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John Dowie (artist)

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John Dowie
AM
Born(1915-01-15)15 January 1915
Prospect, South Australia
Died19 March 2008(2008-03-19) (aged 93)
Adelaide, South Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Painter and sculptor
Known forPainting and sculpting
John Dowie's sculpture Three Rivers in Victoria Square, Adelaide.

John Stuart Dowie AM (15 January 1915 – 19 March 2008) was an Australian painter, sculptor and teacher. His work includes over 50 public sculpture commissions, including the "Three Rivers" fountain in Victoria Square, "Alice" in Rymill Park, the "Victor Richardson Gates" at Adelaide Oval and the "Sir Ross & Sir Keith Smith Memorial" at Adelaide Airport.

History

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Dowie was born in the Adelaide suburb of Prospect, a son of Charles Stuart Dowie (c. 1874–1937)[1] and his wife Gertrude Phillis Dowie, née Davey (1881–1956), who married in 1910.[2] His siblings were David Lincoln Dowie (1911–1991), Jean Phillis Dowie (1913–2010), and Donald Alexander "Don" Dowie (1917–2016).[3][4] The family moved to the leafy suburb of Dulwich in 1917.

He attended Rose Park primary school and Adelaide High School before studying architecture at the University of Adelaide and painting at the South Australian School of Art; teachers included Ivor Hele and Marie Tuck.[5] Between 1936 and 1940 he studied architecture at the University of Adelaide, immersed in the avant-garde movement then prevalent: he designed the cover for Phoenix, which gave rise to Angry Penguins. He contributed eight linocuts to Phoenix in 1935 and 1936.[6]

He enlisted with the 2nd AIF in 1940, serving in the 2/43rd Battalion and fought in the siege of Tobruk — the "Rats of Tobruk".[7] He next worked in the Military History Unit of the Second AIF as an assistant to Australia's first official war sculptor, Lyndon Dadswell.[5] In 1943 he returned to his old Battalion, serving at Finschhafen, New Guinea.

After studying art in London and Florence, Dowie returned to Australia and became a member of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts and Dorrit Black's "Group 9", which included Geoffrey Shedley and Mary Shedley, Lisette Kohlhagen, Mary Harris, Ernst Milston, Marjorie Gwynne, and Ruby Henty.[8]

One of his earliest commissions was from Adelaide architect D. P. Michelmore for the Ross and Keith Smith memorial, first installed outside the Vickers-Vimy hangar at the domestic terminal, West Beach Airport (since renamed Adelaide Airport). A massive undertaking, it consists of four oversize standing figures in high relief, carved in Gosford sandstone, overall size 3.36 by 2.74 metres (11.0 ft × 9.0 ft), and was unveiled on 27 April 1958.[9] It now stands outside the Vickers-Vimy Memorial at the east end of the new Terminal.

Since that time he made many dozens of statues, mostly in bronze, of prominent figures, none more so perhaps than the bust of Elizabeth II, who sat for him on five occasions in 1987 in the Yellow Drawing-room at Buckingham Palace. Dowie modelled directly in clay, from which he made plaster moulds (at the Palace) which were sent to the Meridian Sculpture Foundry,[a] Fitzroy, Melbourne, to be cast in bronze, by the lost-wax process, in time for the official opening of New Parliament House in March 1988.[10]

Recognition

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Dowie was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1981 in recognition of his service to the arts as a sculptor and painter.[11] He was nominated for Senior Australian of the Year in 2005,[12]

Personal

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After the death of his mother Dowie purchased the family home at 28 Gurney Road, Dulwich. Dowie never married. The painter Helen Alexandra "Penny" Dowie (born 3 August 1948) is a niece,[13][14] daughter of Donald Alexander "Don" and Margaret "Peg" Dowie, née Burden,[15][16]

Dowie died on 19 March 2008, aged 93, in an Adelaide nursing home, after suffering a stroke the week before,[17] and was buried in a country churchyard near Littlehampton, South Australia.

Works

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Partial list of public works by John Dowie

Image Name Year Location Notes
Soldier 1955 Roseworthy College chapel
Ross and Keith Smith 1958 Adelaide Airport sandstone bas relief
Platypus fountain 1960 Raleigh Walk, Elizabeth in pool designed by Geoff Shedley
Piccaninny drinking fountain 1960 Rymill Park, Adelaide
Hans Heysen 1961 Hahndorf Academy duplicate at "The Cedars"
Alice 1961 Rymill Park, Adelaide
Pan fountain 1962 Veale Gardens, Adelaide
Kangaroo and Platypus 1963 Hemel Hempstead, UK a gift from the town of Elizabeth, SA
Stilt Boy 1963 Adelaide High School
Father and Son 1964 Garema Place, Canberra
Howard Florey 1966 North Terrace, Adelaide
Vic Richardson gates 1967 Adelaide Oval
Three Rivers fountain 1968 Victoria Square, Adelaide
Charles Bean 1969 Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Mellis Napier 1970 North Terrace, Adelaide
Edward Morgan 1970 Art Gallery of South Australia
Icarus 1971 Melbourne Airport, Melbourne
Tjilbruke 1972 Kingston Park, South Australia assemblage of gneiss boulders
The Art of Learning 1972 University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes 85 relief mullions from four designs
Keith Russack memorial 1972 Adelaide High School
Lachlan Macquarie 1973 FAI Insurance building, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Thomas Playford 1973 Parliament House, Adelaide
Memorial (to whom?) 1974 St Columba's Church, Hawthorn, Adelaide bronze aumbry and plaque
George the orangutan 1976 Adelaide Zoo
The Slide 1977 Rundle Mall, Adelaide
Mark Oliphant 1978 North Terrace, Adelaide
Child with hula hoop 1978 Nurses memorial gardens
Zelman Cowen 1979 University of Queensland, Brisbane
Hamish Bruce memorial gate 1980s St Peter's College, Adelaide depicts discus, rowing, football
Mildred Mocatta fountain 1980s Hackney, Adelaide
2/43 Battalion memorial cairn 1980 Woodside army camp
John Hackett 1980 Geelong Grammar School
Thomas & Co. fountain 1981 Port Adelaide
Douglas Mawson 1982 North Terrace, Adelaide duplicate at Mawson Base, Antarctica
Elizabeth II 1984 Queen's Place, Brisbane
Robert Richard Torrens 1985 South Australian Parliament Research Library duplicate at Scotch College
John Bishop 1986 Adelaide Festival Centre
Robert Helpmann 1986 Adelaide Festival Centre
Matthew Flinders 1986 Flinders University unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh
W. A. N. Wells 1987 Lands Titles Office, Adelaide
Elizabeth II 1987 Parliament House, Canberra duplicate at Windsor Castle, London
AIF Malaya memorial 1988 Australian War Memorial, Canberra
John Bray 1990 State Library of SA
Alexander Cameron 1997 Penola, South Australia
Skater 1997 Burnside City Council
John Rymill 1998 Coonawarra, SA duplicate at Rymill winery
John Riddoch 1998 Rymill winery, Coonawarra

Bibliography

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John Dowie: A Life in the Round, autobiography ed. Tracey Lock-Weir, Wakefield Press Adelaide ISBN 1-86254-550-2

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Notes

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  1. ^ Not to be confused with the foundry of the same name in Peckham Rye, London, the Fitzroy workshops were established in 1973 by Peter Morley, who trained in England.

References

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  1. ^ "Family Notices". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 18 November 1937. p. 12. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Family Notices". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXV, no. 20, 004. South Australia. 22 December 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ Richard Willing. "Donald Dowie". ANARE Club Bulletin. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Virtual War Memorial: DOWIE, Donald Alexander". Virtual War Memorial Limited. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. ^ a b John Stuart Dowie Archived 21 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Carrick Hill (Government of South Australia).
  6. ^ Cheryl Hoskin. "Phoenix 1935". "A Genius About the Place": The Phoenix Magazine and Australian modernism (PDF).
  7. ^ Dowie 'truly great South Australian', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19 March 2008.
  8. ^ "Novel Group 9 Exhibition". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 November 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  9. ^ John Dowie. "Ross — a Reminiscence". In Tracey Lock-Weir (ed.). John Dowie: A Life in the Round. Wakefield Press, Adelaide. ISBN 1862545448.
  10. ^ John Dowie. "The Queen is my Subject". In Tracey Lock-Weir (ed.). John Dowie: A Life in the Round. Wakefield Press, Adelaide. ISBN 1862545448.
  11. ^ Dowie, John Stuart, It's an Honour (Australian Government).
  12. ^ John Dowie AM, Australian of the Year
  13. ^ Biographical cuttings on Penny Dowie, artist, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals.
  14. ^ "Penny Dowie". Design and Art Australia Online.
  15. ^ "Family Notices". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 91, no. 28027. South Australia. 5 August 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 9 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "About People". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 96, no. 29, 748. South Australia. 16 February 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 9 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ Sculptor John Dowie dies, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19 March 2008.
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