Rex Wood

For the Toronto, Canada artist, see Rex Woods (artist).

Rex Wood
Born
Thomas Percy Reginald Wood[1]

(1906-04-06)6 April 1906[2]
Laura, South Australia,[2] Australia
Died1970 (1971)[3]
Lisbon,[4] Portugal

Rex Wood (6 April 1906 – 1970) was a South Australian pre and post-war artist who lived for many years in Portugal.[5][6][7]

Biography

Early Life

He was born Thomas Percy Reginald Wood in Laura, South Australia, the eldest of four boys born to Rev. Tom Percy Wood, who was the rector at St. John’s Church of England Church in Laura, and Fannie née Newbury.[8] He was brother to Jack Newbury Wood, Dean Charlton Wood and Noel Herbert Wood who was also an artist. Their grandfather Thomas Percy Wood, also an Anglican minister in South Australia, was an accomplished watercolorist.[9]

Education

Wood grew up at Laura and then Currency Creek where his father became the minister at the English Church at Finniss. He later attended St Peter’s College.[10] He studied painting at the South Australian School of Art[11][12] under Mary Packer Harris (1891–1978), and was soon recognised as a realist in a variety of mediums.[citation needed][13] In 1932 he won a prize for a holiday poster and in 1934 he won equal first prize in the Elizabeth Armstrong Memorial for Still Life Painting at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts[14][15]

Career

Rex Wood was an Associate member of the South Australian Society of Arts (SASA later the Royal South Australian Society of Arts) from 1932 until 1939. He exhibited in group exhibitions from the SASA Spring exhibition of 1932 until 1937[16] with two solo exhibitions in 1935[17] and 1937.[18] Before his departure for England Rex Wood’s final solo exhibition of paintings and lino-cut prints at the RSASA Gallery was opened by Lady Bonython in November 1937 and the exhibition was favourably reviewed by The Advertiser’s art critic H.E. Fuller.[19] Wood was represented in a number of exhibitions alongside fellow artists including Ivor Hele and Hans Heysen

Wood worked as an art critic for the News newspaper from about March 1934 until 1937. He reviewed, for example, Kathleen Sauerbier’s first solo exhibition at the SASA Gallery in June 1934 for the News.[20][21] Then in January 1938 he departed for England and the Continent.[22] He studied at the Anglo-French Art Centre at St John's Wood and the Southampton Row School of Art. He spent much of the war years in Portugal, maintaining some contact with Australia, sending the occasional column to The News, and purchasing some works for the Art Gallery of South Australia.[23] He visited Australia in the mid-1950s,[24] and then returned to Portugal,[25] where he died in Lisbon in 1970.

Works

References

  1. ^ Registry of BD&M. SA Government. p. 763/287.
  2. ^ a b "Family Notices". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXI, no. 18, 533. South Australia. 7 April 1906. p. 6. Retrieved 1 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Rex Thomas Percy Reginald Wood Australia, Britain, 1908-70". Art Sales Digest. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  4. ^ Tannock, Michael (1978). Portuguese 20th Century Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. Phillimore. ISBN 978-0-85033-312-1.
  5. ^ Benko, Nancy (1969). Art and Artists of South Australia. Adelaide: Lidums. p. 156.
  6. ^ Campbell, Jean (1980). Australian Watercolour Painters 1780-1980. Adelaide: Rigby. p. 340. ISBN 0727017381.
  7. ^ McDonald, Jan (1986). Australian Artists’ Index. Sydney: Arts Libraries Society. p. 417. ISBN 0947101004.
  8. ^ "Country Intelligence". Southern Argus (Port Elliot S.A.). 27 November 1913. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  9. ^ Glenn R. Cooke. "Noel Wood b. 1912". Design and Art Australia On-line. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  10. ^ "LOCAL". Southern Argus (Port Elliot, S.A.). 27 November 1919. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  11. ^ Galleries, Deutsher; Butler, Roger; Witt, Dixie (1978). A Survey of Australian Relief Prints, 1900/1950. Deutsher Galleries. ISBN 978-0-908180-00-4.
  12. ^ "SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CRAFTS". The Advertiser (Adelaide). 21 December 1928. p. 6. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  13. ^ "Good work in Color". News (Adelaide). 20 June 1934. p. 7. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  14. ^ "SOCIAL AND PERSONAL". Bunyip (Gawler, SA). 10 June 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  15. ^ "Distribution Of Prizes". The Advertiser (Adelaide). 24 May 1934. p. 8. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  16. ^ "Group Show By S.A. Artists". The News (Adelaide). 30 June 1937. p. 10. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  17. ^ "Exhibition Of Works Of Rex Wood". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 26 June 1935. p. 16. Retrieved 31 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "Arresting Work by Rex Wood". The News (Adelaide). Vol. XXIX, no. 4, 461. South Australia. 9 November 1937. p. 9. Retrieved 31 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Fuller, H.E. (4 November 1937). "Colorful Pictures By Rex Wood". The Advertiser (Adelaide). p. 14. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  20. ^ Wood, Rex (20 June 1934). "Good work in Color". News (Adelaide). p. 7. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  21. ^ Wood, Rex. "GERTRUDE BRITTEN'S PAINTINGS". News (Adelaide). p. 3. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  22. ^ "THE AMATEUR THEATRE". News (Adelaide). 8 January 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  23. ^ ""Nude," New London Purchase, At Gallery Soon". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 14 June 1946. p. 12. Retrieved 31 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ a b "Rex Wood". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  25. ^ Alan McCulloch, Encyclopedia of Australian Art, first edition 1968; Hutchinson of London
  26. ^ "Josephine Piazza". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  27. ^ Wood, Rex. "not titled [Woman on a chaise lounge]". Item held by National Gallery of Australia.