streeton, May and Mina Moore.[6] She had a particularly close association with Frank Bell, a photographer from Manly, she supplied him with his equipment, and helped him to develop his technique.[4]

Fletcher took photographs of artists, actors and academics, such as Arthur Streeton,[4] Marie Burke,[7] and Winifred Betts.[8] as well as prominent women in the philanthropy fields, such as Olive Kelso King, Mary Hughes,[9] and Thea Stanley Hughes.[10]

Fletcher continued to work and exhibit until the early 1930s.[4]

Personal life and death

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Fletcher was a Theosophist, and in the 1920s she became involved in the Balmoral Beach Krishnamurti Star Amphitheatre movement.[4] Fletcher took a portrait of fellow theosophist, the social activist Annie Besant.[11]

On 28 August 1934 Fletcher married Gerard Paszek,[12] a Polish violin maker. After she married she relocated first to Mount Kuringai, and then to Glenorie where she lived for the rest of her life.[3] Her family stated that Paszek was a possessive man who would not let Fletcher out of his sight. She stopped connecting with former colleagues after her marriage.[4]

Fletcher died on 30 July 1970 in Glenorie, New South Wales, aged 84 years old.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Portrait of photographer Judith Fletcher, ca. 1940 [picture] Dalmar Studios - Catalogue". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  2. ^ "You Might Not Remember... J W Fletcher". Sydney Uni Cricket. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Fletcher, Judith". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ann Judith Fletcher". Design and Art Australia Online. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Advertising". The Daily Telegraph. No. 14, 223. New South Wales, Australia. 10 July 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ a b "Fletcher, Judith (1886-1971)". Trove: National Library of Australia. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  7. ^ "No title". The Sun. No. 4913. New South Wales, Australia. 5 August 1926. p. 13. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "No title". Sydney Mail. Vol. XXV, no. 649. New South Wales, Australia. 3 September 1924. p. 23. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Women's supplement". The Daily Telegraph. No. 14, 599. New South Wales, Australia. 23 September 1926. p. 6. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "SYDNEY DISPLAY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 810. New South Wales, Australia. 1 October 1936. p. 22. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Annie Besant: An interview with A. G. Stephens". The Home : an Australian quarterly. Vol. 2, no. 2. Sydney: Art in Australia. 1 June 1922. Retrieved 25 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 156. New South Wales, Australia. 28 August 1934. p. 8. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Ann Judith Paszek". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 August 1970. p. 120. Retrieved 14 December 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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