Background
Gwen was born Gwendoline L"Avance Adamson, a daughter of Adam and Kate E. Adamson (1861 – 27 December 1941) in the inner Adelaide suburb of Harrowville, Adelaide.
Gwen was born Gwendoline L"Avance Adamson, a daughter of Adam and Kate E. Adamson (1861 – 27 December 1941) in the inner Adelaide suburb of Harrowville, Adelaide.
She studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts under H. P. Gill, Archibald Collins and Hans Heysen.
Her grandfather was a brother of James Hazel Adamson, a prominent artist of early South Australia. She was noted for watercolours of flowers and landscapes, to which she invested a fairyland-like glamour and remained immune to trends and changing fashions. She died in Adelaide on 26 August 1960 after a long illness.
She is represented in the State galleries of South Australia and Victoria, and the National Gallery, Canberra.
Gwen married Herbert Barringer (also a watercolourist) on 18 November 1810. In 1930, she sought unsuccessfully to divorce him on grounds of cruelty.
Herbert"s sister Ethel Barringer was an artist of some note.
She was a council member of the South Australian Society of Arts for over 30 years, and was also well known as a teacher.
