Nayads, 1992-1993

Inge King

Biography

Born in Berlin in 1915, Inge left Germany for London in mid-1939. She studied first at the Royal Academy in London and then at the Glasgow School of Art. In 1947, Inge moved to the Abbey Art Centre, an artists’ community near London, where she met her future husband, Australian painter/print maker, Grahame King.

In early 1951, the Kings arrived in Melbourne where they were to work and live for the remainder of their long lives. While it was challenging for Inge to adjust to Australia’s culturally staid, conservative environment, the house the Kings’ built in bushy Warrandyte and the birth of their children provided a degree of stability after the tumultuous war years. With a determination to always look forward, Inge learned jewellery at the Melbourne Technical College, (now RMIT University) designing and making hand-beaten silver and copper rings, earrings, pendants and bracelets. Highly sought after by the public, her jewellery helped to pay for the materials she needed to produce sculpture.  An engineer neighbour taught her to weld which allowed her to experiment with shaping sculpture from sheet metal. Her boulder-like welded structures, with molten metal dripped along the joins, conjured images of the rocky landscape that the Kings had excavated to build their house. Such structures could stand up to the “untidiness” of the Australian bush. These early works saw Inge at the fore-front of the development of non-figurative sculpture in Australia. She was also a founding member of the renown Centre 5 group of sculptors, whose aim was to “help foster greater public awareness of contemporary sculpture in Australia”.

Over the decades King’s sculptural vision and style evolved and changed. She abandoned the black painted boulder-like structures of the 1960’s for steel ground by hand. Rough steel sheets gradually transformed into precise, sleek, elegant curves culminating in her iconic, monumental wave-like sculpture, Forward Surge, situated in the arts precinct in St Kilda Road. This Melbourne landmark encapsulates her notion that sculpture should be interactive, and she took much pleasure in watching families picnic in its shade and children roller-blade on the curved surfaces.  Flight and movement have always fascinated King, and assemblage (3-dimensional elements projecting out) enabled her to let forms be air-borne, balance shapes or anchor them precariously. Many of King’s large-scale works are found in public spaces and on university campuses around Australia. Every major gallery in Australia owns one or more of her sculptures and she has work in the UK, USA and Germany. King was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in January 1984 and was given the Visual Arts Emeritus Award in recognition of her central role in raising the profile of modern sculpture in Australia.

In these sculptures, the delicate juxtaposition of the pipes and rods create movement and tension, while the strong verticals convey a monumentality, indicative of King’s work.

The pipe motif was a critical development in King’s oeuvre and was a conduit to the brushed stainless-steel works that culminated in her final celestial rings series.  In Hanging Sculpture Seaflower Maquette, (both versions), the hovering suspended disks between supports of uneven height convey a sense of rhythmic movement. In Maquette for Unrealised Fountain the interactive, dancing figures have strength and movement that can be seen in the larger-than-life, joyful figures of Joie de Vivre, at Orica House in Melbourne. Three of the maquettes are from Inge’s personal collection, (marked PC on the base), reflecting the value King placed on these works. The Estate Edition (EE) Hanging Sculpture, Seaflower Maquette (large version) was recently fabricated as one of a small selection of posthumous editions.

Exhibitions

• 2015 ‘Happy Birthday Inge King’, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 2014 ‘Constellation’, The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne
• 2011 ‘Summer Solstice’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
• 2010 ‘Recent Sculpture and Maquettes’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney
• 2009 ‘Sculpture - Maquettes and Recent Work’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne 2008 ‘Recent Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
• 2006 ‘Birds and Celestial Rings’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne
• 2003 ‘Birds and Angels’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2002 ‘Recent Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney 2000 ‘Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
• 1999 ‘Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney ‘Sculpture on Site’, Sydney Festival, The Botanical Gardens, Sydney 1996 ‘Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
  • ‘Sculpture and Works on Paper, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 1995 ‘Survey of works 1943 to 1994’, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC 1994 Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1993 ‘Large & Small Sculptures’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
• 1992 ‘Retrospective’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1991 ‘Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1990 Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne
• 1989 BMGArt, Adelaide ‘Works on Paper
• 1979-1989’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 1988 Australian Galleries, Melbourne
• 1987 Bonython - Meadmore Gallery, Sydney 1985 Realities Gallery, Melbourne
  • Bonython - Meadmore Gallery, Sydney
• 1982 University Gallery, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 1980 Realities Gallery, Melbourne
• 1978 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane Coventry Gallery, Sydney 1977 Realities Gallery, Melbourne
• 1973 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
• 1969 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
• 1949 London Gallery, Brook Street, London, UK

EXHIBITIONS WITH GRAHAME KING

• 2017 ‘Inge King and Grahame King’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
• 2004 McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery, Langwarrin, VIC
• 2002 Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra
• 1976 ‘The Kings’, 15 years retrospective from 1960 to 1975, comprising 40 selected maquettes, sculptures and photographs, Mildura Art Centre, VIC; Touring: Gippsland Art Gallery , VIC; Geelong Gallery , VIC; McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery , Langwarrin, VIC; Benalla Art Gallery, VIC
• 1963 Bonython Gallery, Adelaide 1962 Argus Gallery, Melbourne
• 1960 Gallery A, Sydney
• 1954 Johnston Gallery, Brisbane 1952 Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne 1951 Stanley Coe Gallery, Melbourne

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2019 ‘papermade’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne ‘Melbourne Modern: European art & design at RMIT since 1945’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
• 2017 ‘Sculpture: medium and small scale – Mixed Sculptors’, Australian Galleries, Sydney 2016 Sculpture by the Sea – Twentieth Annual Exhibition, Bondi, Sydney
• 2015 ‘Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism and its Echoes’, The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 2014 ‘Australia Day 2014 Celebratory Exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
• 2013 ‘Australian Galleries at Gallows Gallery’, Gallows Gallery, Perth
• 2010 ‘Artists’ Prints made with Integrity I’, Australian Galleries, Smith Street, Melbourne 2009-10 ‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne
• 2009 ‘BIG NAMES little sculptures’, Annette Larkin Fine Art, Sydney
• 2007 ‘Small Pleasures’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne
• 2006 ‘Summery’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Sydney
  • ‘Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne
  • ‘Impressions’, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
  • ‘50th Anniversary Exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne
  • ‘Fine Australian Prints and Drawings’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Melbourne
• 2004 ‘Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 2003 ‘This was the future’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 2001 ‘Sculpture by the Sea’, Bondi, Sydney
  • ‘Six women artists’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 2000 ‘Selected Works’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
  • ‘Fine Paintings, Sculpture and Tapestry’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1999 ‘Fine Paintings and Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1998 ‘Fine Paintings and Sculpture’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1997 ‘Fine Paintings, Sculpture and Tapestry’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
• 1993 ‘Joan and Peter Clemenger Triennial Exhibition of Contemporary Australian Art’,
  • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1991 ‘Diverse Visions’, Queensland Art Gallery , Brisbane
• 1990 Fourth Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1988 The World Expo ‘88 Collection, Brisbane
• 1987 Third Australian Sculpture Triennial, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 1984 ‘Centre 5’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
  • Second Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1983 ‘Abstract Art in Australia’, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne 1982 Eighth Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
• 1981 First Australian Sculpture T riennial Exhibition, La T robe University , Melbourne
  • ‘Staff Exhibition’, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne
  • Sculpture Award, Caulfield City Arts Centre, Melbourne
• 1976 Sculpture Award, Caulfield City Arts Centre, Melbourne
• 1975 Sixth Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
  • ‘Sculptors’ Sculptors’, Arts Victoria ’75, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ‘Australia ‘75, Festival of the Creative Arts and Sciences’, Commonwealth Gardens, Canberra
• 1974 ‘Centre 5’, Geelong Gallery , VIC; McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery , Langwarrin, VIC ‘Como Exhibition’, Realities Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition’, Ewing Gallery, Melbourne University, Melbourne
• 1973 ‘ The Cairnmillar Exhibition’, George’ s Gallery , Melbourne
• 1972 Sixteenth T asmanian Art Gallery Exhibition, T asmanian Museum & Art Gallery , Hobart 1971 Connoisseur’s Competition, Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Melbourne
  • Marland House Sculpture Competition, Age Gallery, Melbourne
• 1970 Fourth Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
• 1968 Comalco Invitation Award for Sculpture, Melbourne
  • ‘Form in action’, Recent Australian Sculpture, Pan-Pacific Arts Festival, New Zealand, Touring Exhibition
• 1967 ‘Art and the Church’, Anglican Church of St. John the Divine, Melbourne
  • ‘Selected Mildura Sculpture’, George’s Gallery, Melbourne
  • Third Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
  • The Victorian Sculptors’ Society, Melbourne, Touring Exhibition
• 1966 Australian Sculpture Centre, Canberra
• 1965 ‘Centre 5’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Maud Vizard-Wholohan Competition, Royal South Australia Society of Arts,
  • Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
  • ‘Recent Australian Sculpture’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Touring all State Galleries
• 1964 ‘Centre 5’, Hungry Horse Gallery, Sydney
  • Second Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
• 1963 ‘Centre 5’, Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
  • The Victorian Sculptors’ Society, Melbourne, Touring Exhibition
• 1962 ‘Art and the Church’, St. Peter’s, Eastern Hill, Melbourne ‘Four Arts in Australia’, South-East Asia, Touring Exhibition
• 1961 ‘Nine Sculptors’, Argus Gallery , Melbourne
  • First Triennial Exhibition, Mildura Prize for Sculpture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
• 1960 The Victorian Sculptors’ Society, Melbourne, Touring Exhibition
• 1959 ‘Six Sculptors’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1958 The Victorian Sculptors’ Society, Melbourne, Touring Exhibition
• 1956 The Victorian Sculptors’ Society, Retrospective Exhibition, Victorian Artists’
  • Society Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘Twelve Melbourne Sculptors’, Brummels Gallery, Melbourne
    1955 ‘Group of Four‘, School of Architecture, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 1954 The Victorian Sculptors’ Society , Melbourne
• 1953 ‘Present Da y Art of Victoria’, Victorian Artists’ Society Gallery , Melbourne 1950 Laurel Gallery, New York, USA
• 1949 Clay Club, New York, USA
• 1948 London Group, London, UK

COLLECTIONS

Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, VIC
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Australian Embassy Collection, Washington DC, USA Bendigo Art Gallery , Bendigo, VIC
BHP House, Melbourne

BHP Research Laboratory, Melbourne Carrick Hill Sculpture Park, Adelaide Chandler Coventry Collection, Sydney Comalco Collection, Melbourne Deakin University, Melbourne

ESSO Headquarters, Melbourne
Gold Coast City Art Collection, Surfers Paradise, QLD
Ian Potter Foundation for the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne La Trobe University, Melbourne
McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery, Langwarrin, VIC
Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, VIC
Monash University, Peninsula Campus, Frankston, VIC
Museum and Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Capital Development Commission, Canberra
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
New Parliament House, Canberra
Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Queen Victoria Museum and Gallery, Launceston, TAS
Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart
University of Ballarat, Ballarat, VIC
University of Melbourne, Melbourne
University of Western Australia, Perth
Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne
Woden Valley Hospital, Canberra

COMMISSIONS AND SCULPTURES IN PUBLIC PLACES

• 2008 artsACT, Canberra ConnectEast Group, EastLink trail, Melbourne
• 1994 ‘Daedalus’, Deakin University, Woolstores Campus, Geelong, VIC ‘Sheerwater’, Esso Australia, Melbourne
• 1992 ‘Maquette for monumental sculpture’, Law Courts, Brisbane ‘Family Group’, State Superannuation Board, Melbourne
• 1991 ‘Island Sculpture’, McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery, Langwarrin, VIC 1989 ‘Joie de Vivre’, Sculpture for The ICI House, Melbourne
• 1985 ‘Great Gate’, Australian National University , Canberra ‘Jabaroo’, McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery, Langwarrin, VIC
  • ‘Enigma’, Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW 1983 ‘Full Moon’, Wall sculpture, Wentworth Hotel, Melbourne ‘Constellation’, Art Bank, Sydney ‘Totem’, State Bank, Melbourne
• 1982 ‘Sun Ribbon’, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
• 1979-83 Australian Steel Award, BHP , Cairns, QLD
• 1978-80 ‘Hanging Cloud’, Deakin University, Woolstores Campus, Geelong, VIC 1980 Ian Potter Foundation Sculpture Commission, Melbourne
• 1975-76 ‘Black Sun II’, Australian National University, Canberra
• 1976 ‘Dialogue of Circles’, Moat Theatre sculpture, La
• 1975 ‘Number Five’, Woden Valley Hospital, Canberra
• 1974-75 ‘Upward Surge’, Department of Early Childhood Studies, University of Melbourne, Kew Campus, Melbourne

• 1973 ‘Forward Surge’, Arts Centre Plaza, Melbourne
• 1972 ‘Balance of Steel Forms’, BHP House, Melbourne T robe University , Melbourne
• 1971-72 ‘Sir Fred Schonell Memorial Fountain’, University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane ‘Fountain’, Civic Centre, Wodonga, VIC
• 1971 ‘RAAF Memorial’, National Capital Authority, Canberra
  • ‘Fountain for garden’, Mr and Mrs A. Gibson, Melbourne 1968 ‘Wall Sculpture’, BHP Laboratories, Melbourne
• 1965 ‘Fountain’, Norman Bros., Melbourne
• 1964 Georges Hostess Store, Melbourne
• 1959 ‘Dewdrop Fountain’, Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne
• 1957 Victorian Employer’s Federation, VIC
• 1953 ‘The Herald’, The Herald Outdoor Art Show, Melbourne

AWARDS

• 2015 Dame Elisabeth Lifetime Achievement Award for Australian Sculpture, McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery , Langwarrin, VIC
• 2008 Visual Arts Emeritus Award, Australia Council for the Arts, Canberra
• 2006 The Heide Fellowship, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
• 1997 City of Melbourne Honoured Artist Award, Melbourne
• 1993 Doctor of Arts (honoris causa), Royal Melbourne Institute of T echnology , Melbourne 1990 Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), Deakin University, Melbourne
• 1989 Foyer Sculpture Commission, The ICI House, Melbourne 1987 Royal Blind Society Sculpture Award, Sydney
• 1984 AM, Member in the Order of Australia
  • Alice Springs Art Prize, Alice Springs, NT
• 1980 Visual Arts Board Grant for International Sculpture Conference, Washington, USA 1969 Dyason Education Grant, Dyason Foundation, New York, USA
  • British Council Travel Grant, UK 1968 Adelaide Festival Prize, Adelaide
  • Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship Award for Sculpture, Australia 1967 Eltham Art Prize, Melbourne
• 1965 Eltham Art Prize, Melbourne

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Constellation”; Australian Arts Review, 29 April 2014
Harford, Sonia; “Sculptor’s monumental efforts celebrated in show of her life’s work”, The Age, 17 August 2013
Fox Koob, Simone; “King wears sculpture crown”, The Australian, pp 14, October 2015
Grishin, Sasha; “Happy Birthday Inge King at the National Gallery of Australia”, Art Review, The Canberra Times, 20 November 2015
King, Amanda, Cavadini, Fabio; “Artscape: A Thousand Different Angles”, Frontyard Films, ABC TV, 30th March 2010
Northover, Kylie; “Formed by nature”, The Age, 19 April 2014
Puvanenthiran, Bhakthi; “Sculptor Inge King’s long life’s work celebrated in NGV retrospective”, The Age, 30 April 2014
Roberts, Jo; “In Studio Inge King: A life less ordinary”, Gallery, National Gallery Victoria Magazine, March-April edition 2014, p.30-39
Sturgeon, Graeme; “Inge King: An Obdurate Certainty”, ARTAND, Issue No. 51.4, 2014
Trimble, Dr Judith; “Inge King Sculptor”, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996
Trimble, Dr Judith & McGregor, Ken; Inge King: Small sculptures & Maquettes, MacMillan Art Publishing, Melbourne, 2009
Watson, Bronwyn; “Sculptor Inge King’s work celebrated at National Gallery Victoria”, The Australian, Arts Section, 05 May 2014