Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s

249 Sculpture and decorative arts 248 Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s Kathleen Shillam , Little creature c.1957 KATHLEEN AND LEONARD SHILLAM Kathleen and Leonard Shillam’s long and prolific careers intersected over the course of their lives and saw them occupy positions as Queensland’s most recognised and successful sculptors. In addition to their individual and collaborative practices, the couple mentored younger artists and were instrumental in establishing the Society of Sculptors, Queensland, in 1969. Although they exhibited with the Society of Sculptors and Associates in Sydney, it was through their association with Brian and Marjorie Johnstone’s Johnstone Gallery in Brisbane that the Shillams built their reputations. While Leonard was born in Brisbane, Kathleen migrated from England to Australia with her family in 1927. Both studied at Brisbane’s Central Technical College, where they met in 1932. As Kathleen recalled, in 1936 she and Leonard, as well as fellow artists Francis Lymburner and William Smith rented a room that was part of the old Brisbane Courier (newspaper) . . . and it was from drawing there that we found sculpting . . . We were bridging the gap between Daphne Mayo and the young generation coming afterwards. 1 In 1937, Leonard was awarded a Carnegie Corporation of New York grant, administered by Mayo under the auspices of the Queensland Art Fund, that would see him study in London. While there, Shillam assisted one of his teachers, John Skeaping, to execute a pair of granite sculptures at Dartmoor, before he returned to Brisbane on the declaration of World War Two. 2 Although Leonard had no direct contact with the British sculptor Henry Moore while he was in England, the modernist’s monumental semi‑abstract forms clearly struck a chord. Reclining woman 1942 (pp.250–1), carved from sandstone from Helidon in the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, bears a resemblance to Moore’s Reclining woman 1929, carved from brown Horton stone. 3 Notes 1 Kathleen Shillam, quoted in ‘History’, Sculptors Queensland , <https://sculptorsqld.org.au/history/> , viewed December 2024. 2 Glenn R Cooke, Leonard and Kathleen Shillam: A Tribute , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1995, unpaginated. 3 Cooke.