Anne Dangar

Anne Dangar
Anne Dangar on the balcony at Moly-Sabata, 1940s. Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive
Born
Anne Garvin Dangar

1 December 1885
Kempsey, New South Wales
Died4 September 1951(1951-09-04) (aged 65)
France
Occupation(s)Painter and potter

Anne Dangar (1 December 1885 – 4 September 1951) was an Australian painter and potter.[1]

Life and training

Dangar was born in Kempsey, a town on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, daughter of Otho Dangar, who was a member of the Legislative Assembly and Elizabeth Dangar. From 1906 Dangar studied art in Sydney with Horace Moore-Jones and then at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. Dangar began teaching there in 1920, while also working at the book publishing company Angus & Robertson.[2]

In 1926, Dangar travelled to France with her lifelong friend and correspondent Grace Crowley and attended André Lhote's Academy in Paris and his summer school at Mirmande. Dangar returned to Sydney in 1929, but found resistance in Sydney to the cubist-influenced style she had developed in France.[3][4] Like her friends Dorrit Black and Grace Crowley, Dangar was strongly influenced by the Modernist and Cubist art movements she was exposed to in Paris.[3]

Dangar travelled back to France in 1930 and joined Moly-Sabata [fr], an artists' commune established by Albert Gleizes. Dangar was heavily influenced by Gleizes teachings. She also pursued an apprenticeship with local potters in the nearby towns of Saint-Desirat and Annonay.[5] She held an exhibition in 1932 at the Musée d'Annonay, in Annonay.[6] She contributed to the development and understanding of modernism, particularly cubism, in Australia through her 21 year correspondence with Grace Crowley and other Australian artists.[7] Crowley kept the letters and gave them to the Mitchell Library[8] and they were subsequently collated and edited by Helen Topliss.[9]

Her letters to Grace Crowley reveal much about the difficulties with which Dangar supported herself and her art at this time.[10] Dangar travelled to Morocco in 1939 and spent six months in Fez working with and for, and learning from, local potters. However, political instability and the outbreak of World War II caused her to cut the trip short and she was back in France in 1940.

Dangar lived in Sablons throughout the war and decided to remain there after the war. Anne Dangar died of complications from a stroke at Moly-Sabata on 4 September 1951.[4] She was buried at Serrières, Ardèche, across the river from Moly-Sabata.[1]

Works

Dangar was commissioned in 1934 to create La Vierge et l'enfant Jesu [Virgin and infant Jesus] first acquired by Cesar Geoffray and more recently by the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art[3] The work has been identified as a good example of rustic cubism.[3]

Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Powerhouse Museum, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art[11] as well as in many state and regional galleries, and in major French collections[12] such as the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris. A significant number of her works are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia[13] and the Art Gallery of News South Wales.[14]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions of her work include:

Her work has also been exhibited in several group shows including:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Maxwell, Helen (1993). "Biography - Anne Garvin Dangar". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 13. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  2. ^ Gaze, Delia (1997). Dictionary of women artists. Vol. 1. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1884964214.
  3. ^ a b c d Harding, Lesley, and Sue Cramer, eds. Cubism and Australian Art. No. 124. The Miegunyah Press, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Adams, Bruce. Rustic Cubism: Anne Dangar and the Art Colony at Moly-Sabata. University of Chicago Press, 2004.
  5. ^ National Gallery of Australia (2022). Know My Name. Canberra, ACT: National Gallery of Australia. ISBN 978-0-642-33498-5. OCLC 1330200661.
  6. ^ Design and Art Australia Online. http://www.daao.org.au/bio/annie-garvin-dangar/events/? Accessed 8 February 2014
  7. ^ "DANGAR, Anne; Tea service | QAGOMA Collection Online". collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  8. ^ Modjeska, Drusilla (11 April 2001). "French Sabbatical". The Australian Review of Books: 14–15, 26.
  9. ^ Dangar, Anne (2000). Earth, fire, water, air : Anne Dangar's letters to Grace Crowley, 1930-1951. Helen Topliss, Grace Crowley. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-241-4. OCLC 45754795.
  10. ^ Dangar, Anne; Topliss, Helen, 1946-; Crowley, Grace, 1890-1979 (2000), Earth, fire, water, air : Anne Dangar's letters to Grace Crowley, 1930-1951, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 978-1-86508-241-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "DANGAR, Anne | QAGOMA Collection Online". collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  12. ^ Webb, Penny (9 February 2005). "Life in the cubist colony". The Age. p. 10.
  13. ^ "Anne Dangar - Search the Collection, National Gallery of Australia". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Works by Anne Dangar | Art Gallery of NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  15. ^ "Anne Dangar at Moly-Sabata". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Works shown in the exhibition Anne Dangar céramiste: Le cubisme au quotidian | Art Gallery of NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Works shown in the exhibition Anne Dangar: ceramics from Moly-Sabata | Art Gallery of NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  18. ^ "Intrepid Women: Australian women artists in Paris 1900-1950". S.H. Ervin Gallery. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Abstraction". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  20. ^ "Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2023.

Further reading

  • Harding, Lesley, and Sue Cramer, eds. Cubism and Australian Art. No. 124. The Miegunyah Press, 2009.
  • Dangar, Anne; Topliss, Helen, 1946-; Crowley, Grace, 1890-1979 (2000), Earth, fire, water, air : Anne Dangar's letters to Grace Crowley, 1930-1951, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 978-1-86508-241-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Gaze, Delia, Mihajlovic, Maja and Shrimpton, Leanda Dictionary of women artists. Fitzroy Dearborn, London; Chicago, 1997.
  • Harding, Lesley, and Sue Cramer, eds. Cubism and Australian Art. No. 124. The Miegunyah Press, 2009.