Dobell House...A short History of Sir William Dobell and Dobell House

A Short History of Sir William Dobell and Dobell House

A SHORT HISTORY OF WILLIAM DOBELL

William Dobell was born 1899 in Bull St, Cooks Hill, a suburb of Newcastle. He was the youngest of three brothers and three sisters. His grandfather guided his hand drawing sketches of horses – ‘they came alive on the page” he once said.

The young Dobell’s first job was as a window cleaner in Hunter Street, Newcastle. “I wasn’t a very good window cleaner and I got the sack”. He claimed not to have been very good at school as he was usually at the back of the classroom drawing and painting the entries for the whole class for the School Children’s Art Competition for the Newcastle Show.

In 1916 his father apprenticed him to Wallace Porter to become an architect. He claimed that his lack of ability in maths slowed his progress as an architect. His name can been found on the early NSW Registers of Architects and there are a number of War Memorials and buildings around Newcastle which he designed.

In 1924, when Wallace Porter died, Dobell moved to Sydney, joined Wunderlich Ltd as a draughtsman and started night time art classes at the Julian Ashton School in the old Queen Victoria Markets in George Street. His artistic talents were recognised by the teachers although he really wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist.

At the Julian Ashton School he won 2 prizes – 3rd Prize in the State Theatre Art Comp and 1st prize for the Arts Society Travelling Scholarship. These enabled him to go to London subsequently to travel in England and Europe. He attended the renowned London Slade School of Art.

He was an observer of people and most of his London work shows this. He would sit in parks and cafes sketching people. Many of these sketches would later form the basis of his paintings. Unlike many portrait artists, Dobell did not have his subjects sit and pose for him. He would sketch them and then go back to his studio and complete the portrait. Dobell returned to Australia in 1938 when his father was extremely ill.

He met Joshua Smith and the two became great friends, when they worked with the Civil Construction Corps during World War 2, not painting battle scenes but rows of cabbages and cauliflowers on aircraft hangers and storage sheds as camouflage!

In 1943 he won the Archibald Prize with a painting of Joshua Smith but the decision of the judges was challenged in court with the claim that the painting was a caricature and not a portrait. Dobell won the court case but his confidence in his art was destroyed. After the court case in 1943, Dobell came to Wangi to escape the ‘notoriety’ the case had brought. He was nervously exhausted and unable to paint.

When he first came to live at Wangi, he was ill, nervously exhausted and unable to paint. He also suffered from serious dermatitis. In his own words: “My sister would scoop a coal shovel full of skin from my bed each morning”. He lost part sight in one eye and part use of one leg as a result of stress of the Archibald court case. As he recovered, the scenery around him took his interest and he began to do little sketches until he painted The Narrows, The Westerly Breezes and then Storm Approaching Wangi which won him the Wynne Prize for Landscape in 1948.

In 1948 he met Margaret Olley and asked if he might paint her portrait. As was his way, he made numerous sketches of her and then came back to Wangi to paint the portrait. When she saw the portrait she was amazed as he had sketched her in street clothing but had painted her as he had met her wearing her grandmother's wedding dress at a fancy dress ball. This was to be his second Archibald Prize.

Dr McMahon, Dobell’s surgeon following diagnosis of cancer, was his third Archibald Prize.
In 1949 he went to New Guinea with Sir Edward Hallsrtom and fell in love with the colours and atmosphere. This began a love affair with Asia. He made two trips to New Guinea, then to Viet Nam and Hong Kong producing very different types of paintings. He always carried a sketch book which supported his work in his Wangi studio.

He was readily accepted into the community in Wangi and was neither feted nor revered – a level of acceptance he cherished. He drank at the local pub, RSL and Workers’ Club as just another local, though his home was visited by many important political figures, Governors General, famous writers, artists and actors.

William Dobell lived in Wangi until his death in 1970.

A SHORT HISTORY OF DOBELL HOUSE

The original section of what is now Dobell House, was built in the 1920s and was irregularly added onto over the next 40 years, first by Dobell’s father, Robert and later by William Dobell, after he bought it from his father’s estate in 1942 and subsequently took up residence with his eldest sister.

The original house, known then as “Allawah”, is thought to have been designed by Dobell while he was an apprenticed architect. It was built using sand and gravel from the foreshore and cement powder brought in by barge. It is a unique example of an original ‘lake house’, having been added onto numerous times, normally as extra space was needed. The many changes in floor levels are a result of the various additions over time.

All of the paintings Dobell executed between 1945 and 1970, except for one, were painted in his home and studio. These include:

1948 Wynne Prize – Storm Approaching Wangi

1948 Archibald Prize – Margaret Olley

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1959 Archibald Prize – Dr McMahon

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As a result of the close-knit relationship between Bill Dobell and the Wangi Wangi community, a group of residents formed the Sir William Dobell Memorial Committee soon after his death in 1970. Money was raised to purchase the house from his estate with the vision to create a museum and gallery to honour his memory as well as providing knowledge about and understanding of his art.

The Committee purchased the building for $14,500 and the furniture and memorabilia for $50. Lady Casey, wife of the then Governor General of Australia and friend of Dobell, sent a cheque for the $50 to purchase the remaining contents. Much of this furniture, including a Brinsmead grand piano, thought to have been given to Dobell by Camille Geysen in return for painting his portrait, and the house, have been restored by Federal, State and Local Government grants and loans. The piano is now the centre-piece of musical entertainment in Dobell House

A bank loan was raised for $10,000. This loan was paid off in just 7 years with donations and door takings, an amazing accomplishment for a small community!

Dobell House is heritage listed on the Local Environment Plan of the Lake Macquarie Council and has been on the Register of National Estate since 1999.