CHAPMAN, DORA (1911-1995)

"Boy With A Knife" (c.1950)
oil on board
100 x 76cm
signed lower right
*ex-AGSA Collection
*private collection, Sydney
 
Chapman was a prominent, award-winning Australian Modernist & Printmaker. She won a scholarship to the S.A. School of Arts & Crafts (1928-1932) & studied in 1936-41 under Marie Tuck & Dorrit Black. From 1935 she exhibited with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts (RSASA) & was elected an associate member while still a student. In 1940 Chapman was awarded the RSASA's Alex Melrose Prize & in 1941 won the RSASA Portrait Prize. After the war Chapman & the Sydney artist James Cant co-founded the Studio of Realist Art (SORA) in Sydney; she became its secretary, gave drawing lessons & established a library at SORA's premises & organised & participated in SORA exhibitions. In 1950, she went to London & remained there for five years with her husband, also visiting France & Italy. Chapman lectured at the SA School of Art from 1958-69. She was also an art critic for the Adelaide Advertiser during these years. She became interested in representing aspects of human character, & produced a series of silkscreens in the form of stylised, female portrait heads. Chapman is represented in significant National Galleries & Institutions!! This fascinating Modernist painting was previously part of the Art Gallery Of South Australia Collection.