Sculpture

In the last years of the 19th century, Arthur Fleischmann was born into a Jewish family living under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Emperor Franz-Josef had already ruled for 48 years. In the new century, Fleischmann studied medicine, then switched to sculpture. He fled the rising Nazi tide in Europe, settling in Sydney from 1939, where he was absorbed into the vibrant local artistic society. Relocating to London in 1948, he maintained his Australian links, producing works on commission. Fleischmann enthusiastically pioneered the use of Perspex, a plastic invented in the 1930s, to create innovative kinetic sculptures, as well as static works using traditional techniques. Dr Jim Bertouch goes hunting for one of Fleischmann’s kineticPerspex works, installed in Sydney in 1990 just months after he had died, but which had disappeared from public sight.

The earliest known free-standing, full-length sculpture created in Australia is a highly detailed sandstone statue of a well-dressed colonial gentleman, urinating. Functionally plumbed, this statue is as extraordinary as it is enigmatic. Chris Tassell speculates on who might have commissioned it, who made it, when it was made, who it represents, and why it was made.

Artists draw inspiration from many sources. Glenn Cooke examines at how a 20th-century Queensland wood carver took his design inspiration from an historical French pottery plaque some 400 years old, finding what seems to be the exact example he used.

Lieutenant James Cook took various gifts on his voyages of discovery, to distribute to Indigenous people whom he might encounter. Peter Lane draws attention to the only example of one of Cook’s medals found in Australia, a memento of friendly contact between the European explorers and Indigenous Tasmanians in either 1773 or 1777.

Historian and biographer John Ramsland surveys the permanent World War I memorials designed by Manx-born sculptor Rayner Hoff (1894–1937), constructed in Dubbo (1925), Adelaide (1927–30) and culminating in his work with architect Bruce Dellit in the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney (1931–34).

Previously thought lost, this iconic Australian image – a large double-sided painted timber carving of a buck jumper made in 1893/4 by renowned Queensland sculptor Harold Parker – was made as an advertising sign for the Brisbane saddlery of R.E. Jarman. After it re-emerged in 2011 at a Sydney auction, Adam Free’s research has revealed an intriguing background story.

In her postgraduate research into South Australian wood carvers centred on the Adelaide School of Design, Jodie Vandepeer came upon the strange story of Maud Golley (later known by her married name, Maud Baillie), a self-taught carver from remote Wedge Island, with no connection to the School. Her works exist only in private collections, yet a powerful mythology has built up around her, fuelled by a series of newspaper articles and biographies in recent publications regurgitating a few snippets – her isolated early life on Wedge Island, her self-taught carving ability, her perseverance under difficult conditions and her vice- regal patronage. Jodie explores Golley’s history and creations.

Lieutenant James Cook RN, commanding officer of HMB Endeavour, the renamed collier Earl of Pembroke, sailed on 26 August 1768 from England on a naval and scientific voyage to observe the Transit of Venus, collect natural history specimens and explore the east coast of New Holland. The 250th anniversary of the voyage has reignited interest in Cook, with exhibitions and exploration once more of Newport Harbor for the remains of his ship, re-named Lord Sandwich and sunk to blockade the port in 1778 during the American War of Independence. Yvonne Barber looks at a Cook memento which deserves to be better known.

Wood and stone carver Lewis John Godfrey contributed to the high end of the artistic spectrum displayed at the International and Intercolonial Exhibitions from the 1850s into the 20th century, and his stone carvings still grace many buildings in Dunedin, New Zealand. Immediately after finishing his London apprenticeship, Godfrey sailed to Australia in 1852, soon finding employment with Launceston cabinet maker John Brown. His carvings were of such quality that four were sent to the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris. Rob La Nauze fills in this previously unrecorded gap in his life and corrects some details.

A Rats of Tobruk wood panel falls under the category of “trench art”: decorative objects made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians that are directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences. This term is a misnomer as these objects were rarely, if ever made in the trenches. Many were made from scrap metal like shell casings or in the case of the Napoleonic Wars, POWs used discarded animal bones. During and after the First and Second World Wars, it was profitable to make mementoes on a large scale due to huge quantities of material available, but Peter Lane argues that this is a personal memento.

The English sculptor Thomas Woolner sailed out to Victoria in 1852 to search for gold. Like many others who failed to strike it rich, he returned to his earlier profession. Woolner created a series of portraits of prominent colonials in Melbourne and Sydney before returning to England in 1854; most are well known, but some are yet to be identified.

Gary Morgan’s research into this recently rediscovered colonial wax relief, reported here for the first time reveals it to be an important relic and memento of the early exploration of South Australia.