Hera II

Born in Adelaide in 1918, Margaret Sinclair studied at the South Australian School of Art in the early 1930s. Her artistic career was defined by study, teaching and extensive international travel. Her travel to England, Ireland and throughout Europe in 1956 prompted a serious focus on sculpture and, on her return to Australia, she completed a Diploma of Fine Art in sculpture, taught by sculptors John Dowie, Alex Leckie and Max Lyle.

In 1966 she was awarded a prestigious Churchill Memorial Fellowship, which allowed her to study and work in Mexico, Peru, Columbia, the United States, England, France and Greece. She was in her late forties when she worked at a bronze foundry in Milan, Italy. Sinclair’s varied international experience encouraged her to work in marble and stoneware and to experiment with concrete, copper, brass and bronze upon her return to Australia.

Sinclair said she sought ‘timelessness in art’ and was influenced by the sculpture of ancient Egypt and Greece, Africa and South America. An intrepid female sculptor and ahead of her time, Sinclair repeatedly returned to the mythological figure of Hera, the ancient Greek goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth. Hera II depicts a fragmented female torso in polished bronze and encapsulates the mastery and modernism of one of South Australia’s most accomplished 
sculptors.

Leigh Robb, Curator of Contemporary Art