Helen Dora Lempriere

Helen Lempriere (1907-1991), painter and sculptor, was born in Melbourne, daughter of Charles Algernon Lempriere, and his wife, Dora Elizabeth Octavia Mitchell

Helen also exhibited at the Chase Gallery in New York, 1958 and 1960. ,one of her more famous exhibitions,Helen Lempriere was one of Australias, leading female artists in the 20th Century References: Compiled from the collection Australian Artists Online

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Administrative / Biographical Note

Helen Lempriere (1907-1991), painter and sculptor, was born in Melbourne, daughter of Charles Algernon Lempriere, grazier, and his wife, Dora Elizabeth Octavia, nee Mitchell. She was a niece of Dame Nellie Melba and a great-granddaughter of colonial Tasmanian portrait painter, Thomas James Lempriere. She studied art under Archibald Colquhoun and Justus Jorgensen. In 1945, in Melbourne, she married radio producer, Keith Augustine Wood (1912-1995), the son of Henry William Wood, miner, and his wife, Nellie, nee Moran. A year later the couple moved to Sydney and in 1947 they began building their residence, ‘Towri’, at Hunters Hill.

Helen and Keith lived in Paris, 1950-1958, where she studied under Ferdinand Léger and the Dutch artist Fred Klein, and he produced and marketed educational radio programs for UNESCO. Helen's reputation as a painter flourished in Europe and England, where she lived from 1958 to 1965, after a number of solo exhibitions which featured Australian Aboriginal themes. She also exhibited at the Chase Gallery in New York, 1958 and 1960.

In 1966 Helen and Keith returned to Sydney and lived at Bayview. In the late 1960s they formed Lemwood Productions Pty Limited to produce and distribute documenatray and educational films. In 1970 Keith produced, and Helen was art director of, the film ‘Rajarata – Land of Kings’, about the lost cities of North Ceylon. Another film followed in 1971-1972, being ‘Centralia’, about the area of central Australia embracing Alice Springs, Glen Helen Gorge, Hermansburgh, Ayres Rock, the Olgas and adjacent regions. In 1993-1994 Woolloomooloo Gallery held a two-part retrospective exhibition on Helen Lempriere’s work.

References:

• Compiled from the collection
• Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. http://www.daao.org.au/main/read/3931 (accessed January 8, 2009)
• http://archival-classic.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?ite...
• © State Library of New South Wales 2007

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Links:

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/helen-dora-lempriere/biography/

http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/556736?c=people

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/helen-dora-lempriere/personal_details/