We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands.

J Noel Kilgour Miss Mitton

oil on board

56 x 46 cm (cut-down version)

Image of cut-down version courtesy the sitter’s estate

The subject of this portrait by J Noel Kilgour is Beryl Claire Mitton, later Jordan (1925–2006), one of his art students at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School).

During the Second World War, Mitton served in the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service at HMAS Harman in Canberra doing wireless telegraphy. She then enrolled in a design and fashion drawing course at the college as part of a repatriation training scheme but moved to Melbourne before completing it, finding work for a while as an advertising illustrator.

According to the sitter’s family, the original portrait was cut down some time after being exhibited in the Archibald to make it a more suitable size for the family living room.