Rosemary Madigan - Timeline

1926

Born 5th December 1926, Glenelg, South Australia, youngest of 5 children, to Dr Cecil Thomas Madigan (Geologist, Explorer, Author) and Wynnis Knight Madigan (nee Wollaston, daughter of T. C. Wollaston, Botanist, Opal pioneer, Author). Early school years in Blackwood, Adelaide, then Walford House, Unley. Leaves school at 12 owing to illness (petit mal seizures) which keeps her at home for a year.

1938 – 40

Reintegration to Walford is not well handled by those in charge, and Madigan commences studies at Girls Central Art School, Adelaide (1939).

1940

Moves to Sydney with her parents as C.T. Madigan is stationed there for WWII duties; enrolls in night drawing classes at East Sydney Technical College under Liz Blaxland.

1941 – 42

Full time study at ESTC (now National Art School) under sculptor Lyndon Dadswell, among others.

1943 – 46

Returns to Adelaide, continuing night classes at the South Australian School of Art. Fellow students included Jeffrey Smart and Jacqueline Hick. Working at John Martin’s department Store during the day, including as a graphic designer.

1947 – 49

Returns to ESTC and receives her Diploma of Fine Art (Sculpture) in 1948. Fellow students include Robert Klippel, Oliffe Richmond.

March 1949 marries fellow art student John (Jack) Giles, also from Adelaide and son of John Giles (painters, tailor) and Lily Anderson (painter).

Spends 1949 working towards the competition for the NSW Travelling Arts Scholarship.

1950

Awarded the NSW Travelling Arts Scholarship in April, the third sculptor to do so in the history of the award.

In August leaves Australia to study in Europe for three years, stopping in Bombay on the way.

Her first daughter, Mnemosyne, is born in London in November.

1950 – 53

Travels extensively throughout Europe. Jack converts a lorry into a caravan so they can travel independently with the baby - a very unusual sight in the times, especially as much of Europe is recovering from the devastation of WWII. Often they are able to park and sleep overnight right outside a major art institution. Madigan studies through drawing and careful observation in museums, churches and exhibitions, through Sweden, Norway, Germany, France (especially to the Romanesque churches and cathedrals) and Italy. In 1952 they return to London where she studies briefly at the Sir John Cass College, London, which allows her to focus once again on stone carving. Gives birth to her second daughter, Celia, in April 1953.

Spends a month in India on the return voyage, drawing at the caves at Ellora and Ajanta, which are a strong influence on her sculpturally.

1953

On return to Australia, settles in the Adelaide Hills – first in Coromandel Valley and then Eden Hills. Focuses much creative energy on raising her family, with Jack eventually finding work at the CSIRO. She is an accomplished spinner, weaver, dressmaker, gardener.

1957

Establishes the pottery workshop Bindara with Thelma Fisher. By late 1958 they are selling from a shop in Bellevue Heights. Pieces now in the collections of Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, National Gallery of Australia. Her third daughter, Alice is born 1961.

1964

Commences part time teaching at the South Australian School of Art. Builds a large workshop on the Eden Hills property. Completes a major commission – the Downer fountain, St Mark’s College, Adelaide 1964; the important larger relief Eingana 1968 (National Gallery of Australia; Yellow Christ 1968 (Art Gallery of South Australia). She also exhibits in several group shows, including at Gallery A, Sydney.

1972 - 1980

Separates from Jack and moves to Sydney with daughter Alice in late 1972. Commences teaching life drawing at ESTC in 1973, later also at the Sydney Sculpture Centre (1975) and other tertiary institutions in Sydney. She prefers teaching life drawing to sculpture as it allows her some distance from her own sculptural work. From the time she arrives in Sydney she resumes her strong artistic friendship with sculptor Robert Klippel, which develops into a personal partnership that endures until his death in 2001.

Awarded an Australia Council grant in 1976, and exhibits regularly in solo and group exhibitions in Sydney. Completes a commission Nagarr for the Avon Company for their New York office. She does not relish commissions as she feels restricted by them, and does not accept another commission for about 20 years.

Her work from the early 70s includes a wider variety of media. Whilst remaining informed by the solid form of the figure, and continuing her carving practice, she also uses painted wooden assemblage and collage.

Included in Genesis Exhibition Part II, 1978 (Australian National Gallery).

1980s

In 1986 wins the Wynne Prize (Art Gallery of NSW) with her carved sandstone Torso, the first sculptor to receive the prize in more than 50 years.

Exhibits extensively, solo and group exhibitions, including with Rudy Komon Art Gallery, David Jones Art Gallery, Garry Anderson Gallery, Irving Sculpture Gallery, Ried’s Gallery.

Awarded a second Australia Council grant in 1985.

1990s

Special focus exhibition held at Carrick Hill, SA, 1992, with Robert Klippel, including large sandstone work Quartet, which is subsequently sold to the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.

Collaborates with Robert Klippel, jointly painting 76 small polychromed tin, wire assemblages 1995 (now housed at the Art Gallery of NSW).

Collaborates with Robert Klippel jointly painting 37 wooden assemblages; these are exhibited in a joint exhibition Two’s Company at Ray Hughes Gallery, 1998.

Continues to exhibit extensively, solo and group exhibitions, including with Garry Anderson Gallery, Ray Hughes Gallery, Meridian Galleries, and several regional Art Galleries (incl. Benalla, Toowoomba).

Trip to Europe, including highly valued time spent in Greece and Egypt.

2001 - 2019

Builds a house (by architect and friend Gary Lewin) with studio, outdoor stone carving area on 17 hectares land in Yass, NSW. Robert Klippel dies in June 2001, and Madigan moves to Yass.

Enjoys the return to a rural landscape; several more solo and group exhibitions, but increasingly withdraws from the public eye.

Completes large marble head and a series of smaller stone carvings; series of large pastel works and an extensive output of collages and works on paper date from this time; many of which are never exhibited.

Torso 1948 included in National Gallery of Australia Bodies of Art exhibition, 2018.