Since arriving in Australia in 1951, Inge King has been a major contributor to the development of abstract sculpture in this country. She has exhibited her work consistently in solo exhibitions and has participated in many group exhibitions. Her work is held in all major national collections and through her numerous public commissions she has become one of Australia’s best known and most prominent sculptors. link
See the detailed biography: Inge King The Early Years: Berlin to Melbourne
A more complete biography is under preparation.
Brief Biography
Inge King (born 26 November 1915, died 23 April 2016) was a sculptor who has many significant public, commercial, and private sculpture commissions to her credit.
Inge Studied sculpture with Hermann Nonnenmacher (1892–1988)[1] during 1936-37, and in October 1937 she was admitted to the Berlin Academy of Arts. She was forced to leave the academy a year later, shortly before Kristallnacht. In 1939 Inge travelled to England, and spent two terms at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1939 until it was closed due to war-time bombing. Inge joined that sculpture classes of Benno Schotz at the Glasgow School of Art in 1941 and stayed until 1943. Inge met her husband, the Australian artist Grahame King, at The Abbey Arts Centre in Hertfordshire, England and they were married in 1950. Grahame and Inge returned to Australia and the settled in Melbourne in 1951.[2]
Mrs King has been at the forefront of developing non-figurative sculpture in Australia. She was a member of The Centre group of sculptors grew from a 1961 meeting convened by Julius Kane in Melbourne to, ‘help foster greater public awareness in contemporary sculpture in Australia’. Members of the Centre 5 group included Lenton Parr, Inge King, Norma Redpath, Julius Kane, Vincas Jomantas, Clifford Last and Teisutis Zikaras.[3]
Many of her large scale works are found in public plazas, including Forward Surge, 1974 at the Melbourne Arts Centre and on numerous university campuses. Inge has held over 26 solo exhibitions including a retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1992, and has participated in over 60 group shows in London, New York, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2009 she was awarded by the Australian Arts Council ‘The Visual Arts Emeritus Award which recognises Inge’s pivotal role in raising the profile of modern sculpture in this country.’[4]
In July 2009, her solo show “Sculpture: Maquettes and Recent Work” opened at Australian Galleries and a book Inge King: Small Sculptures and Macquettes by Judith Trimble and Ken McGregor was published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 978-1-921394-26-3). Another retrospective show opened in August 2013 in Melbourne.[5]
A major retrospective exhibition of Inge and Graham’s work titled ““, was held in the National Gallery Victoria (NGV) from 1st May to 31 August 2014.