Janet Dawson facts for kids

Janet Dawson (born 1935) is a famous Australian artist. She was one of the first to create abstract paintings in Australia in the 1960s. She learned about abstract art while studying in England. Janet was also a skilled lithographic printer. She printed her own art and works by other well-known Australian artists. She also designed theatre sets and furniture.

Janet studied in England and Italy with special scholarships. She returned to Australia in 1960. In 1973, she won the Archibald Prize for her painting of her husband, Michael Boddy Reading. Her art has been shown in Australia and other countries. Important art collections in Australia and England own her work. In 1977, she received an MBE award for her contributions to art.

Janet's Art Journey

Janet Dawson was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1935. She grew up in a town called Forbes. She started art lessons at age 11. From 1946 to 1949, she attended H. Septimus Power’s private art school. Later, she worked as a doctor's receptionist in Melbourne. At the same time, she studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1952 to 1956.

In 1955, Janet won several art school prizes. These included the Grace Joel Scholarship and the Hugh Ramsey Portrait Prize. She also won awards for her abstract paintings and drawings. A newspaper article from 1955 said she liked working on large canvases. She was very interested in murals. Her biggest dream was to win a scholarship to study art overseas.

The next year, she won the National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship. This award gave her £900 to study abroad for three years. She shared the prize with her friend Kathleen Boyle. Janet made a small model out of plasticine to paint the winning picture. At 22, she began her journey on the ship SS Roma.

Studying Art Around the World

Janet arrived in Genoa, Italy, in July 1957. She visited Milan, Bern, and Paris before reaching London. In London, she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from late 1957 to mid-1959. While there, she saw an exhibition called New American Art at the Tate gallery. She was very impressed by the simple and bright paintings of artists like Rothko and Still. In Paris, she saw works by Dubuffet and Miro, which also greatly influenced her.

Janet loved to draw, so she learned lithography. This art form lets artists draw directly onto a special printing stone. In 1959, she won a lithography prize at the Slade School. This prize included a Boise scholarship, which allowed her to travel to Italy. She lived in the village of Anticoli Corrado from late 1959 to early 1960. There, she made many drawings of the landscape. These drawings are now in major Australian art galleries.

Her art became mostly abstract. She used broad strokes and symbols to turn hills and valleys into flowing lines. From Italy, Janet went to Paris in early 1960. She worked at Atelier Patris, a printing studio, where she was the only woman among five printers. She printed lithographs for famous artists like Pierre Soulages and Fritz Hundertwasser. She also turned her Italian drawings into bold lithographs. Janet returned to Melbourne, Australia, in late 1960.

Working at Gallery A

When Janet returned to Australia in November 1960, she chose to have her first solo art show at Gallery A. This gallery in Melbourne sold furniture and had an art space. Her show opened on May 18, 1961. After that, she started working for the gallery. She helped with a big exhibition in 1961 called The Bauhaus: Aspects and Influence.

Janet also started the Gallery A Print Workshop. She worked there as a printer, helping other artists create lithographs. Art critic James Gleeson said her work was "pioneering" Australian graphic arts. She taught Australian artists like John Brack and John Olsen about lithography. In 1961, she asked Australian printmakers to submit their work. Ten pieces were chosen to represent Australia in a London exhibition called Prints of the World.

As the gallery manager, Janet developed her abstract art. She started using acrylic paint and shaped boards for her paintings. She also designed furniture for the gallery. One of her furniture pieces, a coffee table from 1964, is now in the Queensland Art Gallery. These tables were unique because they mixed art and design. They used bright, flat colors, similar to American abstract art.

Exploring Colour Field Painting

In the 1960s, a new art style called "colour field painting" became popular. Janet Dawson was one of the artists who brought this style to Australia. In 1968, two of her large abstract paintings were shown in The Field exhibition. This was a very important show that opened the new National Gallery of Victoria building in Melbourne. Janet was one of only three women artists invited to show their work.

Her paintings, Wall 11 and Rollascape 2, were large and used synthetic polymer paint. Wall 11 was bought by the National Gallery of Australia. Rollascape 2 was bought by the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

In the 1970s, Janet's style changed. She moved away from sharp-edged abstract art to a softer, more "painterly" style. However, she still used her unique artistic language. An art critic noted in 1979 that Janet saw "everything in nature blending, flowing together."

Life and Partnership

In 1968, Janet married Michael Boddy (1934–2014). He was a British-born playwright and actor. They met in Melbourne in 1963. From 1969 to 1971, Janet worked full-time at the Australian Museum in Sydney. She said that being around natural history there influenced her painting.

In 1973, Janet designed sets for Michael's plays. She also created illustrations for his writings. They worked together on a program to teach schools about putting on plays. Later, they moved from Waverley to a village called Binalong, New South Wales. That same year, Janet won the Archibald Prize for her painting Michael Boddy Reading. It was a portrait of her husband surrounded by gardening tools. She was the third woman ever to win this important prize.

In 1977, they lived on a property called 'Scribble Rock' near Binalong. There, from 1994 to 1995, Janet created her Scribble Rock Red Cabbage series of paintings. The National Gallery of Australia bought all of them. In 1981, Janet and Michael moved to Canberra to help start Theatre ACT. They returned to Binalong in 1985. That year, the Australia Council gave Janet a large grant for her art.

Michael Boddy passed away in 2014. After his death, Janet moved to Ocean Grove, Victoria.

Art Exhibitions

Janet Dawson's art has been shown in many exhibitions. Here are some of the notable ones:

• 1961: Her first solo show with paintings, lithographs, and drawings at Gallery A, Melbourne.
• 1963: Prints '63, a group show that traveled to several galleries, including the National Gallery of Victoria.
• 1965: Introduction '65, a group show at Gallery A, Melbourne.
• 1968: The Field exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, featuring her large abstract works.
• 1979: A major survey exhibition of her work at the National Gallery of Victoria.
• 1996: The Drawings of Janet Dawson, a survey show at the National Gallery of Australia.
• 1998–2019: Six solo shows at Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney.
• 2006: A large survey exhibition that traveled to several galleries across Australia.
• 2018: The Field Revisited at the National Gallery of Victoria, revisiting the famous 1968 exhibition.
• 2020: Know My Name at the National Gallery of Australia, featuring 150 Australian women artists.

Awards and Special Recognition

Janet Dawson has received several important awards for her art:

• 1956: National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship.
• 1959: Boise Scholarship.
• 1973: Archibald Prize for her portrait of Michael Boddy.
• 1977: MBE for her contributions to art.
• 1985: Australia Council for the Arts grant.

Art Collections

Janet Dawson's artwork is held in many important art collections, including:

• Royal Society, London
• Art Gallery of New South Wales
• National Gallery of Australia
• National Gallery of Victoria
• Art Gallery of South Australia