Lina Bryans (26 September 1909 – 30 September 2000), was an Australian

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

painter.

Life

Lina Bryans was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany, on 26 August 1909, second daughter of wealthy prosperous Michaelis-Hallenstein family of industrialists, Australians Edward and Lina Hallenstein, who were then visiting Europe. The following year they settled in Toorak,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metrop ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...

, and Lina grew up moving between Australia, England and Franc

She used her knowledge of French to work as a translator. She married Baynham Bryans in 1931 and they had a son, Edward (24 June 1932 – 23 March 2010), who made his name as a newsreader on ABC radio an
television
The marriage broke down and Lina moved to

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populat ...

in 1936. She met William (Jock) Frater and decided with his help and encouragement to become a painter. She'd had no involvement with art before.

Early works

A modernist, Bryans was associated with Frater's circle which included Ada May Plante and Isabel Hunter Tweddle. Her first works were painted early in 1937 and Basil Burdett selected her ''Backyards, South Yarra'' in 1938 for the ''Herald Exhibition of Outstanding Pictures of 1937''. Her work was included in Burdett's article in ''Studio'' (1938) and in the exhibition, ''Art of Australia 1788-1941'', shown at

MOMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...

(New York) in 1941.

The Pink Hotel

Bryans went to live in ''Darebin Bridge House'', a converted coach-house at Darebin, in the late 1930s, joining Ada May Plante. Bryans subsequently purchased it using her inheritance, painted and decorated it distinctively and named it "The Pink Hotel". It became an artists' colony for Bryans, Plante, Frater, Ambrose Hallen and Ian Fairweather and other artists. From 1945 she opened the doors to the ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisban ...

'' group: Vance and

Nettie Palmer Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer (née Higgins) (18 August 1885 – 19 October 1964) was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day. She corresponded with women writers and collated the Centenary Gift Book which ...

, Rosa and Dolia Ribush, Jean Campbell, Laurie Thomas and Alan McCulloch. There they joined the moderates in the Contemporary Art Society ( Norman Macgeorge, Clive Stephen, Isobel Tweddle and Rupert Bunny, Sybil Craig, Guelda Pyke, Elma Roach, Ola Cohn and Madge Freeman and George Bell). The liberal, conservative modernists in Melbourne were thus given an identity and a base, attracting group of writers associated with the journal

, in turn sparking an interest in journalism in Lina's son Edward.

Mid career

In 1948 Bryans had her first solo exhibition. It included ''Nude'' (1945, NGV) and ''Portrait of Nina Christesen'' (1947), both painted at Darebin, which she sold later that year and moved to Harkaway, near Berwick. She took a few lessons from George Bell in 1948 and from Mary Cockburn Mercer in 1951. In 1953 she went to America, then to France, where she studied for a few months at La Grande Chaumière and visited Mercer in the south of France. Back at Melbourne, she once more became prominent in the city's artistic and cultural milieu.

Recognition

Landscape painting was always important to Bryans and throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it became more dramatic and abstract. In 1965 she visited Central Australia and painted modernist paintings of the Australian bush in heightened colour. She was awarded the 1966 Crouch Prize for ''Embedded Rock'' (1964, BFAG). Her major work ''Landscape Quartet'' from her second solo exhibition, held at Georges Gallery in 1966, was purchased by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, which awarded her a retrospective in 1982, held at Banyule Gallery in 1982, which subsequently toured regional galleries in Victoria. Nevertheless, as Forwood notes (2001), her portraits 'best reveal her contribution to Australian art’, moreover, 'her seventy-three portraits of friends engaged in the world of art and letters form a pictorial biography of Bryans herself’. Her well-known, jaunty portrait of Australian writer

Jean May Campbell Jean May Campbell (20 May 1901 – 10 December 1984) was an Australian novelist and literary personality. Early life Campbell was born in Melbourne on 20 May 1901, the daughter of Louise (née Bollinger) and John McNeil Campbell. Her father, born ...

, ''The Babe is Wise'', (named after Campbell's novel of the year before) was painted in 1940. It is held in the National Gallery of Victori
collection
Bryans was a member of the Independent Group. In 1991 she rejoined the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, in which she had first enlisted in 1940 and quit in 1966. In the 1960s, as a guest exhibitor, she was one of the most important and professional artists associated with the Society, and critics consistently placed her works at the forefront of MSWPS group shows. In 1966 one faction of the MSWPS was anxious to see the high-standing artist Lina Bryans elected president for her dynamic outlook. In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours Bryans was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

(OAM) for "service to the visual arts as a landscape painter".

Exhibition history

Solo exhibitions

* 1948, 1966 Georges Gallery, Melbourne.

Major curated exhibitions

* 1937, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne * 1941 ''Art of Australia'' Museum of Modern Art New York * 1988 ''Creating Australia'', Art Gallery of South Australia * 1988 ''The Face of Australia'' (National touring exhibition associated with the Australian Bicentennial * 1982 Retrospective National Gallery of Victoria * 1992 Survey exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria * 1995 Survey exhibition at University of Melbourne.

Collections

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian H ...

, Ballarat, VIC * Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au/ *

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

, New Haven, Connecticut, USA * Turnbull Library, State Library of New Zealand, Wellington, NZ *

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, Melbourne, VIC * La Trobe Collection,

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

, Melbourne, VIC *

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, SA http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/ * Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery,

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...

, TAS * McClelland Art Gallery, Langwarrin, VIC * Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla, VIC * Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC *

, Melbourne, VIC *

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...

, Canberra, ACT
National Portrait Gallery
Canberra, ACT *

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Canberra, ACT http://cs.nga.gov.au/Default.cfm * Wollongong Regional Art Gallery, Wollongong, NSW * Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, NSW * Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ *

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, SA *

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional gallery in the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collection. The Gallery forms Geelong's Cultural Precinct wit ...

, Geelong, VIC *

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be conf ...

, the University of Melbourne, VIC http://www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au/art_collection.aspx *

References

External links

Papers of Lina Bryans, 1930-2000
''

State Library Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

''
Lina Bryans
ustralian art and artists file ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryans, Lina 1909 births 2000 deaths Artists from Melbourne Australian women painters Heide Circle Modern artists Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian women artists Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia German emigrants to Australia