Marjorie Woolcock

Marjorie Woolcock (1898–1965) was an Australian painter and sculptor.

Biography

Born in Ivanhoe to Robena Black and Frederick Woolcock, as one of three sisters, Marjorie grew up learning the piano and experimenting with art. She was schooled at Presbyterian Ladies College. She would later perform at a party for the school with her sister Violet, who would accompany her piano with violin.

Woolcock would travel south from her home to sketch in Mordialloc, which is how she once had a chance encounter with the artist Margaret Baskerville. The plen air tradition of painting would inspire her later landscape work of Corryong, Victoria.

Work

Her art training was far from formal, with private lessons from Frederick George Reynolds, and George Bell. She would continue to acknowledge the influence Bell had on her skill throughout her career. He opened her joint exhibition with artist Jessie Mackintosh in 1946.

She would first develop her formal technique at sculpting, attending life class at the Victorian Artists' Society, and sculpture at the Workingmen's College (later know as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). While at the Workingmen's College she would take a class in Modelling the Human Figure From a Cast. It wasn't until later that she would study painting, with her style being heavily influenced by Arnold Shore.

Marjorie would exhibit her art frequently with the Melbourne Society of Women Painters. In 1953 she would take part in a spring exhibition at the Victorian Artists' Society which featured women as more than half the exhibitors shown. She was joined at this show by fellow artists Esther Paterson and Ola Cohn. Woolcock would have success as a temporary art teacher at a girls' school in Brighton during the Second World War.

In later life she would travel to coastal areas of Victoria to paint, with her favourite places being Wilson's Promontory and Phillip Island.

Exhibitions

* Melbourne Society of Women Painters, ''1937''
* Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, ''1941''
* Victorian Artists' Society, Eastern Hill, ''1944''
* Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, ''1945''
* Marjorie Woolcock and Jessie Mackintosh, Athenaeum Gallery, ''1946''
* Ballet Society exhibition, ''1948''
* Melbourne Contemporary Artists, Eastern Hill'', 1949''
* Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, ''1950''
* Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Athenaeum Gallery, ''1951''
* Victorian Artists' Society, ''1954''

Works

Yachts at Dromana
(1970), '' National Gallery of Victoria''

Further reading

Marjorie Woolcock
ustralian art and artists file ''State Library Victoria''
Form and flowers : Maidie McGowan, Anne Montgomery, Marjorie Woolcock
''State Library Victoria''
Marjorie Woolcock interviewed by Barbara Blackman
ound recording '' National Library of Australia''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolcock, Marjorie
1898 births
1965 deaths
Australian painters
Australian sculptors