Dorothy Mary Braund facts for kids
Dorothy Mary Braund (1926–2013) was an Australian artist who created paintings, prints, and also taught art. She was known for her unique style of art after World War II, focusing on people and modern ideas. Dorothy was a very important artist in the Modernist art scene in Australia. She worked alongside other talented women artists like Mary Macqueen and Barbara Brash. Her first art show was in 1952 in Melbourne, and it started her long and successful career. Dorothy had about 29 solo exhibitions and was part of 25 group shows. Her art is also featured in the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art.
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Growing Up as an Artist
Dorothy Braund was born in Malvern, Victoria, on November 15, 1926. She was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Braund. Even as a baby, she loved to make marks, drawing big circles on the wall next to her bed with a gold bracelet. Her parents saw her love for art and always gave her drawing tools and paper.
At school, Dorothy was very good at art. She won both the Art and Sewing Prizes for several years in a row. One day, she found a magazine picture of a simple American sculpture of a woman washing her hair. This picture inspired her because of its simple shape, which looked like one big arch.
Learning to Create Art
Dorothy went to St Margaret's School and Lauriston Girls' School in Malvern. In 1943, a family friend suggested she study art at The George Bell School. However, George Bell thought she was too young at 17 and advised her to enroll at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School instead.
She started studying at RMIT in 1944 but found the industrial design and clay modeling too difficult. From 1945 to 1949, Dorothy studied at the National Gallery School. There, she chose Alan Sumner as her teacher because he taught modern art styles. The school's focus on analyzing art helped her develop her simple painting style. She even won awards for drawing figures and still-life paintings.
Her teachers also sent her to the George Bell School for extra lessons. This school had a big impact on her art. Dorothy also studied in England from 1950 to 1951.
Joining Art Groups and Sharing Ideas
Dorothy Braund joined the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) after meeting John Reed, an art patron, at one of their exhibitions. She found him very interesting.
While at the National Gallery School, Dorothy and another student showed modern artworks with CAS. They faced some trouble when a newspaper reported it was a joke, but Dorothy apologized and continued to exhibit with the group.
She became a regular at George Bell's studio from 1954. Dorothy strongly supported Bell's teaching ideas. After Bell passed away in 1966, some of his former students even came to her for lessons. Bell believed she was important for the future of art in Australia.
In 1954, Dorothy designed the Christmas card for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She also gave talks on ABC Radio from 1961 to 1964. From 1969 to 1977, she reviewed children's books for The Australian newspaper.
Teaching Art to Students
Dorothy Braund taught art at three different schools in Melbourne during the 1950s. From 1952, she taught at Lauriston Girls’ School in Malvern. In 1955, she became the 'Art Mistress' at St Catherine's School, also in Malvern. She also taught disabled children at Rossbourne House in Hawthorn.
Adventures and Inspirations from Travel
Dorothy traveled a lot in the 1950s and 60s. She explored Europe in 1950–51, and visited Italy and Greece in 1958. She also went to Pakistan, Persia (now Iran), Turkey, India, and other parts of Asia. She even hitchhiked in England and Europe, visiting many art galleries.
In 1958, she visited writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift on the Greek island of Hydra. Seeing the works of her favorite artists, Georges Seurat and Piero della Francesca, was even better than she expected. She loved Greece so much that she went back three times. She found the simple colors and shapes of Greece perfect for her painting style.
In 1961, she traveled again with a friend, Guelda Pyke. They took a freighter ship with a Kombi van and drove from Karachi through Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. These journeys greatly inspired her artworks.
Dorothy lived in many places, including Asia, India, Greece, England, and Australia. In 1989, she moved from her family home in Malvern to a house by the sea in Mornington.
Her Unique Art Style
Dorothy Braund always wanted her art to be very simple. Her paintings were often flat, carefully designed, and small. She used oil, gouache (a type of watercolor), or watercolor paints. Her colors were often black, white, brown, grey, and other soft, earthy tones with plain backgrounds. These gentle colors reminded people of old Italian fresco paintings.
Dorothy's art often showed everyday life and social activities, like people at the Australian beach. Her work could be playful or gently funny. She often painted scenes of couples, parents with children, and how people relate to each other. She showed these relationships through the shapes and forms of the human body.
Her art focused on shapes and design, using rhythmic lines, soft color mixes, and simple forms. She used vertical and horizontal lines to create movement and balance. Her goal was to show the main idea of a subject with as little detail as possible. In the 1940s and 50s, she didn't follow the popular romantic style of Australian art. Instead, she wanted to show feelings through observing lines and shapes, and by painting familiar, everyday things. She believed that a painting's story was about creating new ideas. In the mid-1960s, the figures in her art became more angular and abstract.
Her Bali paintings were inspired by the loving relationships she saw between children and their fathers. She once said about her oil painting 'Baby,' that she found heads "disturbing" because they make you think too much about the person. She preferred to show the feeling between two bodies without faces. About her painting 'Ruffled Jumper,' she said she got tired of painting "boring heads" that looked like eggs, so she put a hat on the child. She found painting folds in clothes much easier than painting skin.
Dorothy worked in Melbourne and created many images of women, just like her friend and fellow artist Joy Hester. She had a glass-walled studio in Malvern with views of the sea, which she loved. In 1967, she painted a portrait of Barbara Brash for an art prize for women. The painting looked exactly like Barbara but also became completely abstract when turned upside down.
Around 1972, Dorothy started using gouache on paper more often. This was a fast way for her to try out new ideas for her art.
In 1994, Dorothy said, "I’ve always been amazed by simplicity. To me it’s got such impact… much more than anything complicated… because you have to get it right. There’s no chance for accidental effects. If you are simple everything has to connect and work."
Selling Her Art
Dorothy Braund was happy that art collectors weren't just buying her paintings as investments. In 1979, she said, "people buy my paintings because they like them." This showed she didn't feel undervalued as a female artist.
Her art has been sold at auctions many times, with prices ranging from about US$214 to US$20,935. The price depended on the size and type of the artwork. In 2014, after she passed away, her painting 'John and Audrey' from 1956 sold for US$20,935, which is her record price at auction.
Art Shows and Awards
Dorothy Braund showed her art widely in eastern Australia. Her works are in many public art collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. They are also in university galleries and regional galleries like Bendigo and Mornington.
She won prizes in art competitions at Albury in 1962, Colac in 1964, Bendigo in 1966, and Muswellbrook in 1972. From the 1980s onwards, she mostly exhibited with Eastgate & Holst Gallery in Melbourne.
Solo Exhibitions (A Selection)
- 1952 – Her first solo show at Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne. She won first prize in the City of Malvern Arts Festival.
- 1957 – Solo show in Brisbane at the Brian Johnstone Gallery.
- 1960 – Solo show at the Argus Gallery, opened by the Greek consul. It included many paintings of Greece.
- 1964 – Solo show at Leveson Street Gallery called ‘Summer ‘64,’ which received a good review.
- 1969 – Solo show of paintings about Australian Rules Football.
- 1979 – Solo show at Leveson Street of her series of gouaches (paintings) of children playing, called ‘Year of the Child.’
- 1990 – ‘Tenderness’ at Eastgate Gallery, Melbourne.
- 1994 – A special exhibition looking back at her art from 1949-1974 at Eastgate Gallery.
Group Exhibitions (A Selection)
- 1943 – Contemporary Art Society.
- 1950 – With 20 other painters like Arthur Boyd, at the opening of the new Stanley Coe Gallery.
- 1953 – ‘Ten Melbourne Artists’ at the Peter Bray Gallery, alongside John Brack, Charles Blackman, and Arthur Boyd.
- 1957 – ‘Eight Melbourne Artists’ exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand. This show traveled to other cities and many paintings were sold.
- 1992 – ‘Classical Modernism: The George Bell Circle’ at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Awards She Won
- 1952 – First prize in the City of Malvern Arts Festival.
- 1956 – Malvern Centenary Art Award.
- 1962 – Albury Art Prize for her painting "Greek Island."
- 1964 – Colac Art Prize for a painting of beach figures.
- 1966 – Bendigo Art Prize for "Dinner Party."
- 1972 – Muswellbrook Prize for her work ‘Climbing Trees.’
Where Her Art Can Be Seen
Dorothy Braund's art is part of many important collections, including:
- Australian National Gallery
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Bendigo Art Gallery
- Albury Art Gallery
- Muswellbrook Art Gallery
- McLelland Gallery Langwarrin
- Mornington Peninsula Art Gallery
- Monash University Collection
- La Trobe University Collection
