Marjorie Woolcock
{{Short description|Australian painter and sculptor}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2024}}
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Marjorie Woolcock (1898–5 March 1998Probate notice. Marjorie Woolcock: Art & Artists files, held in the National Gallery of Australia Research Library & Archive Collection.) was an Australian painter and sculptor.
Biography
Born in Ivanhoe to Robena Black and Frederick Woolcock,{{Cite news |date=1894-07-07 |title=Family Notices |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197466105 |access-date=2024-04-23 |work=Age}} as one of three sisters, Marjorie grew up learning the piano and experimenting with art.{{Cite book |title=Form and flowers : Maidie McGowan, Anne Montgomery, Marjorie Woolcock |publisher=City of Waverley |year=1989 |location=Wheelers Hill, Victoria}} She was schooled at Presbyterian Ladies College. She would later perform at a party for the school with her sister Violet, who would accompany her piano with violin.{{Cite news |date=1929-03-20 |title=OLD COLLEGIANS |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article275712547 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
Woolcock would travel south from her home to sketch in Mordialloc, which is how she once had a chance encounter with the artist Margaret Baskerville. The plen air tradition of painting would inspire her later landscape work of Corryong, Victoria.{{Cite news |date=1939-10-04 |title=SPRING SHOW OPENED |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article277942020 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
Work
Her art training was far from formal, with private lessons from Frederick George Reynolds, and George Bell. She would continue to acknowledge the influence Bell had on her skill throughout her career. He opened her joint exhibition with artist Jessie Mackintosh in 1946.{{Cite news |date=1946-05-09 |title=GUIDES’ TEA, SOCIAL JOTTINGS |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278991699 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
She would first develop her formal technique at sculpting, attending life class at the Victorian Artists' Society, and sculpture at the Workingmen's College (later known as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). While at the Workingmen's College she would take a class in Modelling the Human Figure From a Cast.{{Cite news |date=1932-02-03 |title=TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203181468 |access-date=2024-04-23 |work=Age}} It wasn't until later that she would study painting, with her style being heavily influenced by Arnold Shore.
Marjorie would exhibit her art frequently with the Melbourne Society of Women Painters. In 1953 she would take part in a spring exhibition at the Victorian Artists' Society which featured women as more than half the exhibitors shown.{{Cite news |date=1953-09-29 |title=Artists' Springshow |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279566142 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}} She was joined at this show by fellow artists Esther Paterson and Ola Cohn. Woolcock would have success as a temporary art teacher at a girls' school in Brighton during the Second World War.
In later life she would travel to coastal areas of Victoria to paint, with her favourite places being Wilson's Promontory and Phillip Island.
Exhibitions
- Melbourne Society of Women Painters, 1937{{Cite news |date=1937-10-05 |title=SHOW BY WOMEN PAINTERS |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article277949148 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1941{{Cite news |date=1941-10-22 |title=ART AND WAR |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8211979 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Argus}}
- Victorian Artists' Society, Eastern Hill, 1944{{Cite news |date=1944-04-24 |title=VICTORIAN ARTISTS EXHIBITION |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278882356 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1945{{Cite news |date=1945-10-09 |title=WOMEN PAINTERS’ EXHIBITION |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278636385 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Marjorie Woolcock and Jessie Mackintosh, Athenaeum Gallery, 1946{{Cite news |date=1946-05-23 |title=TWO WOMEN SHOW AT ATHENAEUM |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269585478 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Corryong Courier and Walwa District News}}
- Ballet Society exhibition, 1948{{Cite news |date=1948-02-25 |title=BALLET SKETCHES |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279324588 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Melbourne Contemporary Artists, Eastern Hill, 1949{{Cite news |date=1949-10-18 |title=ART REVIEWS Adventure And Vitality In Contemporary Show |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279511769 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1950{{Cite news |date=1950-10-18 |title=Samba will brighten Derby Eve Ball |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23019199 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Argus}}
- Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, 1951{{Cite news |date=1951-10-16 |title=ART Two poles apart |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279734058 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
- Victorian Artists' Society, 1954{{Cite news |date=1954-09-21 |title=Two art peaks in big spring show |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279599547 |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=Sun News-Pictorial}}
Works
[https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/29954/ Yachts at Dromana] (1970), National Gallery of Victoria
Further reading
[https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9910692583607636 Marjorie Woolcock] [Australian art and artists file], State Library Victoria
[https://national-gallery.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61UNI_NGA/1oniubr/alma991000960340402361 Marjorie Woolcock] [Australian art and artists file], National Gallery of Australia
[https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma998491273607636 Form and flowers : Maidie McGowan, Anne Montgomery, Marjorie Woolcock], State Library Victoria
[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/556875 Marjorie Woolcock interviewed by Barbara Blackman] [sound recording], National Library of Australia