• Source: Marjorie Woolcock

Marjorie Woolcock (1898–5 March 1998) 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 known 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 [Australian art and artists file], State Library Victoria
Marjorie Woolcock [Australian art and artists file], National Gallery of Australia
Form and flowers : Maidie McGowan, Anne Montgomery, Marjorie Woolcock, State Library Victoria
Marjorie Woolcock interviewed by Barbara Blackman [sound recording], National Library of Australia




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Marjorie Woolcock
• Marjorie
• Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors
• Maidie McGowan
• Madge Freeman
• Barbara Brash
• Margaret Dredge
• Velasquez Gallery
• Arnold Shore
• Peter Bray Gallery