Reginald Jerrold-Nathan Mrs Kenneth Street

This portrait by Reginald Jerrold-Nathan of prominent feminist and activist Jessie Street is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra with the title Jessie Street.

Jessie Lillingston (1889–1970) was born in India, arriving in Australia as a child. While studying arts at the University of Sydney, she met barrister Kenneth Street, who subsequently served as chief justice of New South Wales. In 1929 Jessie Street was already an activist for women as president of the Feminist Club. She became Australia’s leading feminist – a crusader for family planning, equal pay and employment for women – and deeply committed to social justice and peace. Street was the only female adviser in the Australian delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945 and established the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the Charter of Women’s Rights.

Following studies at London’s Royal Academy under John Singer Sargent and Sir William Orpen, Jerrold-Nathan was an established portrait painter when he arrived in Sydney in 1924. Having painted members of the royal families of England, Denmark and Iraq, he was well-received in Sydney society.

Jerrold-Nathan’s penchant for painting finery can be seen in Street’s stylish velvet brocade jacket and gleaming green-beaded necklace. His subject, however, preferred more practical attire: tailor-made suits and comfortable shoes.