Charles Blackman
Born in 1928 in Sydney, Charles Blackman is regarded as one of the most significant figurative artists of the late 20th Century in Australia. He studied at the East Sydney Technical College, attending night classes in drawing and design. He worked as an artist for the Sydney Sun for five years before moving to Melbourne in 1952 where he married and settled. A prolific worker, he had already shown great promise when he gained prominence through a press controversy caused by the reproduction of his drawing The Swimmer, in the Melbourne Herald in May 1953.
Throughout his career he has exhibited prolifically, the great strength of his work being in his drawing. Renowned for his images of children, flowers, cats, the sea and scenes inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, his 1950s Schoolgirls series, remained a theme to which he returned for years.
He was awarded the Rowney Prize for drawing in 1959, swiftly followed by a successful exhibition at the Johnson Gallery, and simultaneously the award of the Helena Rubenstein Scholarship in 1960. Blackman spent quite some time in London and his work was included in the Whitechapel Open Exhibition in 1961 and Tate Gallery exhibitions of Australian Art 1962-63. By 1977, Blackman's status amongst Australian contemporary painters was such that an OBE was conferred on him 'for services to art'. In 1993 the first major retrospective of Blackman's work, 'Schoolgirls and Angels' was curated by Felicity St John Moore for the National Gallery of Victoria which toured to Brisbane City Hall Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Exhibitions
1989 Tokyo
1989 Saville Galleries, Sydney
1989 BMG, SydneyI
1988 Leonard Gallery
1988 Charles Hodrum, Melbourne
1988 BMG Adelaide
1988 Greenhill, Perth
1987 Tolarno, Melbourne
1985 Holdsworth, Sydney
1985 Ray Hughes, Brisbane
1984 Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide Festival
1983 Alice in Wonderland, Heide Gallery, Melbourne
1978 Hong Kong Exhibition at the Australian Royal Commission
1977 'Colette' at Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney and Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1976 Homage to Surfers Paradise and Ode to St Albans, Canberra
1974 'Retrospective Drawing' exhibition, Adelaide Festival
1973 Tokyo Japan (solo)
1967 Mertz Collection, Washington DC, USA
1966 Festival of Perth Invitation Exhibition
1965 'Young Australians' Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
1965 Clune Gallery, Sydney
1964 Zwemmer Gallery, London
1964 'Towner Gallery' Eastbourne, UK
1964 Art for Science exhibition, Canterbury, UK
1964 South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
1963 'Four Australian Painters' Queen's Square Gallery, Leeds UK
1963 Australian Painting Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London
1963 'Hallmark Awards' exhibition, US
1963 Saigon, 'Twenty Nations' exhibition
1963 Australians Abroad exhibition, Folkstone, UK
1963 British Arts Council show toured UK and Germany.
1963 Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
1962 Whitechapel Gallery, London
1961 Biennale de Jeunes, Paris
1961 Mattiesen Gallery, London
1950-60 15 one-man shows in Australian capital cities
Collections
He is represented in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, all Australian State and many regional galleries, and many major galleries, university and private collections both in Australia and overseas.
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