Christian Waller: from Klytie Pate
Saturday, February 19, 2011 -
Tuesday, October 04, 2011,
-
Admission: Free
This selection of works from the Gallery's collection
represents, for the most part, the generosity of her niece, noted
ceramic artist Klytie Pate, who in the late 1970s donated important
works to the Art Gallery of Ballarat and also made them available
for the Gallery to purchase. Klytie Pate died in June last
year and her good will to the Art Gallery of Ballarat has continued
with specific items bequeathed here in her will. We were also
given the opportunity to select from further items by Christian
Waller in the estate.
Christian Waller (nee Yandell) was born in
Castlemaine in 1894 and died in Melbourne in 1954. After her
family moved to Melbourne in 1910, Christian attended the National
Gallery School studying under Fred McCubbin and Bernard Hall.
In 1915 she married fellow student Napier Waller.
During the 1920s Waller became a leading book illustrator and by
1928 had begun designing stained glass windows. Her work was
Art Deco in style and her interests in writing and lifestyle were
theosophist. Theosophy was a late 19th century
philosophical movement that sought universal harmony. In
artistic expression the use of geometric forms seemed to exemplify
this attribute.
The 1930s were her most productive years with prints, book
designs and windows. In 1932 she worked on two important
print publications. The Great Breath included seven
separate linocut images with text and the illustrated fairytale for
children, The Gates of Dawn, was prepared as a
lithographic print publication but Waller did not proceed with
it. One of the most important items the gallery purchased
from Klytie Pate is the only complete copy of The Gates of
Dawn from 1932. In the late 1970s Klytie, and husband
William Pate, a graphic designer and artist, worked with Gryphon
Books to create facsimiles of both of these publications for a new
audience. Loose sheets from the facsimile publication of
The Gates of Dawn have come into the collection through
Klytie Pate's estate and show what might have been possible if the
work had proceeded.
Klytie Pate (nee Sclater) was born in Melbourne
in 1912 but by 1925 was living with her aunt Christian
Waller. Both her aunt and uncle encouraged her to study art
and in particular ceramics and sculpture; she studied with Ola Cohn
also at RMIT and the National Gallery School. Along with
Marguerite Mahood and Reg Preston in the 1930s, she was a pioneer
and innovator of ceramic art in Australia and she is represented in
the Gallery's ceramic collection.
From a collection point of view, the addition of the items from
the estate of Klytie Pate have helped to fill gaps in the Gallery's
holdings of Christian Waller's oeuvre, as well as enhancing and
giving depth to the collection.