John Dowie
Born(1915-01-15)15 January 1915
Prospect, South Australia
Died19 March 2008(2008-03-19) (aged 93)
Adelaide, South Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Painter and sculptor
Known forPainting and sculpting
John Dowie's sculpture Three Rivers in Victoria Square, Adelaide.

John Stuart Dowie AM (15 January 1915 – 19 March 2008) was an Australian painter, sculptor and teacher. His work includes over 50 public sculpture commissions, including the "Three Rivers" fountain in Victoria Square, "Alice" in Rymill Park, the "Victor Richardson Gates" at Adelaide Oval and the "Sir Ross & Sir Keith Smith Memorial" at Adelaide Airport.

History

Dowie was born in the Adelaide suburb of Prospect, a son of Charles Stuart Dowie (c. 1874–1937)[1] and his wife Gertrude Phillis Dowie, née Davey (1881–1956), who married in 1910.[2] His siblings were David Lincoln Dowie (1911–1991), Jean Phillis Dowie (1913–2010), and Donald Alexander "Don" Dowie (1917–2016).[3][4] The family moved to the leafy suburb of Dulwich in 1917.

He attended Rose Park primary school and Adelaide High School before studying architecture at the University of Adelaide and painting at the South Australian School of Art; teachers included Ivor Hele and Marie Tuck.[5]

He enlisted with the 2nd AIF in 1940, serving in the 2/43rd Battalion and fought in the siege of Tobruk — the "Rats of Tobruk".[6] He next worked in the Military History Unit of the Second AIF as an assistant to Australia's first official war sculptor, Lyndon Dadswell.[5] In 1943 he returned to his old Battalion, serving at Finschhafen, New Guinea.

After studying art in London and Florence, Dowie returned to Australia and became a member of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts and Dorrit Black's "Group 9", which included Geoffrey Shedley and Mary Shedley, Lisette Kohlhagen, Mary Harris, Ernst Milston, Marjorie Gwynne, and Ruby Henty.[7]

One of his earliest commissions was from Adelaide architect D. P. Michelmore for the Ross and Keith Smith memorial, first installed outside the Vickers-Vimy hangar at the domestic terminal, West Beach Airport (since renamed Adelaide Airport). A massive undertaking, it consists of four oversize standing figures in high relief, carved in Gosford sandstone, overall size 3.36 by 2.74 metres (11.0 ft × 9.0 ft), and was unveiled on 27 April 1958.[8] It now stands outside the Vickers-Vimy Memorial at the east end of the new Terminal.

Since that time he made many dozens of statues, mostly in bronze, of prominent figures, none more so perhaps than the bust of Elizabeth II, who sat for him on five occasions in 1987 in the Yellow Drawing-room at Buckingham Palace. Dowie modelled directly in clay, from which he made plaster moulds (at the Palace) which were sent to the Meridian Sculpture Foundry,[lower-alpha 1] Fitzroy, Melbourne, to be cast in bronze, by the lost-wax process, in time for the official opening of New Parliament House in March 1988.[9]

Recognition

Dowie was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981 in recognition of his service to the arts as a sculptor and painter.[10] He was nominated for Senior Australian of the Year in 2005,[11]

Personal

After the death of his mother Dowie purchased the family home at 28 Gurney Road, Dulwich. Dowie never married. The painter Helen Alexandra "Penny" Dowie (born 3 August 1948) is a niece,[12][13] daughter of Donald Alexander "Don" and Margaret "Peg" Dowie, née Burden,[14][15]

Dowie died on 19 March 2008, aged 93, in an Adelaide nursing home, after suffering a stroke the week before,[16] and was buried in a country churchyard near Littlehampton, South Australia.

Works

Partial list of public works by John Dowie

ImageNameYearLocationNotes
Soldier1955Roseworthy College chapel
Ross and Keith Smith1958Adelaide Airportsandstone bas relief
Platypus fountain1960Raleigh Walk, Elizabethin pool designed by Geoff Shedley
Piccaninny drinking fountain1960Rymill Park, Adelaide
Hans Heysen1961Hahndorf Academyduplicate at "The Cedars"
Alice1961Rymill Park, Adelaide
Pan fountain1962Veale Gardens, Adelaide
Kangaroo and Platypus1963Hemel Hempstead, UKa gift from the town of Elizabeth, SA
Stilt Boy1963Adelaide High School
Father and Son1964Garema Place, Canberra
Howard Florey1966North Terrace, Adelaide
Vic Richardson gates1967Adelaide Oval
Three Rivers fountain1968Victoria Square, Adelaide
Charles Bean1969Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Mellis Napier1970North Terrace, Adelaide
Edward Morgan1970Art Gallery of South Australia
Icarus1971Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne
Tjilbruke1972Kingston Park, South Australiaassemblage of gneiss boulders
The Art of Learning1972University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes85 relief mullions from four designs
Keith Russack memorial1972Adelaide High School
Lachlan Macquarie1973FAI Insurance building, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Thomas Playford1973Parliament House, Adelaide
Memorial (to whom?)1974St Columba's Church, Hawthorn, Adelaidebronze aumbry and plaque
George the orangutan1976Adelaide Zoo
The Slide1977Rundle Mall, Adelaide
Mark Oliphant1978North Terrace, Adelaide
Child with hula hoop1978Nurses memorial gardens
Zelman Cowen1979University of Queensland, Brisbane
Hamish Bruce memorial gate1980sSt Peter's College, Adelaidedepicts discus, rowing, football
Mildred Mocatta fountain1980sHackney, Adelaide
2/43 Battalion memorial cairn1980Woodside army camp
John Hackett1980Geelong Grammar School
Thomas & Co. fountain1981Port Adelaide
Douglas Mawson1982North Terrace, Adelaideduplicate at Mawson Base, Antarctica
Elizabeth II1984Queen's Place, Brisbane
Robert Richard Torrens1985Lands Titles Office, Adelaide
John Bishop1986Adelaide Festival Centre
Robert Helpmann1986Adelaide Festival Centre
Matthew Flinders1986Flinders Universityunveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh
W. A. N. Wells1987Lands Titles Office, Adelaide
Elizabeth II1987Parliament House, Canberraduplicate at Windsor Castle, London
AIF Malaya memorial1988Australian War Memorial, Canberra
John Bray1990State Library of SA
Alexander Cameron1997Penola, SA
Skater1997Burnside City Council
John Rymill1998Coonawarra, SAduplicate at Rymill winery
John Riddoch1998Rymill winery, Coonawarra

Bibliography

John Dowie: A Life in the Round, autobiography ed. Tracey Lock-Weir, Wakefield Press Adelaide ISBN 1-86254-550-2

Notes

  1. ↑ Not to be confused with the foundry of the same name in Peckham Rye, London, the Fitzroy workshops were established in 1973 by Peter Morley, who trained in England.

References

  1. ↑ "Family Notices". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 18 November 1937. p. 12. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Family Notices". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXV, no. 20, 004. South Australia. 22 December 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Richard Willing. "Donald Dowie". ANARE Club Bulletin. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Virtual War Memorial: DOWIE, Donald Alexander". Virtual War Memorial Limited. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 John Stuart Dowie Archived 21 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Carrick Hill (Government of South Australia).
  6. ↑ Dowie 'truly great South Australian', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19 March 2008.
  7. ↑ "Novel Group 9 Exhibition". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 November 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  8. ↑ John Dowie. "Ross — a Reminiscence". In Tracey Lock-Weir (ed.). John Dowie: A Life in the Round. Wakefield Press, Adelaide. ISBN 1862545448.
  9. ↑ John Dowie. "The Queen is my Subject". In Tracey Lock-Weir (ed.). John Dowie: A Life in the Round. Wakefield Press, Adelaide. ISBN 1862545448.
  10. ↑ Dowie, John Stuart, It's an Honour (Australian Government).
  11. ↑ John Dowie AM, Australian of the Year
  12. ↑ Biographical cuttings on Penny Dowie, artist, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals.
  13. ↑ "Penny Dowie". Design and Art Australia Online.
  14. ↑ "Family Notices". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 91, no. 28027. South Australia. 5 August 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 9 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ "About People". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 96, no. 29, 748. South Australia. 16 February 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 9 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ Sculptor John Dowie dies, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19 March 2008.
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