Ethel Campbell Louise Anderson (née Mason; 16 March 1883 – 4 August 1958) was an early twentieth century Australian poet, essayist, novelist and painter. She considered herself to be mainly a poet, but is now best appreciated for her witty and ironic stories. Anderson has been described as "a high-profile author, artist, art commentator and emissary for modernism".
Life
Ethel Anderson was born in Lillington, a suburb of Leamington, in Warwickshire, England, of Australian born parents Cyrus Mason and Louise Campbell on 16 March 1883. Her family soon moved back to Australia and she grew up in Sydney and at her grandfather's property, Rangamatty, near Picton, New South Wales.
On 8 October 1904 she married Brigadier-General Austin Thomas Anderson (1868–1949) in Ahmednagar, Bombay
At the beginning of World War I her husband was posted to France and Anderson moved to Cambridge, England, where she studied drawing at Downing College and exhibited some of her work.
The Andersons later lived in Worcestershire, and on her husband's retirement from the army in 1924 the family moved to Australia and lived at Turramurra, New South Wales. From 1927 Brigadier Anderson became secretary to several State Governors.
On 16 March 1932, she opened the inaugural exhibition of the Modern Art Centre established by Dorrit Black in Margaret Street, Sydney, to teach and promote the Cubist ideas learned during Black's study trip to France.