ROLAND WAKELIN
online exhibition
works may be viewed in person at the gallery by appointment
Roland Wakelin
Nocturne, Neutral Bay 1947
46×56cm oil on canvas laid down on board
The Roland Wakelin Memorial Exhibition
March 29 – April 17, 1972
Roland Wakelin
Sunflowers (before 1972)
35×24cm oil on board
Macquarie Gallery exhibition label verso
Roland Shakespeare Wakelin (1887-1971)
Roland Wakelin was born in New Zealand and studied at the Royal Art Society School (RAS) in Sydney under Dattilo Rubbo from 1912 to 1914. In 1917 he joined the advertising firm of Smith and Julius, where he worked alongside de Maistre, Rees, Leason and others. At the RAS he saw prints of modern French paintings and fell under the spell of Cézanne. After travel in London and Paris he returned to Sydney and joined the Contemporary Group. Becoming a leading figure in the Sydney modernist movement, he held annual exhibitions from 1936 at the Macquarie Galleries. In 1967 the Art Gallery of New South Wales mounted a major retrospective of his work. Many of his serene, cubist inpired works are held by the National Gallery and state and regional galleries.