Blue and yellow

Born in Berlin in 1915, Ingeborg Viktoria ‘Inge’ King studied at the Berlin Academy, the Royal Academy School in London and the Glasgow School of Art, before migrating to Melbourne in 1951 and bringing with her the vanguard of international abstraction. With her early works made from stone and wood, King taught herself how to work in metal after purchasing a welder in 1959.

Blue and yellow was made in 1985, when the artist was seventy years of age. Featuring double-sided steel discs, with one side carrying a blue circle and the other a yellow, King attempts to defy the weight and mass of the metal. As she stated in a late 1970s’ interview with the art critic and artist James Gleeson:

"my aim in sculpture or in working in steel is movement. I have used movement in various ways … Another thing too that’s important, over quite a period I have worked either with circular shapes or with types of discs".

As well as exhibiting regularly, King produced numerous public commissions and died at the age of 100.

Dr Lisa Slade, Assistant Director, Artistic Programs