Jean Appleton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Appleton
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 13 September 1911 Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
|
| Died | 11 June 2003 (aged 91) Bowral, New South Wales, Australia
|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Painter, Art teacher, Printmaking |
| Spouse(s) |
Eric Wilson
(m. 1943; Tom Green
(m. 1952; |
| Children | 1 |
Jean Appleton (born September 13, 1911 – died June 11, 2003) was an Australian artist. She was a painter, art teacher, and printmaker. Jean used many different art materials. These included oils, watercolors, charcoal, and pencils. She studied art for five years at the East Sydney Technical College. This school is now called the National Art School.
Later, she moved to England. There, she studied at the Westminster School of Art. While in London, she created Australia's first two cubist paintings. When World War II started, Jean returned to Australia in 1940. She taught art at public schools. She also helped with the war effort by studying vocational therapy. Her art was highly praised. She won four important art prizes.
Contents
Jean Appleton's Life Story
Early Life and Art School
Jean Appleton was born in Ashfield, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. This was on September 13, 1911. She was the middle child and the only daughter. Her father, Charles Appleton, encouraged her to read. Her older brother, Frederick, taught her to be adventurous. Jean loved performing arts because of her great-aunt, Agnes Blackwood.
She went to a small school called Haberfield Private School. Jean often got in trouble for drawing in her school books. Even as a child, she knew she wanted to be an artist. In 1928, she earned a good grade in art. After that, Jean enrolled at the East Sydney Technical College. She started a five-year art diploma course there. Her parents supported her choice to become an artist.
Studying and Traveling
Jean found her first art teachers and the school atmosphere boring. She visited the Archibald Prize exhibition. She hoped it would make her more interested, but it did not. Then, in 1930, an English painter named Douglas Dundas arrived. He greatly inspired her. Jean finished her diploma in drawing and illustration in 1933. She also won a college scholarship.
She saw some impressionist prints in a department store. This made her want to travel to Europe. She wanted to study modern art there. Her father did not like this idea. Jean shared a studio with another painter, Dorothy Thornhill. They earned money by designing patterns for textiles. She tried many times to get a travel scholarship, but she failed. After her father passed away in 1935, her aunt convinced Jean's mother to let her go. Jean traveled to England by cargo ship with a small allowance.
Art in London and War
From 1936, Jean lived in England for three years. She found affordable housing. She took morning and evening classes at the Westminster School of Art. Her teachers were famous painters Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler. In London, Jean created Still Life 1937 and Painting IX 1937. These were Australia's first cubist paintings.
In 1938, she joined a group of Australian artists. They included William Dobell and Eric Wilson. They created a huge 45-meter (148 ft) mural. It was for the International Wool Secretariat. This mural was shown at the British Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. As World War II was about to begin, Jean's mother worried. She wanted Jean to come back to Australia. Before returning, Jean visited art galleries in Luxembourg. She also saw art in Italy and the Centenary Cézanne Exhibition.
Teaching and Recognition
During that time, teaching was a way for artists to keep working. In 1940, Jean taught at the Canberra Girls Grammar School. That same year, she had her first solo art show. It was at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney. She became interested in helping with the war effort. She took a course in vocational therapy. This was because the director needed volunteers. Jean got a full-time job there until 1945.
In 1946, she started teaching at the Julian Ashton Art School. The next year, she moved to the East Sydney Technical College. The money Jean earned helped her buy and build a house in Pymble. In 1951, she traveled to Europe again. She visited the studio of Paul Cézanne. This trip helped her renew her interest in the structure of her artwork.
Jean's art was highly praised by the art world. She won the Rockdale Art Prize in 1958. Two years later, she won the D'Arcy Morris Memorial Prize. She also won the Bathurst Art Prize in 1961. In 1965, she received the Portia Geach Memorial Award. Her family spent some time in England in the 1960s. They then moved back to Australia. This was because she felt out of place with the art styles of that decade.
Jean became interested in printmaking. Her work was shown at the Print Council of Australia Exhibition in 1968. She stopped printmaking in 1980. The next year, she visited her daughter in Dharamshala, India. There, she became friends with several Tibetan refugees. Jean had an exhibition at the Jim Alexander Gallery in Melbourne in 1985. In 1991, she had eye surgery. After her sight improved, she created a very large mural-sized painting.
Five years later, a special show of her work was held. It was at the Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery. In 1998, two writers, Christine France and Caroline Simpson, wrote about her. Their essay was called Jean Appleton: A Lifetime with Art. In 2000, an exhibition of her work was held in Mittagong. Jean Appleton passed away in a hospital in Bowral on June 11, 2003.
Personal Life
Jean Appleton was married two times. In 1943, she married the painter Eric Wilson. He passed away in 1946. Six years later, Jean married another painter, Tom Green. They had met during her trip to Europe in 1951. They had one daughter, Elisabeth Green von Krusenstiena. Elisabeth later became a Buddhist nun in Canberra. Tom Green passed away in 1981.
People admired Jean professionally. The painter Elizabeth Cummings said Jean was not bossy. She was always exploring new ideas. Her thinking was always moving forward. The interviewer Willi Carney called her "self-reliant." He also said she was a "modest lady." He believed she deserved to be known as one of Australia's most important living artists.
