Lecture #5 - Australian timbers: a history of their use in cabinetmaking - Part of 3rd Narratives of Nations Symposium 2022
Speaker: John McPhee
Title: Australian timbers: a history of their use in cabinetmaking
Abstract: With special reference to examples in the Australiana Fund collection, this talk will look at the discovery, use of, and fashion for Australian timbers in cabinetmaking.
Speaker: John McPhee
John McPhee, the inaugural Director of Fine Arts for the Australiana Fund and Fine Art Advisor to the Committee on Official Establishments, 1978-1979, and the inaugural Curator of Australian Decorative Arts and Senior Curator of Australian art, at the National Gallery of Australia, 1980-1992.
Joseph Sly, England/Australia, 1803– 1887, arrived 1834,
Pair of bookcases,
Sydney, New South Wales, c.1845,
red cedar, glass, each 122.5 x 294.5 x 47 cm.
Purchased 1979. 1979.15.1–2
©Wendy McDougall Photography
Lecture #3 - W. H. Rocke & Co., and the crafting of taste and tradition with Australian timbers in Melbourne and Canberra - Part of 3rd Narratives of Nations Symposium 2022
Speaker: Dr Andrew Montana
Title: From international exhibitions to Ruth Lane-Poole’s Federal Capital commission: W. H. Rocke & Co., and the crafting of taste and tradition with Australian timbers in Melbourne and Canberra.
Abstract: Established in Melbourne in the 1860s, W. H. Rocke & Co. was Victoria’s successful and largest furniture manufacturer and crafted stylish and impressive furniture to showcase Australian timbers for international exhibitions in Australia and London. This quality firm worked until the early 1930s and was responsible for some of the cabinetry and upholstery work of Canberra’s Official Residences under the direction of Ruth Lane-Poole. Casting the context wider, this well-illustrated presentation showcases Rocke & Co.’s work, and the interest in the revival of historic, British styles in Australian timbers, long championed by Lane-Poole and her associates from Melbourne.
Speaker: Dr Andrew Montana
An Honorary Research Fellow, Dr Andrew Montana was a senior lecturer in art and design for almost twenty years at the Australian National University. In 2013, he was the curator of the exhibition Australia Revealed: Decorative Arts from The Australiana Fund. The author of books, chapters and articles, he engages with the intersection of art, architecture, design and the decorative arts in his ongoing research. Most recently, Andrew has contributed two chapters on the Australian decorators Lyon, Cottier & Co. to the book Daniel Cottier: Designer, Decorator, Dealer, published with Yale through the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 2021. He was awarded the Ivan Barko award for his published research in the French Australian Review.