John Santry Woman in red jacket

This poignant portrait of John Santry’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Santry (nee Watkinson, 1884–1947), was the first of six works the artist exhibited in the Archibald Prize. It was painted just after Santry’s brother had returned, deeply traumatised, from the Second World War and the sitter herself was in ill-health. Mary’s husband, Terence George Santry, had died in a workplace accident in 1929, leaving her to support herself and three teenage children by working as a professional dressmaker, including through the challenges of the Great Depression.