• Title
  Aboriginal woman at La Perouse, 1929 / by Joseph Wolinski
• Creator
  Joseph Wolinski, 1872-1955
• Call number
  ML 1443
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1929
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Paintings
• Reference code
  902113
• Physical Description
  1 painting - oil - visible image 72.5 x 98.5 cm, in frame 90.0 x 116.0 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Joseph Wolinski (1872-1955), a painter and teacher, was born in Germany in 1872 and arrived in Australia in 1883. He studied at the Royal Art Society (RAS) School, Sydney around 1889, and later at the Academie Colarossi in Paris. He exhibited extensively with the RAS from 1896, at the Royal Academy, London, between 1913 and 1915, and at the Paris Salon. He was regarded as a competent painter of portraits, landscapes and large, sentimental subject pieces. He served with the Royal Academy Artists' Corps during World War I, returning to Sydney in 1918 via the United States. Wolinski supported himself by painting commissioned portraits and running and teaching at his own art school in Sydney, the Academy Wolinski.
  
  In 1944 Wolinski, along with fellow RAS member Mary Edwards, took legal action against William Dobell and the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales over the awarding of the 1943 Archibald prize to Dobell for his portrait of fellow artist Joshua Smith. They alleged the portrait was 'a distorted and caricatured form' and was therefore not a portrait. Dobell and the Art Gallery of New South Wales won the case. Both Wolinski's and Edwards reputations suffered as a result of this case. Wolinski died in October 1955.
  
  References:
  The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art / Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch and Alan McCulloch. 4th ed.. Fitzroy, Vic. : Aus Art Editions & The Miegunyah Press, 2006.
  The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 1987
  Archibald Prize. http://thearchibaldprize.com.au/ (accessed 22 September 2010)
• Scope and Content
  The painting depicts an Aboriginal woman seated on the ground in front of a hut. She displays a collection of shells on a bag in front of her and bags probably containing shells hang from the fence to the right. The inside contains a raised bed and a trunk can be seen underneath the bed. Botany Bay can be seen in the background at the far right of the painting.
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  In copyright:
  Copyright holder:: Estate of Joseph Wolinski
  Approval for reproduction required:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy Estate of Joseph Wolinski
• Description source
  
  Work is untitled. Title devised from further research provided by the Library for the publication `Reading the Rooms' in 2023.
• General note
  
  Aboriginal women and girls from La Perouse are well known for shellwork, decorating ornaments with a variety of shells and shell grit from local beaches. The local market for shellwork and other souvenirs produced by Aboriginal people expanded in the early twentieth century with the extension of the tram line to La Perouse bringing increased numbers of visitors. The heyday of shellwork production at La Perouse was in the 1930s and 1940s.
  
  Reference:
  Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. http://www.daao.org.au (accessed 22 September 2010)
  Previously titled, [Aboriginal woman beside humpy, La Perouse], 1929 / painting by Joseph Wolinski
  Digital order no:Album ID : 1255996
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Signed and dated 'Joseph Wolinski. 29' at lower right
• Subject
  Women, Aboriginal Australian.
  Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--La Perouse.
  Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--Sydney Region--Portraits
  Housing - Shelters - Bark
  
• Place
  La Perouse (N.S.W.)
  Botany Bay (N.S.W.)
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE223228

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