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Leslie Wilkie

(Redirected from Leslie Andrew Wilkie)

Leslie Andrew Alexander Wilkie (27 June 1878 – 4 September 1935) was an Australian artist and the president of the South Australian Society of Arts from 1932 to 1934.[1]

Early life

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Wilkie was born at Royal Park, Melbourne, the son of David Wilkie and Mary Frances, née Rutherford.[1] He was a grand-nephew of Sir David Wilkie. He was educated at Brunswick College and in 1896 entered the National Gallery of Victoria school at Melbourne under Lindsay Bernard Hall.

Art career

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1931 drawing by Wilkie of part of Adelaide Destitute Asylum.

Wilkie came first into notice in 1902 when he showed some very promising work at the Victorian Artists' Society exhibition. He went to Europe in 1904 for further study, and after his return to Australia was appointed acting master of the drawing school at Melbourne while Frederick McCubbin was on leave. Wilkie was elected a member of the council of the Victorian Artists Society, and after the foundation of the Australian Art Association was its honorary secretary for three years. He occupied a studio, during WW1 and into the early 1920s, on the fourth floor in the Austral buildings 115-119 Collins Street, Melbourne, where John Mather, Charles E. Gordon-Frazer, Alexander Colquhoun and the photographer J.W. Lindt also practiced.[2] A brief profile of Wilkie after his return from Europe appeared in a 1907 edition of The Native companion, which mentions also that he sat for a bronze bust by G. Web Gilbert.[3] In 1919 Colquhoun also wrote a short biography of Wilkie for the biannual Art in Australia.[4]

Reception

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Wilkie was for several years, an illustrator on the staff of The Argus and The Australasian,[5] and was briefly the art critic for The Age newspaper,[2] and himself, from 1901, received several early reviews in The Bulletin that declared his art 'promising',[6][7][8] but others after 1907 that were less complimentary about his use of colour and lack of 'grace' or 'charm' in drawing.[9] By 1914, starting with a Punch review of a show in his studio,[10] he became recognised as a successful portraitist. John Shirlow commented that 'the distinctive charm of the best of Wllkle's work is his tenderly sympathetic observation of the character of girlhood, and of young womanhood,' that assured him an 'honoured place' in the genre.[11]

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In September 1926 Wilkie was appointed curator of the Art Gallery of South Australia at Adelaide replacing van Raalte,[12] and proved himself a popular[13] and most efficient and painstaking officer. Elected to the Royal Drawing Society, London in 1930, he became president of the SA Society of Artists 1932-35. In 1934 he joined a University of Adelaide anthropological expedition to Central Australia where he painted portraits of First Nations people near Cooper Creek. The portraits were later exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia.[1]

Wilkie died in Adelaide on 4 September 1935 after an operation for appendicitis.[1][14] He had married Nani Tunnock, who died in 1930, and was survived by a daughter, Nora Wilkie (1874–1950), a noted artist. Andrew Wilkie (c. 1853–1948), director of the Melbourne Zoo 1923 to 1936, was an uncle.[15]

Collections

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  • Art Gallery of New South Wales[16]
  • Art Gallery of South Australia[17]
  • Royal South Australian Society of Arts Collections[18]
  • Australian Parliament[19]
  • Castlemaine Art Museum[20]

References

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Serle, Percival (1949). "Wilkie, Leslie Andrew". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

  1. ^ a b c d Joyce McGrath (1990). "Wilkie, Leslie Andrew Alexander (1878 - 1935)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 12. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. pp. 487–488. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Victorian Heritage Database Report: Austral Buildings". Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  3. ^ "The Native companion : an Australian monthly magazine of literature and life". The Native Companion. 2 (5). Melbourne, Vic: T.C. Lothlan: 49, 53. 2 December 1907. nla.obj-2164238582. Retrieved 19 January 2025 – via Trove.
  4. ^ Colquhoun, Alexander (1919). Smith, S.Ure; Stevens, Bertram; Jones, C.Lloyd (eds.). "Leslie Wilkie". Art in Australia (7). Sydney, N.S.W: Angus and Roberston: 30. nla.obj-353611789. Retrieved 19 January 2025 – via Trove.
  5. ^ "Mr. Leslie Wilkie". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 5 September 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 20 February 2020 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "No title (3 August 1901)". The bulletin. 22 (1120). John Haynes and J.F. Archibald: 37. 3 August 1901. ISSN 0007-4039.
  7. ^ "A Vic. Art Show. (26 July 1902)", The bulletin, 23 (1171), John Haynes and J.F. Archibald: 19, 26 July 1902, ISSN 0007-4039
  8. ^ "Society". The Bulletin. 25 (1275). Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald (published 21 July 1904). 1880. ISSN 0007-4039. nla.obj-1791466342. Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via Trove.
  9. ^ 'O.K.' (23 July 1908). "A Vic. Art Show". The Bulletin. 29 (1484): 8.
  10. ^ "Mr. Leslie Wilkie's Art Show". Punch. 17 December 1914. p. 35. Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via TROVE.
  11. ^ "Australian Artists". The Herald. No. 13, 939. Victoria, Australia. 13 November 1920. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Art Gallery Curator". News. Vol. VII, no. 977. South Australia. 31 August 1926. p. 1 (Home Edition). Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Mr. Leslie Wilkie". The Age. No. 25, 083. Victoria, Australia. 5 September 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Mr. Leslie Wilkie". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 27, 783. Victoria, Australia. 5 September 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 20 January 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Prominent Personalities: Andrew Wilkie". Table Talk. Victoria, Australia. 7 June 1928. p. 15. Retrieved 24 February 2020 – via Trove.
  16. ^ Art Gallery of New South Wales. "Leslie Wilkie". Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Leslie Wilkie: works in the collection". Art Gallery of South Australia. Retrieved 20 January 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Dutkiewicz, Adam. "A selection of artworks from the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Collections". The Royal SA Society of Arts. Retrieved 20 January 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Leslie Andrew Alexander Wilkie (1914) Albert John Gould. Oil on canvas 227.5 x 135 cm. Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collections". Parliament House Art Collections. Retrieved 20 January 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ Castlemaine Art Museum. "Leslie Wilkie". Castlemaine Art Museum online collection.
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