Thelma Cecily Clune (11 March 1900 – 6 September 1992) was an Australian sculptor, painter, patron of the arts and gallery owner.

Early life

Thelma Cecily Smith was born in Kings Cross in 1900 and she later moved with her family to

Yarramalong Yarramalong ''(cedar country)'' is a township and suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located upstream from Wyong along the Wyong River. It is part of the local government area. The Yarramalong township has: Rur ...

. Clune attended school at St Mary's and studied shorthand and typing.

Career

Clune studied sculpture under Lyndon Dadswell at

East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts ...

. She produced sculptural works in stone and metal. Clune began painting in the 1940s, working in oils, and later produced collages on paper. She held her first solo exhibition, "Collages and Sculptures", in 1979 at the Hogarth Galleries in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

. Clune appeared in her husband

Frank Clune Francis Patrick Clune, OBE, (27 November 189311 March 1971) was a best-selling Australian writer, travel writer and popular historian. Early life and career Clune was born in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney in 1893, and grew up in Redf ...

's newspaper columns as the character "Brown Eyes". In the 1940s, Thelma and Frank Clune opened an art gallery in Kings Cross. It housed works by many of Australia's best known painters, including Russell Drysdale,

John Passmore John Passmore AC (9 September 1914 – 25 July 2004) was an Australian philosopher. Life John Passmore was born on 9 September 1914 in Manly, Sydney, where he grew up. He was educated at Sydney Boys High School.Sydney High School Old Boys ...

and

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...

. In the 1950s and 1960s, with their younger son Terry Clune, they ran the Terry Clune Art Gallery on Macleay Street in

Potts Point Potts Point is a small and densely populated suburb in inner-city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Potts ...

. This gallery supported many of Sydney's young

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and experimental painters, including

, Stan Rapotec,

Robert Klippel Robert Klippel AO (19 June 192019 June 2001) was an Australian constructivist sculptor and teacher. He is often described in contemporary art literature as Australia's greatest sculptor. Throughout his career he produced some 1,300 pieces of ...

, Robert Hughes, Carl Plate,

Margo Lewers Margo Lewers (19081978) was an Australian interdisciplinary abstract artist who worked across the media of painting, sculpture, tapestry, ceramics and the domestic arts. She was renowned for a number of major public commissions and for her lan ...

, Elwyn Lynn, John Rigby,

Desiderius Orban Desiderius Orban, (; 26 November 18844 October 1986) was a renowned Hungarian painter, printmaker and teacher, who, after emigrating to Australia in 1939 when in his mid-50s, also made an illustrious career in that country. One of The Eight i ...

and Robert Dickerson. The Clunes also provided accommodation to artists in a building adjacent to the gallery, and in their home. The Macleay Street building later became the home of artist

Martin Sharp Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Career Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, New South Wales in 1942, and educated at Cranbrook private school, where one ...

and became known as the Sydney landmark the "Yellow House". Thelma and Frank Clune were patrons and friends of many significant Australian artists, including

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

. Dobell's 1946 portrait of Thelma Clune is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Susan Rothwell Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

's bronze sculpture of Thelma Clune was a finalist in the 1984

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...

. Interviews of Clune by Hazel de Berg and

Geoffrey Dutton Geoffrey 'Geppie' Piers Henry Dutton AO (2 August 192217 September 1998) was an Australian author and historian. Biography Dutton was born into a prominent pastoralist family of Anlaby Station near Kapunda, South Australia in 1922. His grandfa ...

are part of the

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 "mainta ...

collection.

Awards

In 1988 Thelma Clune was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to the visual arts. She was later appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the arts.

Personal life

On 9 May 1923 Thelma Cecily Smith married

, the Australian author and popular historian. They had two sons, Anthony Patrick (1930–2002) and Terry Michael (born 1932).

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clune, Thelma 1900 births 1992 deaths Australian sculptors Australian painters Australian art patrons Australian art dealers Officers of the Order of Australia Australian women painters Australian women sculptors Women art dealers 20th-century Australian women artists 20th-century Australian sculptors 20th-century Australian painters

Early life

Career

Awards

Personal life

See also

Notes and references