Nude in profile

Born in 1903 in the suburb of Brighton, South Australia, Kathleen Sauerbier was known for her paintings of landscapes, streetscapes, still lifes and portraits. Her practice also extended to fabric and jewellery design. Through her studies and travels abroad, Sauerbier would be introduced to modernism and the movement would inform both her aesthetic and personal life.

Sauerbier undertook formal studies in art in 1922 at the School of Fine Arts in North Adelaide, South Australia under Frederick Britton and later Millward Grey before travelling abroad in1925. While in London she enrolled at the Central School of Art where she studied under the tutelage of Bernard Meninsky, Frederick J. Porter and James Ardern Grant.  Her time overseas also saw her travel to France.

Returning to Adelaide from Europe in January 1928, Sauerbier would find inspiration and solace in the south coast. The Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, has long been an inspiration for artists and Kathleen Sauerbier was one of the first to respond to the area using a modernist approach including simplified forms, expressive lines and limited tones. Sauerbier was often seen outdoors battling the elements with her easel and paints and would paint the sights including built environs and the striking natural features, such as the cliffs, ocean and fields. Frequently Sauerbier invited fellow artist and friend Horace Trenerry to paint alongside her and it is around this time that Trenerry's palette embraced the muted mauve, pink and grey tones favoured by Sauerbier. It is also at this time that Sauerbier exhibited her work in Adelaide with the South Australia Society of Arts until 1935. She would later exhibit with the Group Twelve and the Melbourne branch of the Contemporary Art Society after moving to Melbourne in1937.

Living in South Yarra, Melbourne, Sauerbier was inspired by the dynamic city bursting with energy that was near her. Sauerbier’s paintings from this period, of streetscapes and rooftop views, recall the energy and fast pace of London which she’d painted ten years earlier while studying overseas.  

By the 1950s, Sauerbier moved to the quiter suburb of Donvale and she directed her artistic energy to fabric, jewellery and landscape design. However, although now permanently living in Melbourne, Sauerbier would continue to visit Port Willunga annually and paint, drawing inspiration from the south coast.

Sauerbier passed away in 1991.

Kathleen Sauerbier travelled abroad with her friend and fellow artist Audrey Hardy in 1925. While in London, Sauerbier enrolled at the Central School of Arts and her teachers included Bernard Meninsky, Frederick J. Porter and James Arden Grant.

This charcoal drawing of a nude figure from c.1927 suggests that she took ‘Drawing and Painting from Life’ classes under Meninsky and Grant.

Sauerbier did not exhibit the nude drawings until her last solo exhibition at the Beehive in 1984 which suggests that she perhaps only intended the drawings to serve as studies from her classes aboard.  The nude sketches from these classes may have assisted with her future portraits which she would turn her attention to after she returned from overseas.