COLLINGS, GEOFFREY (1905-2000)

$3,750.00

$1,875.00

"Prospect Of Whitby, Wapping" (1933)

watercolour

27.5 x 37.5cm

signed lower right

*exhibited at the Society Of Artists, 1933

*special mention in The Herald

*privated collection, Sydney

Collings was an important Australian Artist, Graphic Designer & Filmmaker. He studied art at the Brisbane Technical College, from 1919-22. Following the death of his mother in 1924, Collings left Brisbane & travelled north, working as a Jackaroo in Nth QLD & the NT. He returned to Brisbane in 1927, working as a freelance commercial artist & graphic designer. In 1930 Geoffrey travelled to London where he took night classes in drawing & painting at St Martins School of Art & etching at the London Central School of Art & Design, where he met many fellow Australians including William Dobell. At this time Geoffrey developed an interested in photography & purchased a press camera. On returning to Australia in 1933, Geoffrey settled in Sydney & set up Collings Studio, as a designer to industry. While looking for a studio assistant he met his future wife, a graphic designer named Dulcie May Wilmot (Dahl). In 1935 Geoffrey returned to London with Dahl, taking a position as the Art Director at Erwin Wasey. Through Dahl’s work he met Professor Laszlo Maholy Nagy & György Kepes from the Bauhaus. The European influence would change the direction of his work completely, encouraging him to work collaboratively with other artists and designers and to work across various mediums and disciplines. Inspired by the Bauhaus principle of reintegrating art and design, Collings aim was to introduce Australia to European trends in art and design and to establish a commercial art firm that functioned through mutual support and collaboration. Over the following decades, Collings produced a number of important documentary films, worked for the United Nations & won several international awards, e.g. Venice Biennale. Geoffrey is represented in a number of Australian collections including the Powerhouse Museum, The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra & the NGV.