Roland Wakelin (1887-1971)

Biography

1887 Born in Greytown, New Zealand
1904 Studied painting under Henri Bastings, Wellington Technical School
1908-09 Visited Sydney, where his brother had settled
1910 Fist exhibited, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington
1912 Moved to Sydney
1913 Enrolled in classes at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales, studying painting and life drawing under Dattilo Rubbo
1913 Worked in Federal Land Tax Office
1913 Married Estelle Robinson
1914 Worked as a ticket writer in Mark Foy's and David Jones department stores
1916 Council of Royal Art Society of New South Wales
1916 Joined commercial art firm of Smith & Julius, run by Sydney Ure Smith
1918 Met Roy de Maistre, became interested in theory of colour in relation to music
1920 Influenced by Max Meldrum's theory of tonalism
1922-24 Lived in London. Worked as a freelance commercial artist. Visited Paris.
1924 Returned to Sydney. Worked as a commercial artist with O'Brien Publicity Co. until 1941
1934 Elected to membership of the Society of Artists
1935 Painting purchased by the Art Gallery of NSW
1942-50 Worked in PMG Drawing Office, Sydney
1950-51 Moved to Melbourne. Taught at the National Gallery School
1952-69 Instructor in art at School of Architecture, University of Sydney
1956-57 Visited England, Holland, France and Italy
1971 Died in Rose Bay, Sydney

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1922 Anthony Horden's
1925, 28 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1930 Retrospective, Ball Green, Turramurra
1934-37 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1940-46 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Sydney
1942 Retrospective, Art Gallery of NSW
1949-50 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Sydney
1952, 54 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1957 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1962 Retrospective, Bank of NSW, Sydney
1967 Major Retrospective, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1967, 70 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1972 Memorial exhibition, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney

Selected Group Exhibitions

1914, 18 Society of Artists, Sydney, annual exhibitions
1915-16, 18, 25 Royal Art Society of NSW, annual exhibitions
1916 Gayfield Shaw's Art Salon, Sydney, exhibition of colour music
1920-21 Society of Artists, Sydney, annual exhibitions
1926-59 The Contemporary Group, Grosvenor Galleries
1931 The London Group
1934-43 Society of Artists, Sydney, annual exhibitions
1938 '150 years of Australian Art', Art Gallery of NSW
1941 'Art of Australia 1788-1941', travelled USA and Canada
1945-65 Society of Artists, Sydney, annual exhibitions
1947, 48, 53 Contemporary Art Society
1951 'Jubilee Exhibition of Australian Art'
1959 'Survey Exhibition of Australian Post Impressionists', National Gallery of Victoria
1962-63 'Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary', Adelaide, Perth, London (Tate Gallery), Ottawa and Vancouver
Selected a number of times for the Archibald Prize exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW

Awards

1947   Society of Artists Medal
1966   International Cooperation Art Award

Collections

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale
Robert Holmes a Court collection
Numerous private collections throughout Australia and overseas

Source:
Leslie Walton, 'The Art of Roland Wakelin', Craftsman House, Sydney, 1987

KR