Lot Essay
In an extract which perfectly describes this work, Carrick Fox's biographer Susanna de Vries wrote that: "Carrick was fascinated by the French preoccupation with high fashion at the beach... she painted French women stylishly dressed, in picture hats, carrying colourful parasols. Their husbands wear jackets, ties, white flannels and straw boaters. Nannies and nursemaids look after well-dressed, clean children, the sun shines and the world is an orderly place." (S de Vries, Ethel Carrick Fox Travels and Triumphs of a Post-Impressionist, Brisbane, 1997, p.72) De Vries went on to describe "...what became Carrick's specialty, painting the colourful red and white striped bathing tents for hire on French beaches. These were designed to guard the modesty of women in the days when bare legs and arms were seen as shocking and swimming costumes had sleeves and long legs." (S de Vries, op.cit., p.73)