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Artist
Bertram Mackennal
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Born
1863
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Died
1931
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Title
Tragedy enveloping comedy
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Date of Production
c.1906
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Medium
Marble
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Dimensions
90.0 x 61.0 x 34.5 cm
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Credit Details
Gift of Mrs Brough-Bell, 1910 Placed on 'indefinite loan' by the National Gallery of Victoria, 1943
Bertram Mackennal
Tragedy enveloping comedy
The first and only
Australian sculptor to be elected to the Royal Academy, Mackennal
spent much of his adult life in Europe where he went to further his
studies after studying at the National Gallery School
(1878-1882). In 1883 Mackennal moved to Paris where he worked
briefly with Auguste Rodin before returning to England on the
advice of Sir Arthur Gilbert RA , a leading British sculptor who
believed that Mackennal's work would be more appreciated
there.
A sculptor of a great variety of work including statues, busts,
medals and coins Mackennal was influenced by his exposure to late
19th Century French sculpture and the New Sculpture Movement in
England that favoured smaller works featuring contemporary subjects
that were symbolic yet treated in a naturalistic manner.
As Mackennal's experience widened he discovered that grace and
power could exist side by side and Tragedy enveloping Comedy with
its art-nouveau style faces and deeply folded drapery, contrasting
against the soft curves of the body, replaces the intentional
angularities of his earlier works.