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: Ru ...

. 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 p ...

. 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 in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

. 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 Re ...

'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 Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala (Drysdale), Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennal ...

John Passmore John Arthur Passmore (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 ...

and

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an 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, Chairma ...

. 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 in Australia, local government area o ...

. 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 Stanislav Ivan Rapotec (4 October 1913 – 18 November 1997) was a Slovene-Australian artist. Early life Stanislav Rapotec was born in 1913 in Trieste, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918 he moved with his family to ...

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 Carl Olaf Plate (19 December 1909 – 15 May 1977) was a prominent Australian modernist painter and collage artist. Biography Born in Perth, Western Australia, Plate was the son of German born artist and writer Adolph Gustav Plate and the youn ...

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 la ...

Elwyn Lynn Elwyn (Jack) Lynn (6 November 1917 – 22 January 1997) was an Australian artist, author, art critic and curator. Career Elwyn Lynn trained as a teacher, and was a schoolmaster in Sydney Secondary schools until 1968 (mainly English and hi ...

, John Rigby,

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

and

Robert Dickerson Robert Henry Dickerson (30 March 1924 – 18 October 2015) was an Australian figurative painter and former member of the Antipodeans group of artists. Dickerson is one of Australia's most recognised figurative artists and one of a generation of ...

. 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 The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

. Susan Rothwell'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, J. F. Archib ...

. Interviews of Clune by Hazel de Berg and

Geoffrey Dutton Geoffrey 'Geppie' Piers Henry Dutton Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (2 August 192217 September 1998) was an Australian author and historian. Early life and education Dutton was born at Anlaby Station near Kapunda, South Australia on 2 Au ...

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 20th-century Australian sculptors Australian art patrons Australian art dealers Officers of the Order of Australia Women art dealers 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian women painters 20th-century Australian women sculptors

Early life

Career

Awards

Personal life

See also

Notes and references