BOW, IAN (1914-1989)

"Sketch For Portrait - Eve & Claudia" (c.1950) 
oil on board
cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Bow is a forgotten, influential Australian Mid Century, Post-War painter, printmaker, sculptor, critic and teacher. During the 1930s, he attended Melbourne Technical School. Bow completed his teacher training in 1934 focusing his studies on drawing and design. In 1940 his work was first represented in the annual member exhibition of the Victorian Artists’ Society, having joined the group in 1939. Bow was a regular exhibitor at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Art Gallery where he held several solo exhibitions. By May 1945 for his solo exhibition at the Athenaeum Gallery he had amassed some 45 oil paintings of wide-ranging subjects. He continued to exhibit regularly as a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society (VAS) and in 1946, Bow became inaugural co-editor of the Society’s journal. He was an Archibald Prize finalist in 1950, but Bow’s self-realization focused his creativity onto crafting in three dimensions rather than two. Bow’s early bronzes were acquired by the NGV. He joined the Contemporary Art Society of Australia, Victoria, until 1961. His work is represented in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, & Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. This rare, incredible mid century abstract piece marks the transition from Modernist aesthetic to an Abstract Expressionist motif, which had just taken America by storm in the early 1950s.