Aboriginal Male King Sandy Carl Magnus Oscar Fristrom 1913 Oil on timber panel 41cms wide x 51cms high Fristrom was born on 16th November 1856 at Sturko, Blekinge Province Sweden and died on 26th June 1918 in Brisbane Queensland. Fristrom was the son of a school teacher and a self-taught artist. King Sandy is one of a number of painted portraits by the Swedish emigrant, Friström, now regarded as of considerable historical importance for its early, accurate recording of some of Queensland’s Aboriginal people; and in this it may prove to be of ethnographic value. Friström’s antique ‘gilt’ frames and mounts, oval-encased images and sympathetic, true to life interpretations of his subjects / sitters in ‘appropriate’ dress, reflect his main daily activity as a professional photographer (associate in the Brisbane firm of Hutchinson, Friström and Co. Elite Photo Studio) as well as period taste. Fristrom lived in Adelaide for a time between 1894 and 1895, but returned to Brisbane where he became a member of the Queensland National Art Gallery’s Advisory Committee and President of the Queensland Art Society in 1918. Donated by the Dr. Egmont Schmidt Memorial Trust pre 1981 to the Bundaberg Art Society and donated to Bundaberg City in 1994. Dr. Egmont Schmidt Memorial Collection.
Heidi c. 1962 – 1983 Henry Hanke Oil on canvas board 26cms wide x 34cms high Hanke was born on 14th June 1901 at Petersham N.S.W. and died on 29th September 1989 at North Sydney. Hanke was awarded the Archibald Prize in 1934 with his self-portrait which was the first self-portrait to ever win the Archibald Prize, making it a revolutionary decision by the judges at the time. Overnight Hanke became household news. Previously, in fact only the day before, Hanke was an unknown, who, like so many others at the time was struggling with the great depression, the Archibald Prize was at the time a Cinderella story for Hanke and the arts alike. Hank painted the portrait of Heidi, who was a Dutch middle class woman. Hanke went from an artist who had resorted to using tent canvas to paint on; mixing his own colours; and making his own stretchers to an award winning artist who was financially able to pursue his art career. He followed up the Archibald in 1934 with the Sulman Prize in 1936. His success in these two art prizes brought him much attention, and with this followed many commissions, some of them portraits and others were simply bread and butter commissions. Hanke was a lieutenant in World War II, spanning from 1939 - 1945. He undertook he service as an Official War Artist. In order to undertake this post he was issued with an A.M.F. War Correspondent’s License and Identification card. This card enabled Hanke to move around as required within the South West Pacific Area. Donated by the Bargara Woongarra Rotary Club in 1983 to the Bundaberg Art Society who donated Heidi to Bundaberg City in 1994. Dr. Egmont Schmidt Memorial Collection.
New Generation: Ancient Land 1998 Ann Grocott Oil on paper on board 69cms wide x 96cms high Conversation of the Back Stairs 1992 Jennifer McDuff Mediums used were inks/ gouaches some pigments on paper 111.5cms wide x 168.5cms high McDuff was born in Childers, South East Queensland. The colour of the rich red soil of this area has remained a significant part of her work. McDuff had 2 years at Kelvin Grove College Brisbane studying art and with this completed she began her serious art practice. 1992 McDuff undertook a Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts at the University of Launceston Tasmania, while continuing to teach at Secondary school level until 1995. In 1992 saw McDuff complete her Vietnam works with the entire series being purchased by the Australian War Memorial Museum in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. McDuff said “This piece was certainly part of a series, and one I won the Art Festival award for. It was the first of some large paper works done after I had won the Premier’s Award in 1988 and I took up a studio in Spring Hill in Brisbane. The studio was huge compared to the very cramped area that I had worked in and it gave me the opportunity to explore making paper works on a large scale. It was after this time that the drawings were extended to 10 metres long and one, of which, was exhibited in the gallery in Bundaberg Queensland with one later coming to Japan with me for the Japanese Expo in Kitakyushu and others were exhibited in Gladstone under the title of ‘The Whole Roll’.” McDuff’s works are held in many regional Queensland collections as well as Queensland Parliament House, the University of Tasmania, James Hardy collection, the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House. McDuff, who is still an active artist, along with fellow artists collaborated on the design and installation of mosaics for the Childers Streetscape Queensland in 2004 / 2005 when a section of the main street was being upgraded. Donated in 2011 by Dr. Cora Zyp from her collection.
Born in Glenelg, South Australia, to parents Noel Herbert Wood and Eleanor Weld Skipper, Grocott comes from an artistic family. Grocott explained what inspired her to paint this portrait which has been shown internationally “In the mid 1990’s, my younger daughter who had four daughters of her own at that time, was living in Kununurra where her husband had an engineering job with an airline. I missed them and as I’d never been to that part of Australia, it didn’t take long before I visited them. I was really taken with the feeling of timelessness; the colour and great age of the land and - most of all - with the clarity of the air. There seemed to be so much sky and high above, although I couldn’t see them, every day I clearly heard hawks whistling. I did several coloured sketches of the children and even brought samples of the soil home to remember the colour. The girl in the painting is one of these granddaughters, Meritta McCook, and in the background is an older sister, Nikki. That day I was struck by the light behind Meritta and wanted to capture it, something ineffable as light and air - haloing this flesh and blood child. As I was painting it, I thought of the fleetingness of youth and of Australia’s eternal, ancient land. The work means a lot to me - of course, because the figures belong to my family but also because it is timeless and I think any viewer would understand that.” In 1999 New Generation: Ancient Land was chosen to represent Australia in the Winsor and Newton Worldwide Millennium Exhibition “Our World in the Year 2000”. It was exhibited in London (where the exhibition was opened by Prince Charles), Stockholm and Brussels. It was then chosen for the United Nations Millennium Art Exhibition and exhibited in New York. The portrait won the Portrait section at the Bundaberg Arts Festival in 1998. Grocott’s work has been represented in numerous Group Exhibitions (including Travelling Exhibitions) in Australia, Japan, London, Stockholm and New York. Her work has also been included in the international movie “Nim’s Island” (Warner Bros.) Purchased for the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery Collection
Portrait of Young Girl 1998 Helene Grove Acrylic on cotton 68cms wide x 89cms high With no formal training Grove has managed to achieve acknowledgement as a finalist in national art competitions including the Archibald, Wynne Prize, Dobell Drawing Prize, and Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Grove is a prolific artist who started her career as a medical practitioner in the 1970’s, leaving the practice in 1988 to paint full time as a professional artist from her studio in Bundaberg. “Life is but a series of moments”. This motto guides Grove’s approach to painting. Her work captures the unexpected moment, the instant of movement the splash of colour with an inimitable sense of humour. Often Grove’s paintings capture the instant, holding onto the movement within a discernible situation, inviting the viewer to participate. Grove qualified, and has practiced as a Doctor of Medicine since 1970 but more recently has committed herself to full time painting. This personal commitment has helped her to some impressive results in a number of the most sought after art awards throughout Australia.