Kenneth Robertson MacQueen (1897 - 1960)

Biography

1897 Born in Ballarat, Victoria
1915-18 Enlists with the army, serving in France. Studies drawing through correspondence
1918 Trained at the Slade School and the Westminster School of Art, London (under Bernard Meninsky); Exhibited at the Royal Academy and New English Art Club, London
1919 Returned to Australia. In 1922 purchased a property at Millmerran on the Darling Downs (Qld) with brother. Lived daily life on a farm and painted the land - 'I like to think of the country I am painting - I feel it in my bones ...' Known for his treatment of sky and clouds Foundation Member of the Australian Academy of Art. Member of the Australian Contemporary Group, Australia Watercolour Institute and Society of Artists, Sydney
1953 Received Coronation Medal
1959 Appointed Trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery
1960 Died at property in Millmerran

Exhibitions

1922-57 Society of Artists Annual Exhibitions, Sydney
1926 'A Group of Modern Painters', Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney
1929-57 Australian Watercolour Institute Annual Exhibitions, Sydney
1933, 35, 38 Solo exhibitions, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney
1933-41 The Contemporary Group Annual Exhibitions, Sydney
1938 '150 Years of Australian Art', Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1943-47, 58 Half Dozen Group of Artists Annual exhibitions, Canberra Hotel, Brisbane
1944 Solo exhibition, Canberra Galleries, Brisbane
1945, 48 Solo exhibitions, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney
1947, 51, 52 Royal Queensland Art Society Annual Exhibitions, Finney's Art Gallery, Brisbane
1949 'Summer Exhibition of Watercolours', Queensland National Art Gallery, Brisbane
1950 '110 Years of Australian Art', Farmer's Blaxland Galleries, Sydney
1951, 54 Solo exhibitions, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney
1951 'Commonwealth Jubilee Celebration Exhibition', Queensland National Art Gallery, Brisbane
1952 'Queensland Artists of Fame and Promise', The Arts Council of Australia, Brisbane
1952 Solo exhibition, John Martin's Art Gallery, Adelaide
1956, 58 Solo exhibitions, Moreton Galleries, Brisbane
1959 Minnie Crouch Watercolour Prize exhibition, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat
1972 'First Retrospective Exhibition of the Paintings of Kenneth Macqueen from the private collections of the Macqueen family', Gemini Arts Festival, Toowoomba
1981 'Kenneth Macqueen', University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane

Collections

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Armidale City Art Gallery
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum
Lionel Lindsay Gallery, Toowoomba
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
Rockhampton Art Gallery, Qld
The Howard Hinton Collection, Teacher's College, Armidale
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Numerous private collections in Australia and overseas

Sources:
'Adventure in Watercolour: An Artist's Story', written and illustrated by Kenneth Macqueen, Legend Press, Sydney, 1948
Stephen Rainbird, 'Kenneth Macqueen', exhibition catalogue, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 6 Nov - 13 Dec 1987

KR