Exhibition and Curator’s Talk | Duldig Studio

Karl Duldig, Under guard (3) c. 1940 pen and ink on paper, 300x210mm © The Duldig Studio

Karl Duldig, Under guard (3) c. 1940 pen and ink on paper, 300x210mm © The Duldig Studio

As part of the 2015 National Trust Heritage Festival, Melinda Mockridge, co-curator of the award-winning Art Behind the Wire exhibition, will be giving talks on the exhibition at the Duldig Studio on 21 and 23 April and 5 and 7 May from 2.30pm- 4pm.  Bookings are required for the tours only as numbers are limited. Tickets are priced at $25 for adult, $20 for concession.

About the Exhibition

During WWII, the British and Australian Governments interned many people considered a threat to security as ‘enemy aliens’. In Victoria one internment camp was purpose built with funding from the British Government at Tatura near Shepparton in country Victoria. Sculptor Karl Duldig, his wife artist inventor Slawa and their young daughter Eva were one of the families interned – shipped from Singapore aboard the Queen Mary along with 60 other refugee families and individuals.  The renowned photographer Helmut Newton was also one of those who found themselves behind the wire.  Aged from a few months to eighty years and variously skilled, they included musicians, architects, dentists, professors and tailors and all were dumped, ‘far from habitation on a small hill’. Not till later in the war was there a slow and grudging acknowledgement that many were in fact refugees. While the camp is now gone what remains are the remarkable drawings and sculptures Karl completed while interned. These will be displayed along with other objects and documents, many for the first time.

The exhibition shows the work refugee artist Karl Duldig created while interned as an ‘enemy alien’ with his family at Tatura Internment Camp during the Second World War. See Karl’s sculptures, and ink and paper sketches which give an intimate and poignant portrait of his young family’s life behind the wire.

Duldig Studio, in East Malvern, Victoria, is the former home and studio of internationally recognised sculptor Karl Duldig (1902 to 1986) and his wife, artist and inventor Slawa Duldig (née Horowitz) (1902 to 1975). In the artists’ charming former home, garden and studio, the sculptures, drawings, paintings and decorative arts tell the story of their creative lives in Vienna, Singapore and Melbourne. The museum offers the opportunity to explore and enjoy fine art in an authentic domestic setting – an inspiring and rare privilege.

Enquiris and bookings: Please contact 9855 3358 or email enquiries@duldig.org.au

http://www.duldig.org.au/events/