Earth woman

Following her arrival from the United States in 1934, Margel Hinder became one of the most accomplished sculptors working in Sydney and is today recognised as an important pioneer of abstract sculpture in Australia. Part of a lively scene of artists working in a broadly modernist manner – including her husband, the artist Frank Hinder – she at first experimented with local Australian timbers and stones before her interest in the sensations of movement, space and light intensified, directing her towards more flexible media, including wire, plastic and kinetic motors.

The dynamic ironwood sculpture Earth woman, c.1945, importantly foreshadows Hinder’s mature investigations of abstraction. The simplified, geometric rendering of a nude derived from nature – metaphorically and physically – also indicates Hinder’s early interest in the theories of Vitalism, an artistic movement engaged with non-rational concepts of the vitality of all matter and which often associated women with the forces of nature. The image of a strong and healthy female figure, kneeling with eyes closed and hands pressed tightly against her head, exudes the feeling of compressed energy contained within a solid form. Furthermore,

the chiselled textured surface creates a flickering effect of light and movement. This ability to visually express intangible ideas and sensations defined the artist’s life work.

Elle Freak, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture