Dennis Adams interviewed by Edie Swift [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 354125
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Adams, Dennis, 1914-2001, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2000
- 6 digital audio tapes (ca. 360 min.)
- Summary:
-
Adams, war artist during WWII, painter and sculptor speaks of the signs he showed as a young boy of being a developing artist, his view of life and how he conveys his experiences to others, his early childhood on sheep farms, some early art experiences, his love of books, his recovery from whooping cough and pneumonia, his fascination with water and the sea, his education at Hornsby Technical School and his skill at drawing, his decision to study art in London when it became financially possible, how his father bought a ketch in 1923, the Julian Aston School in Sydney, how he left for London on board the British ship Herzicon Cecelie in 1935 and his paintings during the voyage, his love of English life and his paintings mostly done from boats and barges, his work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the patronising treatment given to Australian students, the emphasis on life drawing and life painting, how he won a medal for drawing one year while at the Academy, his bike trips to English seaports with Bob Butler, his views on landscape painting.
Adams discusses his trip to Norway which he revisited 37 years later with his wife Ann, the feeling of disquiet through Europe when Mussolini came to power in Italy, left the Academy to take a job with the Oxford Circus and his plan to leave Europe after touring Paris, his trip home on the rigger Lawhill, Australia went to war in 1939 and he enlisted as a soldier but later with the assistance of Billy Hughes and Norman Lindsay he was appointed as a war artist, posted to HMS Moresby where he painted a dozen ships involved in war action, the several ships he was on and the scale of military operations in and around Australia, his experience in Europe from 1943 including meeting up with his brother Tony in a pub in Norfolk and his experiences in his brother's RAAF squadron until his transfer to Canada, how he arrived back in Melbourne and married Olive Yeo, how a war artist worked by getting an oil sketch down quickly, after the War ended he was asked to go to Japan and describes the paintings he did for that trip, much of his war paintings held in the Australian War Memorial, left the Army in 1946 and worked for a publisher's agent as an artist, later started art teaching for the next 19 years at East Sydney Technical Collge, the importance of studying anatomy, how Qantas expressed interest in putting sculpture on their aircraft, other sculptures such as Robert Campbell and Lucy Osburn, life reflections.
- Notes:
-
- Preservation and user cassette copies made.
- Recorded on May 7-9, 2000 at Orient Point, N.S.W.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-217428206
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary available (11 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 80 leaves)
- Subject:
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Swift, Edie, 1944-, interviewer
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2070 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2000
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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