[Still life in a decorated jug]

Frances Vida Lahey was born at Pimpama and educated at Southport. She studied at both the Brisbane Technical College and the National Gallery School in Melbourne before going to London in 1915 and becoming heavily involved in the war effort. By the mid-1920s she had won a firm place among Australian women artists. She established a studio in Brisbane and was influential in artistic affairs in the 1930s. In 1929 she and her close friend, Daphne Mayo, co-founded the Queensland Art Fund. Acknowledged by the Society of Artists' (Sydney) medal in 1945 and appointed MBE in 1958, she is recognised as a significant Queensland artist and respected for her contribution as a teacher and as a public advocate for the arts.