Sculptors' Society of Australia

The Sculptors’ Society of Australia was formed in 1932 and ceased its activity with the onset of WW2, in 1939.

History
Orlando Dutton (1933) St. George. Plaster sketch for stone, from the first group exhibition of sculpture to be held in Melbourne. Illustrated in Art in Australia
Wallace Anderson (1935) The Man with the Donkey

In 1932 W. Leslie Bowles met with Orlando Dutton, Wallace Anderson, Ola Cohn, George Allen and Charles Oliver,[1] proposing to form a Sculptors’ Society in the hope that commissions could be shared amongst the Society members. The Sculptors’ Society of Australia was duly instituted with Bowles, as Secretary, its only office bearer in a position he held through the life of the Society. The State Library of Victoria holds Ola Cohn’s unpublished manuscript Me in the making which documents the Society’s establishing meeting.[2]

Sydney sculptors Paul Montford and Raynor Hoff, and Daphne Mayo of Brisbane, joined the Society and later the younger professional sculptors, Lyndon Dadswell and Stanley Hammond, also became members. In its next ten years until its demise because of the War, the Society promoted seven competitions for major public sculptures, of which Bowles won four,[3] Hammond two and Anderson one; none of the other members being successful.

Commissions, exhibitions and awards

In April 1933 the first group exhibition of sculpture to be held in Melbourne was organised by members Dutton, Bowles, Anderson, Cohn, George Allen, and Oliver.[4] Arthur Streeton enthusiastically welcomed the exhibition and expressed surprise that Australia, which had a clear atmosphere and a suitable climate to show sculpture to its best advantage, did not make more of it.[5] An illustration of Dutton's plaster maquette of St. George from the show was published in Art in Australia in December that year.[6]

Members of the Society, were active from the mid-1930s in entering sculpture awards; the Melbourne City Council competition for sculpture to decorate the Fitzroy Gardens was won by Leslie Bowles. In December 1935, for the (Sir John) Monash Equestrian Memorial, entries by Montford, Dadswell, Dutton, Hoff, Anderson, Henry Harvey and A. de Bono were exhibited in Melbourne at the new Arts and Crafts Society gallery; the entry by winner, again being Bowles, was not exhibited.[7]

In 1935, with rules set by the Society and auspiced by the Red Cross, another competition was won by Anderson for The Man With The Donkey, installed at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.[3][8][9]

References
  1. "Women Show Their Art in Wood and Stone". Herald. 1953-11-09. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  2. Australian Sculptors' Society, [Australian Sculptors' Society : Australian Gallery File], retrieved 15 June 2023
  3. Scarlett, Kenneth William (1980). Australian sculptors, 1830-1977 (1st ed.). West Melbourne, Vic.: Thomas Nelson (Australia). pp. 11, 71. ISBN 9780170052924. OCLC 29003780.
  4. "The Pallette". The Bulletin. 55 (2777). 3 May 1933.
  5. Arnold, F.L.A. (April 1973). "Arts". Victorian Year Book 1973 Centenary Edition. Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics; Australian Bureau of Statistics Publication (87): 513.
  6. "Six Works From An Exhibition Of Melbourne Sculptors Held Earlier In The Year At The Fine Art Society". Art in Australia. Third series (53): 50. 15 December 1933.
  7. "The Monash Equestrian Memorial". The Age. 21 December 1935. p. 21.
  8. "Man with the Donkey (aka Private John Simpson and his Little Donkey)". City Collection. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  9. "Man with the donkey | Shrine of Remembrance". www.shrine.org.au. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
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