Women Artists

HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN ARTISTS AUCTION WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2020, MELBOURNE

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AUCTION CATALOGUE VOLUME 13 ISSUE 13

Front Cover 12 HILDA RIX NICHOLAS (1884-1961) The Arab Sheep Market, Tangier 1914 (detail) oil on canvas on board 47.5 x 57.5cm $50,000-60,000

Inside Cover 5 SYBIL CRAIG (1901-1989) Miss Delamere, the Model 1931 (detail) oil on canvas 90.5 x 65cm $4,000-6,000

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HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN ARTISTS AUCTION WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2020, 6PM MELBOURNE Please refer to our website for viewing times.

CONTACT

Olivia Fuller

Lucy Foster

Head of Art 03 8825 5624 olivia.fuller@leonardjoel.com.au

Art Specialist 03 8825 5609 lucy.foster@leonardjoel.com.au

View the entire catalogue at leonardjoel.com.au

HILDA RIX NICHOLAS

Discovering the Orient Establishing success early in her career, Ballarat born Hilda Rix Nicholas exhibited locally in Melbourne at The Austral Salon and at the Victorian Artists’ Society, while studying under Frederick McCubbin. Always with a sketchbook nearby, Hilda’s early works began in illustration and drawing. Her portraits were often of subjects chosen at random, her linework masterful, and her confident handling evident from these early years. This talent and intuition for recognising subject matter in the streets would remain with her in the ensuing decades.

The Rix family arrived in London in 1907 before continuing on to the epicentre of artistic culture – Paris.

Women’s access to academic exhibitions and art societies contributed to an avant-garde Parisian society where being a woman artist was not wholly obstructive. Hilda continued her talents in portraiture studying under Auguste Delecluse, but found his use of colour uninspiring. After her Christmas holiday in Rouen, Hilda returned to Paris and then began her studies under Richard Miller, an American painter immersed in Impressionism and its evanescent images of light, texture, and imaginative colour. Hilda had arrived in Paris with Australian colours at the forefront, but soon discovered the delicious palette and design of French Impressionism under Miller.

Hilda Rix was further inspired in 1912 when she made her first visit to Morocco. Her trips here satiated her interest in both orientalism and the inspiration found on the street. Visiting markets and town squares, she produced a series of sketches and several energetic oils that remain some of her most accomplished works. Working with a quick hand, Rix captured the exotic architecture, rich textiles, bold colours, and majestic light of Morocco - sometimes in a matter of minutes. As with many before and alongside her, Rix was in search of the exotic, the magic of the East, and she certainly found it.

Describing her first impressions of Tangier, Hilda commented: “So much like an extraordinary beautiful dream that I’m afraid to wake up in the morning and find it all gone…it is more splendid than I thought a great great deal. There is such quantity and richness of wonderful picturesqueness every way one turns the head there is a new picture.”

Hilda’s fascination with the Orient was shared by many in Europe. Romantic conceptions of these far away lands consumed the tastes of the day, developing an oriental paraphernalia. The Westernised nature of Tangier cemented its popularity with foreign visitors, especially artists. Although Hilda had travelled to the mountains into the “real Morocco”, she was confident of her own safety and used her privelage to her advantage while working in the public places of Tangier. In some instances, Hilda’s subjects were won over by her, happy to play along as her muse, and other times uninterested, their bodies and heads seen from behind.

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HILDA RIX NICHOLAS

12 HILDA RIX NICHOLAS (1884-1961) The Arab Sheep Market, Tangier 1914 oil on canvas on board signed lower left: EHRix 47.5 x 57.5cm PROVENANCE: Dr J. P. Rasmussen OAM Thence by descent Private collection, New South Wales

EXHIBITIONS: Robyn Brady Pty Ltd, Loan Exhibition, Woollahra, Sydney 1989 (label verso) Hilda Rix Nicholas 1884-1961, Ian Potter Gallery, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 20 Sept-27 Oct 1990 A Private Collection: A Century of Australian Heritage, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 20 June-21 July 1991 Capturing the Orient: Hilda Rix Nicholas and Ethel Carrick in the East, Waverley City Gallery, Melbourne, 16 July-29 August 1993 (label verso), then toured to: Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 1993 Gold Coast Art Centre, Surfers Paradise 1993 Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart 1994 SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1994 UNE Australienne: Hilda Rix Nicholas in Paris, Tangier and Sydney, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney 3 May-13 July 2014 (p. 35, exhibition catalogue)

LITERATURE: The Art of Hilda Rix Nicholas, Anthony Hordern & Sons Ltd., with Bertram Stevens, Sydney 1919 Pigot, J., Hilda Rix Nicholas: Her Life and Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2000, p. 44, pl. 10 $50,000-60,000

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Hilda Rix sketching in the marketplace, 1914.

Hilda had always been attracted to clothing, and she was fascinated by the array of colours, textures, and patterns exposed to her in Morocco. Her quick handling of paint, however, meant that the intricate details of pattern could not always be fully shown. Instead, she emphasised the rich design and colours of the cloth in perfect harmony and with skilled restraint. In Arab Sheep Market, Tangier 1914, Hilda has cleverly foregone a focus on character for design. She contrasts the warm yellows, creams, oranges and pinks of the figures, against the cooler blue, violet, and grey shadows of the architecture. The painting in its entirety, however, displays the radiant effects of the Moroccan sunlight.

From their first exhibition in Paris to further showings back in Australia, Hilda’s Moroccan work was praised. Her depictions of the Orient did not challenge the colonialist perspective, but her works were recognisably different – a livelier and more vibrant depiction of such scenes than the more conventional depictions before her. In 1919, fellow woman artist Grace Cossington Smith viewed her works in a Sydney exhibition, commenting:

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“There has been a stunning exhibition here…I went to see it three or four times…a huge room at Anthony Hordern’s full of them – very coloured – scenes of Morocco – and people, dresses – all sunny – but the most astonishing thing was the life in them: the people really had expressions, not just a painted thing.”

Whilst Hilda Rix is commonly discussed as an artist who comfortably stayed between traditionalism and modernism, her Moroccan works traversed new ground for, not only Australian female artists, but artists of the early 20th Century. Although she studied the work of others, she was her own woman, forging her own distinct path that has more recently been recognised for its immense impact on Australian art history.

Olivia Fuller | Head of Fine Art

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NORA HEYSEN

6 NORA HEYSEN (1911-2003) Tomatoes 1951 oil on canvas on board signed and dated lower right: Nora Heysen 1951 35 x 43cm PROVENANCE: Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle (label verso) Dr J. P. Rasmussen OAM Thence by descent Private collection, New South Wales RELATED WORKS: “Tomatoes” 1939, oil on board, 44.2 x 55.6cm, Art Gallery of South Australia $17,000-22,000

Nora Heysen achieved many firsts in her career. She was the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald prize for portraiture, and the first female Australian official war artist.

As a young girl, Nora was strongly encouraged by those around her to pursue her artistic talents. Sydney Ure Smith, Lional Lindsay, and Will Ashton (friends of her father Hans Heysen) nominated her the winner of a prize amongst her siblings for the best artwork, and she later received an artist’s palette from family friend Dame Nellie Melba in 1927 which remained with her for decades to come. With support behind her, Nora experienced early success being awared the best still life at the South Australian Society of Arts when she was just 19.

Nora Heysen’s body of work displays her inherent preference for still life. Upon her return from London in 1938, it is believed that Hans agreed with her that she would focus on still lifes and him landscapes to avoid the comparisons between their work and allow each to maintain their own success. Although still life was a subject matter already deemed appropriate and acceptable for women painters, Nora chose it as she genuinely preferred it to painting en plein air. Still life enabled her to focus on form, shadowing, and diverse colouring. It should be noted that Nora was a very strong-willed woman, and so she would not have shyed away from painting the more “masculine” subject matter, such as landscapes, if she wished.

Nora explored the various facets of still life painting, from florals to vegetables to objects. It was in compositions of fruits and vegetables, however, that we notice the inherent agrarianism. In Tomatoes 1951 the eggplant is bulbous, firm, and perfectly shaped. The tomatoes are rich, plump, and ripe for the eating. These still lifes are not just a study of objects, but a celebration of seasonal produce and the abundance of the land. Although Nora adopted a more elevated viewpoint, she was inspired by Henri Fantin-Latour especially his Plate of Apples 1861.

In the book accompanying the wonderful exhibition Hans and Nora Heysen, curator Tracey Lock fittingly identifies, “under the repeated sharp observation of everyday fruits and vegetables and cut flowers, the Heysens’ empirical art came to denote a human interface with nature, where the journey was within.

Resonating with a defining healing spirit, their quiet home-based paintings are as potent as any of the assertively modern or nationally self-conscious artistic expressions of their period. The still lifes remind us that as a space to contemplate in peaceful silence the simple beauty of natural forms and objects, there is indeed ‘no place like home.” 1 — Olivia Fuller | Head of Fine Art

1 Hesson, A., Lock., T., Hans and Nora Heysen: Two Generations of Australian Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2019, p.106

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NORA HEYSEN

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MARGARET PRESTON

1 MARGARET PRESTON (1875-1963) Flannel Flowers and Sturt’s Desert Pea woodcut initialled in plate 12.9 x 12.7cm (sheet) PROVENANCE: Miss Eirene Mort Miss Margaret Mort Estate of the above Jim Alexander Gallery, Melbourne 1992 Private collection, Melbourne Estate of the above LITERATURE: Butler, R., The Prints of Margaret Preston: A Catalogue Raisonné, Australian National Gallery, 1987, cat. no. 110 $6,000-8,000

Regarded by many as the greatest printmaker in Australia during the 20th century, Margaret Preston mastered the depiction of the native Australian fauna. Although the portrayal of flowers was a traditional subject matter already favoured in the 19th century, Preston transformed the still life into a fresh and favourable image for the modern Australian. This work Flannel Flowers and Sturt’s Desert Pea is a trial proof woodblock when Preston was experimenting heavily with colour. It is believed to have been gifted by the artist to Eirene Mort, a printing and design teacher who, along with Preston, was also a great friend of Sydney Ure Smith.

Having focused much of the earlier part of her career in painting, Preston reached a turning point in her practice when a collection of her woodblocks were published in an Art and Australia magazine issue in 1927, marking her significance in the art world at that time. The entire issue was dedicated to Preston’s beautifully coloured native floral prints, reaching a broad new audience with interests lying in the decorative arts, interior design and fashion, demonstrating the growing importance of style in the modern Australian home during this period.

— Lucy Foster | Art Specialist

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MARGARET PRESTON

© Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency, 2020

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THEA PROCTOR 7 THEA PROCTOR (1879-1966) Interior Scene watercolour on paper signed lower right: Thea Proctor 51 x 37cm $1,400-1,800

In 1921 Thea Proctor, having recently returned from 18 years abroad, honed her printing skills and works on paper early in her career. She quickly became a prominent figure in Sydney’s art world and passionate campaigner for modernist design. Proctor often produced fashion and graphical illustrations for the pages of The Home magazine, which was also a publication by Sydney Ure Smith. Whilst considered a talented draftswoman in her field, it was not until 1932 that Art and Australia published a magazine issue exclusively featuring her woodcuts, much like her respected counterpart and friend Margaret Preston. Proctor’s woodcuts are uniquely stylistic in design and colour. Often completed with bold dark outlines, she was known to finish her works with deep intense colouring or simply just left in the original black ink, a sign of both the artist’s contentment and confidence in her practice.

— Lucy Foster | Art Specialist

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THEA PROCTOR

8 THEA PROCTOR (1879-1966) 1875 c.1932 woodcut no.1 signed lower right: Thea Proctor titled and numbered lower left: 1875 No 1 26.5 x 20cm PROVENANCE: Lawsons, Sydney, 21 May 1991, lot 36 Private collection, Melbourne

LITERATURE: Minchin, J., Thea Proctor: The Prints, Resolution Press, Sydney 1980, p. 75 (illustrated, other example) OTHER NOTES: Examples of the this print are held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. $2,500-3,500

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LILL TSCHUDI

28 LILL TSCHUDI (Swiss, 1911-2004) Visiting Day 1937 linocut, ed. 21/50 signed and editioned centre left edge: Lill Tschudi/ 21/50 inscribed upper left: Handdruck 29.5 x 24cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Sydney LITERATURE: Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, London, 1995, p.

53 (illustrated, another example) $10,000-15,000

Lill Tschudi, a young student from Switzerland, enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London at the age of eighteen. After seeing an exhibition by Austrian artist Norbertine Bresslern-Roth’s of prints of animals, she focused her studies on the medium of relief printing.

This period between the two wars saw the establishment of many new ideas and artistic movements, including the introduction of linocut printing. Claude Flight, an innovative artist, gathered a large following among the artworld and his students, pioneering the linocut at the Grosvenor School (1926-1930). He encouraged his students to express their own ideas rather than looking at the Old Masters for inspiration.

Inspired by the Italian Futurists and Vorticism, his distinctive style captured the speed and energy of the modern world using a newfound medium. Flight’s encouragement and teachings offered his students the opportunity to take complete control of their creative practice, marking a new movement in art.

While Tschudi only studied there for six months, she quickly established her practice. She created mechanical-like subjects on her blocks, layered with recurring images to create a wave of movement throughout the paper. Heavily inspired by industrial scenes, construction sites, factories and public events, she depicted themes that were unfolding in front of her in everyday life. This subject matter was virtually untouched by female artists until this point, symbolising the progress of the 20th Century and the developing modern age.

Street Decoration 1937 is a bustling scene of traffic entwined with flags and festive banners. This linocut is a memory of her travels to London in 1935 for an exhibition where she also encountered commemorations of the Silver Jubilee of King George IV. The use of two simple and patriotic colours, red and blue, are cleverly overlapped to create movement and harmony. This overlapping technique was an optical effect Tschudi often used in her linocuts, drawing the viewers straight into the centre of the work as though they were a part of the scene unfolding. Tschudi used similar techniques in both Visiting Day 1937 and Village Fair II 1948, creating focal points using hospital cots and circus tents respectively, to drive the direction of the viewer’s eye and maintain a sense of dynamism.

Lill Tschudi became one of the most recognised exponents of the infamous Grosvenor School, creating 355 linocuts in her lifetime. She left a striking impression of the vitality and spirit of life during the interwar years. These works are treasured in many public collections including the British Museum, National Gallery of Australia and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Lill Tschudi was also awarded a National Print Prize in Switzerland for her lifetime achievement for the arts.

— Lucy Foster | Art Specialist

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LILL TSCHUDI

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LILL TSCHUDI

27 LILL TSCHUDI (Swiss, 1911-2004) Village Fair II 1948 linocut, ed. 19/50 signed lower left: Lill Tschudi editioned lower right 34.5 x 18cm

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PROVENANCE: Private collection, Sydney LITERATURE: Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, London, 1995, p. 79 (illustrated, another example) $10,000-15,000

LILL TSCHUDI

29 LILL TSCHUDI (Swiss, 1911-2004) Street Decoration 1937 linocut, ed. 9/50 signed and editioned left edge: Lill Tschudi/ 9/50 inscribed lower right: Hand/ print 23.5 x 19.5cm PROVENANCE: Sotheby’s, London, 2 December 2004 Private collection, Perth Bonhams, Sydney, 16 June 2015, lot 46 (label verso) Private collection, Sydney

EXHIBITIONS: Eighth Exhibition of British Lino-Cuts, Ward Gallery, London, 26 May - 23 June 1937, cat. 70 (another example)

LITERATURE: Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, London, 1995, p. 143 (illustrated, another example)

Exhibition of Modern Lino-Cuts, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, 30 March - 19 April 1939, cat. 145 (another example)

Gordon, J., The Promise of Youth. Lino-Cutters, The Observer, London, 6 June 1937, p. 16 (another example) $10,000-15,000

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E T H L E E N PA L M E R 10 ETHLEEN PALMER (1906-1958) Spindrift 1939 linocut, artist proof signed lower right: Ethleen Palmer titled lower centre editioned and dated lower left 27 x 35cm PROVENANCE: Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney (label verso) Private collection, Sydney EXHIBITIONS: Modern Australian Women, Painting and Prints 1925-1945, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 24 November 2000 - 25 February 2001 Stopping Time: Material Prints 3000BCE to Now, Gympie Regional Art Gallery, Queensland, 23 October – 28 November 2020 LITERATURE: Hylton, J., Modern Australian Women, Painting and Prints 1925-1945, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 2004, p. 88 (illustrated, other example) OTHER NOTES: Examples of this print are held in The Art Gallery of South Australia, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art $2,000-2,500

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In the late 1920s, Ethleen Palmer began experimenting with Japanese printing techniques after discovering a book of woodblocks from the 1890s. After much experimentation and trial and error, she began producing painstakingly detailed linocuts. She had been heavily influenced by the work of Austrian printmaker Norbertine Bresslern-Roth, who had exhibited in Sydney in 1926. Palmer would also have been exposed to the principles of the Grosvenor School through the ongoing work of influential female modernists, including Ethel Spowers.

She developed a complex printing technique of subtly overlaying colours, producing work strongly reminiscent of Japanese prints, both in composition and execution. Her ability to capture the movement, detail and nature in the Japanese style gave her the name ‘The Australian Hokusai’. Palmer was known for her deep love of animals and nature, and this print, Spindrift, depicts a sweeping arrangement of curved gulls in full flight against the spray of the waves in the wind.

Much interest has been shown towards female Australian printmakers of the inter-war years, however Palmer’s work has always been somewhat overlooked. Her importance to the development of Australian printmaking, especially in the use of the Japanese aesthetic deserves greater recognition.

— Ella Perrottet | Art Assistant

ETHEL SPOWERS

2 ETHEL SPOWERS (1890-1947) The Green Bridge 1926 linocut ed. 20/30 signed lower right: E. L. Spowers titled and numbered lower left 19.5 x 26cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Exhibition of Watercolours and Woodcuts by Ethel Spowers, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney, June 1926 (another example) Exhibition of Woodcuts and Watercolours by Ethel Spowers, The New Gallery, Melbourne, 2 - 13 August 1927, cat.28 (another example) LITERATURE: Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scholar Press, London 1995, p.168 (another example) $7,000-9,000

The Green Bridge was created just before Ethel Spowers travelled to London in 1928 to study under the famed Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. At the time, Ethel was experimenting with new Japanese inspired techniques of woodblock printing influenced by her lifelong friend Eveline Syme. Her early prints can be characterised by an illustrative nature with recurring motifs of children and playtime, very reminiscent of her earlier works on paper where she depicted enchanting fairy-tale scenes inspired by children’s books.

After returning to Australia in 1930, she had become a decidedly modern artist and spent much of her career promoting and advancing modernism in Australia. Although her work had changed during this period, her fondness for children remained. The idea of ‘children at play’ was a theme that she consistently revisited throughout her career, even though she had moved on from the illustrative nature of her work in favour of Grosvenor’s striking modernist style.

Like so many female artists of her generation, it was not until the later decades of the twentieth century that Spowers’ work was ‘rediscovered’ and market interest was reinvigorated. Her contribution to the dissemination of modernist printing in Australia and influence on other artists of her generation cannot be overlooked and along with her counterparts Eveline Syme and Dorrit Black, she remains a critical figure during this period of art.

— Ella Perrottet | Art Assistant

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VERA BLACKBURN 14 VERA BLACKBURN (1911-1991) Tom-Tom 1934 linocut signed and dated lower right: Vera Blackburn Oct 1934 titled lower left monogrammed in plate upper left 21.5 x 21.5cm PROVENANCE: The Estate of Charles (Ruthven) Blackburn (the artist’s brother) Shapiro Auctioneers, Sydney, 23 August 2016, lot 4 Private collection, Sydney RELATED WORK: Untitled [Study for the print ‘Tom-Tom’], 1934, ink, gouache and watercolour on paper, National Gallery of Australia collection, Canberra Another example of this print is part of the permanent collection of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra $3,500-4,500

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Born into a wealthy family in Sydney, Vera Blackburn was exposed to art and literature from a young age. She took private art lessons from Thea Proctor where she learned linocut techniques and went on to study for five years at Adelaide Perry’s Art School before permanently moving to London in 1937.

Tom-Tom was created during her period of study under Adelaide Perry.

Unfortunately, like many women of her generation, Blackburn placed her career as an artist on hold, and ceased making art owing to the Second World War and the birth of her three children. It was not until forty years later that she began making again, producing a number of linocuts. Significant information about Vera Blackburn’s life and career as an artist is scarce and her lack of recognition is a story all too familiar in relation to Australian female artists. Largely forgotten in her lifetime, it was not until an exhibition of early linocuts was curated in 1979 by Roger Butler that interest in her work was reinvigorated.

— Ella Perrottet | Art Assistant

PROVENANCE: Abbott and Holder, London Private collection, Sydney EXHIBITIONS: Eighth Exhibition of British Lino-Cuts, Ward Gallery, London 26 May - 23 June 1937, cat.no. 52 (another example)

E I L E E N M AY O

13 EILEEN MAYO (1906-1994) Water Carrier 1937 linocut, ed.14/30 titled, editioned, and signed upper right: Water Carrier 14/ Eileen Mayo 31 x 22.5cm

Contemporary British Prints and Drawings from the Wakefield Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 12 March 12 April 1947 (another example) OTHER NOTES: Other examples of this print are held in the collections of the British Museum, London, The British Council, London and the National Library of New Zealand, Wellington $3,000-4,000

British born Eileen Mayo began modelling for life-drawing classes at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London in 1929 as a way to supplement her income. It was here that she met Claude Flight and under his invitation, produced her first linocut in 1930. It is famously said that Flight instructed Mayo on the principles of linocut technique over the phone, and from that point the linocut was to become one of her most favoured mediums.

In 1937, the same year that Water Carrier was made, Mayo was commissioned to illustrate The Bamboo Dancer And Other African Tales by Douglas Cleverdon with coloured woodblocks. There are clear similarities between the body of work she created for this project and her own depictions of the African water carrier. We see the figure used in Mayo’s work also represented in some early sketches done for the commission, highlighting her engagement with these motifs and interest in this subject matter.

After separating from her husband, Eileen Mayo emigrated to Australia in 1952 and joined many migrant artists in contributing to the post-war print revival before settling in New Zealand for the remainder of her life. Mayo had an extensive and productive career and whilst she is mainly known in the United Kingdom for her linocuts and book illustrations, recent exhibitions of her work in New Zealand are reinvigorating interest for this truly exceptional and diverse artist. — Ella Perrottet | Art Assistant Eileen Mayo Trial painting for The Bamboo Dancer And Other African Tales 1937 watercolour and graphite on paper Collection of the Tate Archive, London

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BARBARA TRIBE

20 BARBARA TRIBE (1913-2000) Spirit of the Sea 1933 bronze ed. 1/12 signed and numbered at base: Barbara Tribe / 1/12 44 x 47 x 28cm (including base) PROVENANCE: Barbara Tribe Studio (label at base) Neville Keating Pictures, London Private collection, Sydney OTHER NOTES: The original plaster and wood mould of this sculpture is in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. $18,000-24,000

Barbara Tribe was one of Australia’s most significant 20th Century sculptors. During her early art school years in Sydney, she was encouraged by George Rayner Hoff to pursue further studies in sculpture.

Hoff saw great talent in Barbara even nominating her to assist him with his own commissions - the most significant being the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park. Hoff along with eight assistants in his studio, including Tribe, were fully employed working on the Memorial between 1931 and 1934.

Simultaneously, Tribe exhibited annually with the New South Wales Society of Artists and in 1934 she exhibited one of her most accomplished sculptures, The Spirit of the Sea, to favourable reviews in the Sydney Mail. Now in the Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Spirit of the Sea 1933 draws upon the mythological with a modern sensibility. Following World War I, modernism in many ways attempted to recreate the idea of an Arcadia of Ancient Greece where refined craftsmanship, idealised form, and stylistic appropriation were sought. Barbara’s focus on the mythology of the sea in this work is understood to stem from her interest in Australian beach life. Although many other artists of the 1930s enjoyed depicting the Australian beach culture, Tribe’s eroticised forms display the influence of Rayner Hoff on her practice.

In 1935 Barbara Tribe was awarded the New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship, being both the first time the scholarship had been awarded to a sculptor and the first time it had been awarded to a female.

She departed Australia for London, a common rite of passage for Australian artists, and like many before her she returned only sporadically to her home country. She enrolled at London’s Royal Academy School and began studying at the City & Guilds School of Art in Kennington. Her resulting works were greatly admired by the painter and teacher Duncan Grant, specifically her pair of bronzes Lovers I and Lovers II. Whilst in London, Tribe made the most of her access to museums and galleries absorbing influences from Rodin, Brancusi, Epstein and many more. However, in 1937 Barbara’s travelling scholarship came to an end but rather than return home she made the decision to stay and persuaded Selfridges department store to enable her to sculpt customers while they waited, an hour for the sitting and seven days for delivery.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the resulting bombardment of London took its toll on Barbara’s artistic income and personal health, developing a perforated eardrum resulting in deafness in one ear. Always determined, she persevered and when a number of Australian airmen arrived in England to support the war effort she had seven of them pose for her. Several of these busts were subsequently cast in bronze and are now with the Australian War Memorial.

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BARBARA TRIBE

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BARBARA TRIBE

21 BARBARA TRIBE (1913-2000) Lovers II 1936-37 bronze, edition of 12 inscribed at lower edge: BARBARA TRIBE 39 x 28 x 35.5cm (including base) PROVENANCE: Neville Keating Pictures, London Private collection, Sydney OTHER NOTES: Another edition of this sculpture is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra $20,000-25,000

By the 1960s, Barbara had returned to Australia where she made invaluable contacts with local galleries that now cemented her artistic profile back home.

It was in 1967 however that an invitation from a Thai friend in Cornwall led her to Bangkok. She visited Thailand on several occasions, discovering a foundry able to cast her works in bronze. Many bronzes Barbara produced in the 1970s were of Malinee, the daughter of friends in Thailand and an ideal model for Barbara.

In Barbara’s later life, she continued to exhibit throughout the 1990s, both in the UK and back home in Australia. She remains one of Australia’s most important sculptors, regardless of her gender. Her legacy includes the Barbara Tribe Foundation, established by the great John Schaeffer, her friend, benefactor and her estate’s executor. The Foundation aims to support disadvantaged young artists. John Schaeffer once commented: “There is the Archibald, the Wynne and the Sulman [prizes] and hopefully there will one day be something like the Tribe”.

Olivia Fuller | Head of Fine Art

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Buyer’s Premium There will be a buyer’s premium added to all purchases.

The buyer’s premium will be calculated at the rate of 25% of the hammer price on each lot. This is inclusive of GST. The buyer’s premium is reflected by a reduction in the Seller’s Commission and is a common practice throughout Australia and overseas.

Property subject to the Artist Resale Royalty Lots with the § sign will be subject to payment of the Artist Resale Royalty in the event that the lot is sold for a hammer price of $1,000 or more. The Australian Resale Royalty is a flat rate of 5 percent (5%) levy on the hammer price (including GST). The Australian Resale Royalty is payable by the buyer in addition to the buyer’s premium plus applicable GST.

Collection of Lots Purchased lots must be collected no later than two days after the auction; otherwise lots shall be moved to storage at the Buyer’s expense (see below). Lots are at the Buyer’s risk from the fall of the hammer. It is strongly advised that overseas and interstate purchasers and absentee bidders make their arrangements with Leonard Joel in advance of the Sale. Charges are outlined below and are quoted in Australian dollars.

Removal and Storage Any lots not collected within two days after the auction, may be stored or resold at the Buyer’s expense.

Removal Charges Each lot: $55 Storage Charges Each lot: $33 per day Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 (PMCH Act) Buyers should be aware of the PMCH Act which protects Australia’s heritage of movable cultural objects and supports foreign countries’ right to protect their heritage of movable cultural objects. The PMCH Act regulates the export of nationally significant heritage objects, it is not intended to restrict normal and legitimate trade in cultural property, and does not affect an individual’s right to own or sell objects, within Australia. The PMCH Act was enacted in response to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. It is the responsibility of the Buyer to ensure that the export of any lots purchased are not subject to, or in breach of, this Act.

Information about the PMCH Act, the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Regulations 1987 and the 1970 UNESCO Convention, can be found on the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts website at: www.environment.gov.au/heritage/movable/index Exporting Significant Australian Cultural Heritage The export of Australia’s significant cultural heritage is regulated under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 (PMCH Act.) It is not intended to restrict normal and legitimate trade in cultural property and does not affect an individual’s right to own or sell within Australia.

The PMCH Act implements a system of export permits for certain heritage objects defined as ‘Australian protected objects’.

More information is available on the Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts’ website: www.arts.gov.au/movable_heritage Enquiries can be made to the Cultural Property Section at the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, T: 02 6274 1810 E: movable.heritage@environment.gov.au CITES Regulations It is the buyer’s sole responsibility to comply with all export and import regulations relating to your purchases and also to obtain any relevant export and/or import licences. The refusal of any import or export licences, any delay in obtaining such licences or any limitation on your ability to export a lot shall not permit the cancellation of the sale.

Please note that all lots marked with the symbol * are subject to CITES regulations when exporting these items outside of Australia. Information about these regulations may be found at www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/cites/index. html or may be requested from: The Director International Wildlife Trade Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Recommended carrier for this auction Bespoke Moves Sasha Tiltins 0417 119 040 sasha@bespokemoves.com.au Pack & Send South Yarra 03 9521 5822 southyarra@packsend.com.au Pack & Send Kingscross 02 9331 2700 kingscross@packsend.com.au

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CONTACT A LEONARD JOEL SPECIALIST

Sale Rooms — MELBOURNE 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra, Melbourne VIC 3141 Telephone: (03) 9826 4333 Facsimile: (03) 9826 4544 Interstate: 1800 264 333 SYDNEY The Bond, 36-40 Queen Street, Woollahra, Sydney NSW 2025 Telephone: (02) 9362 9045 Facsimile: (03) 9826 4544 Interstate: 1800 264 333 email: info@leonardjoel.com.au leonardjoel.com.au MANAGING DIRECTOR & HEAD OF COLLECTIONS John Albrecht BA LLB MBA

LUXURY John D’Agata F.G.A.A., Head of Department PRINTS Hannah Ryan, Art Salon Manager Ella Perrottet BFA, Assistant

The Thursday Auction — Anthony Riepsamen, Manager FURNITURE Nick Bastiras, Manager David Price, Assistant Angus McGougan, Assistant JEWELLERY Maria Walker F.G.A.A., Manager ART SALON Hannah Ryan, Manager Ella Perrottet BFA, Assistant

Leonard Joel Specialists —

OBJECTS & COLLECTABLES Rebecca Stormont , Assistant

FINE ART Olivia Fuller BArtTh, Head of Department Lucy Foster EMA, Specialist Summer Masters BDes Hons, Administrator

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INDIGENOUS ART Olivia Fuller BArtTh, Head of Department DECORATIVE ARTS Chiara Curcio BA, Head of Department Hamish Clark, Head of Sydney Dominic Kavanagh MFA, Specialist Trevor Fleming BA, Consultant, Japanese Art Carl Wantrup, Consultant, Asian Art IMPORTANT JEWELS Hamish Sharma, Head of Department, Sydney FINE JEWELS & TIMEPIECES Julie Foster F.G.A.A., Dip. Dt., Head of Department Bethany McGougan F.G.A.A., BA Hons, MSc, Senior Jewellery Specialist Maria Walker F.G.A.A., Manager Mary Kenny BA, Dip. Ed., Consultant Henrietta Maiyah, Consultant Alex Turnidge, Administrator MODERN DESIGN Anna Grassham BA Contemporary Arts, Head of Department

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VALUATIONS Caroline Tickner BA Hons, F.G.A.A., Head of Department ACCOUNTS Marie McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer Michelle Draper, Account Manager Andrea Del Campo, Accountan CLIENT SERVICES Kim Clarke, Client Services Manager Amelia Lewis, Client Services Liaison Madeleine Norton, Auction Administrator and Client Services Liaison, Sydney OPERATIONS & LOGISTICS Anthony Riepsamen, Manager MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Blanka Nemeth, Head of Department Nicole Kenning, Consultant Keryn Gilchrist, Database Administrator PHOTOGRAPHY Adam Obradovic Henry Murphy GRAPHIC DESIGN Maria Rossi

OTHER WOMEN ARTISTS HIGHLIGHTS

35 (detail)

37 (detail)

47 (detail)

34 (detail) © Judy Cassab/Copyright Agency, 2020

View the entire catalogue at leonardjoel.com.au

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SYDNEY

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