Dorothy Braund

Dorothy Mary Braund (1926–2013) was an Australian post-war figuration and contemporary feminist artist, whose practice included painting, printmaking and teaching. Braund's extensive career was instrumental in contributing to the Modernist art scene, along with a generation of significant women artists including: Mary Macqueen, Barbara Brash, Anne Marie Graham, Constance Stokes, Anne Montgomery (artist) and Nancy Grant. Braund's first solo exhibition, held in 1952 at Peter Bray Gallery in Melbourne, launched her career and from then on she had consistent shows and exhibitions. Braund is also a part of the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art.

Early life Dorothy Braund was born in Malvern, Victoria on 15 November 1926. Braund was the only child of Mr and Mrs Gordon Braund. As an infant she made marks with a gold bangle in overlapping rhythms making large circular patterns on the white kalsomined wall next to her cot. Braund's parents encouraged her love for drawing as a child and often presented her with drawing and painting implements and paper for her to doodle on.

At school, Braund won both the Art and Sewing Prizes two or three years in a row. During this time, Braund's cohort were invited to choose their teacher and Braund chose Sumner who taught the modernists. However, CAS confronted them following the report in Truth that they had entered the works as a joke, resulting in a threat of eviction. George Bell appreciated her ability to use form, colour and surface to create good pictorial design.

Braund also gave talks on ABC Radio from 1961 to 1964, and reviewed children's books for The Australian newspaper from 1969 to 1977. In 1955, she was selected as "Art Mistress" at St Catherine's School in Malvern. Upon seeing the works of her favourite artists, Georges Seurat and Piero della Francesca, she found them better that she expected. In 1962 she returned to Australia.

Art practice Braund aimed to achieve ultimate simplicity in her work which is flat, carefully designed and small scaled. Her work is either playful or gently satirical. Braund's artworks often illustrate scenes of intimate lovers, parents with children, relationships between individuals and groups expressed through articulations of form and shape of the human body. In the 1940s and 50s, Braund rejected the national Romanticism of Australian art and wanted to convey emotion through observation and perception of line and form and representations of the familiar and mundane. She believed the story of a painting was about creating new things. As she reflected on her oil painting 'Baby,' Braund stated, 'I find the head a bit disturbing, heads and faces are so personal that they intrude and give you a new interpretation. If you don't have faces you get the entire feeling between two bodies."

Braund worked in Melbourne and produced many images of women during her career, as did her contemporary Joy Hester. Braund worked in her Malvern glass-walled studio with views of the sea, which she shared a love for.

Reception Braund's 'Figure composition' large scale work, painted for the National Gallery Travelling Scholarship in 1950, was regarded by the artist as a major work marking the transition from student to artist. The work recalls a sense of early Picasso in the treatment of figures and it represents the Melbourne figurative tradition. Braund's career spanned six decades, and she received the approval and recognition of academia and professional critics.

Auctions Braund stated in 1979 that she was glad that "the collectors aren't interested because it means that people buy my paintings because they like them, not because they are good investments," confirming that she didn't feel undervalued as a female artist. Since 2007, and following the artist's death in 2013, the record price for this artist at auction is US$20,935 for John and Audrey 1956, sold at Mossgreen Auctions, Melbourne in 2014. Total number sold Number with images available Highest price Recent average price Paintings 123 91 A$26,840 A$5,780 Works on paper 145 112 A$7,700 A$2,057 Prints and graphics 1 1 A$216 N/A

Exhibitions and awards Braund exhibited extensively in the Eastern states and is represented in several public collections including National Gallery of Australia, Art Canberra, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art at the University of Western Australia, university galleries such as the Monash University Museum of Art, and such regional galleries as Bendigo, Castlemaine, Langwarrin, and Mornington.

Solo exhibitions

1952 – First solo exhibition at Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne, she won first prize in the City of Malvern Arts Festival 1955 – Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne 1957 – Solo exhibition in Brisbane at the Brian Johnstone Gallery in May 1957 – Brummels Gallery, Melbourne 1960 – Solo exhibition at the Argus Gallery, Latrobe Street in August. It was opened by the Greek consul, Mr N.N.D. Coumbos and includes many gouaches of Greece. 1962 – Asia Minor Leveson St. Gallery 1964 – Solo exhibition at Leveson Street Gallery titled 'Summer '64’ receives a good review from Bernard Smith 1965 – Solo exhibition at Studio Nundah, Canberra. David Thomas reviews the show in the Australian 1967 – Solo exhibition at Leveson Street titled 'Shapes and Figures.' She receives good reviews from Alan McCulloch and Alan Warren 1969 – Solo exhibition of Australian Rules Football paintings 1970 – Exhibited in a solo show at Leveson Street Gallery including 20 small paintings. Her painting of a figure on a swing gets a review favourable from Alan Warren 1976 – Solo exhibition at Leveson Street titled Paintings '68-'76. The show has 41 paintings including 'Becalmed,' 'Mushrooms' and 'Boys on a Hot Day,' all favourably reviewed by Alan McCulloch 1977 – Working Drawings and Gouaches Leveson St Gallery 1977- Exhibited at Clive Parry Galleries showing the series of 17 Climbing Boys paintings 1979 – Solo exhibition at Leveson Street of her series of gouaches of children playing titled 'Year of the Child' 1981 – Ideas for Paintings – Gouaches Leveson St. Gallery 1983 – Fathers and Sons Jim Alexander Gallery, Melbourne 1983 – Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery 1988 – The Fun Run David Ellis Gallery, Melbourne 1990 – Tenderness Eastgate Gallery, Melbourne 1992 – Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide 1992 – Recent paintings, Eastgate Gallery 1994 – Survey Exhibition 1949-1974 Eastgate Gallery 1995 – Recent Paintings 1992-1995 Eastgate Gallery 1996 – Dorothy Braund – Creative Insights McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin 1998 – Recent Paintings 1995-1998 Eastgate Gallery 1998 – Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide 1998 – Gregson Flanagan Gallery, Perth 2000 – Recent works Eastgate Gallery 2002 – Recent Paintings Eastgate Gallery 2004 – Selected Gouaches 1955-1989 Eastgate & Holst Gallery, Melbourne

Group exhibitions 1943 Contemporary Art Society 1950 with 20 other painters: Alan Sumner, George Bell, William Frater, Roger Kemp, Arthur Boyd and others, at the opening of the new Stanley Coe Gallery. 1952 Stanley Coe Gallery with Michael Shannon at the Peter Bray Gallery in July for which they both gain press coverage and successful reviews on their work. Victorian Artists Society Spring Exhibition and received a good review by Alan Warren 1953 'Ten Melbourne Artists' at the Peter Bray Gallery alongside John Brack, Charles Blackman, Roger Kemp, Leonard French, Michael Shannon, Arthur Boyd, Eric Thake, Graeme King and Alan Warren. 1953 with William Frater and Arnold Shore at the Victorian Artists' Society with the George Bell group for the first time at the Peter Bray Gallery 1954 'Nine Victorian Artists' at Peter Bay Gallery along with Blackman, Brack, Shannon, and the then director of the gallery Helen Ogilvie and others. This show is opened by National Gallery of Victoria print room curator Ursula Hoff. other group shows at Peter Bray this year and her work is hung and reviewed along aide Donald Friend among others. painting 'Boy on a Bicycle' in contemporary artist exhibition at the Balaclava Hotel in Carlisle Street Balaclava 1955: George Bell Group show at the Royal Society of Arts of South Australia Adelaide 1957: March: 'Eight Melbourne Artists' exhibition Wellington New Zealand in March. The other artists were: Arthur Boyd, John Brack, Clifton Pugh, John Rogers, Clive Stephen, Constance Strokes and Teisutis Zikaras. toured Auckland, Hamilton, Napier and Nelson. The exhibition received good views and many of the paintings were soldBrummell's Gallery with William Dobell, Michael Shannon, John Brack, Clifton Pugh and others. The show received good reviews from the then art critic Alan Warren and also Arnold Shore. Argus Gallery with the Melbourne Contemporary Artists group. Leveson Street Gallery, North Melbourne. The directors are Charles Bush, Phyl Waterhouse and June Davies. Porticello Harbour in Perth Prize at the Western Australia Art Gallery. She does not win but receives a mention on the Sunday Times. 1970 Leveson Street Gallery 1981 gouaches 'Ideas of Paintings' at Leveson Galleries in its new location of 130 Faraday Street, Carlton 1983 Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery Jim Alexander Gallery, East Malvern, showing 15 large oil paintings from the Fathers and Sons series 1988 Davis Ellis Gallery, Melbourne showing The Fun Run series 1990 Eastgate Gallery showing the Tenderness paintings 1992 'Classical Modernism: The George Bell Circle' at the National Gallery of Victoria 1991 'Works on Paper' at Eastgate Gallery showing 'Waiting,' 'Teenagers' and 'Beach Café IV' which all sold. 1996 at McClelland Gallery 'Creative Insight' 2004 Site+Vision: La Trobe University Art Collection Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne

Awards

1952 – Awarded first prize in the City of Malvern Arts Festival 1956 – Awarded the Malvern Centenary Art Award 1962 – Awarded the Albury Art Prize worth 150 pounds, in competitive exhibition for "Greek Island" painting 1964 – Awarded the Colac Art Prize worth 100 guineas, in competitive exhibition with a beach figures composition 1966 – Awarded the Bendigo Art Prize of $300 in competitive exhibition with "Dinner Party" 1972 – Awarded the Muswellbrook Prize in competitive exhibition for her work 'Climbing Trees'