Ron Robertson-Swann

Ronald Charles Robertson-Swann OAM (born 20 February 1941)^[1] is an Australian sculptor, best known for his controversial abstract public sculpture Vault (1980), located in Melbourne. He is also known for the sculpture Leviathan Play (1985), located in Brisbane.^[2][3][4]

Ron Robertson-Swann OAM
Born	Ronald Charles Robertson-Swann (1941-02-20) 20 February 1941 (age 83) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	Saint Martin's School of Art, London
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Vault – Melbourne (1980) Leviathan Play – Brisbane (1985)
Awards	Order of Australia Medal (OAM)

Art career

Vault has been described as being in the Anthony Caro style,^[5] which he adopted after studying at Saint Martin's School of Art, London, in the 1960s. He studied under Lyndon Dadswell and was an assistant to Henry Moore.^[6] He is Head of Sculpture at the National Art School and is the artistic adviser to the popular annual exhibition Sculpture by the Sea.^[7] He was a founding member of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council^[8] and has won numerous awards including the Comalco Invitational Sculpture Award, the Transfeld Prize and the Alice Prize.^[8]

Graeme Sturgeon, the pre-eminent Australian sculpture historian and critic, described Robertson-Swann in 1980 as "the most consistent of the Classic Formalist, that is, the one most concerned to produce a sculpture which, while obviously of its era, transcends considerations of style in search of a timeless sense of rightness."^[6]

Notable artworks

• Vault – Melbourne (1980)
• Leviathan Play – Brisbane (1985)

Artwork gallery

• 
  Vault – Melbourne (1980)
• 
  Leviathan Play – Brisbane (1985)

References

1. "Ron Robertson-Swann". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
2. "Mr Ronald Charles Robertson-Swann". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via Australian Government.
3. Attwood, Alan (19 June 2004). "Peril in the Square: The Sculpture that Challenged a City". The Age. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
4. Webb, Carolyn (3 October 2002). "Melbourne's mellow peril". The Age. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
5. "Sculpture Walk". Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
6. "What the sculpture said". Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
7. "A Brief History – Sculpture by the Sea 1997-2005". Archived from the original on 4 March 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
8. "Ron Robertson-Swann, AO". National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition 2003. National Gallery of Australia. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.

External links

• Charles Nodrum Gallery
• Australian Center for Contemporary Art
• UNSW Art Collection, Sculpture Walk

Further reading

• Wallis, Geoffrey J., Peril in the Square: The sculpture that challenged a city, Indra Publishing, Melbourne, 2004. ISBN 9781920787004