Bonhams To Sell Works Form Australian Artists Cornish Studio
Published March 7th, 2008
A collection of works by the Australian-born artist Barbara Tribe (1913-2000) will go under the hammer at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, on 20 May 2008. Over 200 lots of sculpture, watercolours and ceramics from the artist’s studio in Cornwall are to be sold by the Barbara Tribe Foundation. The collection charts Tribe’s extraordinary life, from her early career in Australia to her years in war-torn London and Cornwall. Although Tribe was predominantly known for her sculpture, the sale explores the many media she embraced.
Tribe’s seminal work, Caprice, forms the centrepiece of the collection of works, estimated at £20,000-30,000. The bronze figure, which was modelled on the famous Australian model of the period, Iris Spicer, undoubtedly changed the course of Tribe’s life. Aged 22 and living in Sydney, Tribe entered the sculpture for the New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship. The assured, powerful modelling of Caprice ensured that Tribe became the first woman to win the scholarship, which brought her to England. The sister cast of Caprice is displayed in the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
