Carved fireplace surround and copper fender with dragon motif

This dramatic fireplace was created in 1907 by Maude Vizard-Wholohan, a graduate of the South Australian School of Design. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the school attracted mainly female students, who studied china painting, watercolour, woodcarving, embroidery and leatherwork. Based on the South Kensington system of art education, the syllabus was rigorously taught and resulted in a remarkable body of work by South Australian female artists.

Made of mahogany, ceramic tiles, pewter, cast iron and copper, the work features dramatic carved-dragon motifs alongside a pressed panel of a woman and child, while the wooden border contains scrolling snake-like motifs. The fireplace was shown as part of the Exhibition of Women’s Work, held in the Exhibition Building, Melbourne, in 1907. Visited by over 250,000 people over five weeks, the exhibition featured more than 16,000 works of art by Australian women.

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design