Virginia Cuppaidge

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Virginia Cuppaidge
Born1943 (age 80–81)
Brisbane, Queensland
NationalityAustralian
StyleAbstract expressionism
AwardsGuggenheim fellowship
Websitevirginiacuppaidge.com

Virginia Cuppaidge (born 1943) is an Australian contemporary abstract expressionist painter. She lived and worked in New York for almost five decades, before returning to live permanently in Australia. Since 1965, Cuppaidge has held more than thirty-three exhibitions in Australia, USA and Canada.[1]

Biography[edit]

Born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1943, Cuppaidge was the middle child of Russell and Judy Cuppaidge. Her father's portrait, painted by Jon Molvig, was shortlisted for the 1959 Archibald Prize.[2] Cuppaidge moved to Sydney and earned a Master of Fine Art degree from the Mary White School of Art.[3] She lived in New York from 1968 until returning to Australia in 2017 and settled in Newcastle, New South Wales.[4]

Early career[edit]

Influenced from a young age by her mother, a botanical painter with an interest in textiles,[5] Cuppaidge dabbled with textiles in the 1960s but soon became interested in painting.[6] She studied in Sydney with Desiderius Orban, Stanislaus Rapotec, Marea Gazzard, John Olsen and Robert Klippel before moving to New York in 1969.[3] Arriving in New York, she called the only contact she had, Australian sculptor Clement Meadmore. They became a couple that year, and Meadmore found Cuppaidge a studio where she began to work on her large-scale geometric abstractions.[7]

Artistic Development[edit]

Cuppaidge's first solo show was in 1973 at A. M. Sachs Gallery in New York. Her work impressed the New York art critic Clement Greenberg, who commented on Cuppaidge's "sophisticated maturity".[4] In 1974 Cuppaidge returned to Australia with a body of work which was exhibited at Gallery A in Sydney. The Bulletin referred to her work as 'handsome, no compromise works' in a horizontal format and the arts writer was impressed with Cuppaidge's 'boldness of conception'.[8]

Cuppaidge was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976.[3] Cuppaidge did not entirely remove herself from her Australian roots, successfully applying for an Australia Council grant to assist with studio costs in New York.[9]

During her years living in New York, Cuppaidge exhibits regularly in both the United States and Australia.[10] In 1993 she exhibited with fellow ex-patriate Australian artist Judith Cotton at the Wagner Gallery in Hong Kong.[11]

Her work is held by the National Gallery of Australia; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Australian Consulate General, New York; Jazz Museum in Harlem, New York; Australian Embassies; Chase Manhattan Bank, New York City; Neuberger Museum, NY; Whitney Communications, New York City; Westpac Bank, New York City.[3]

Georffrey de Groen interviewed Cuppaidge for his Oral History Collection at the National Library of Australia in 1976.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "VIRGINIA CUPPAIDGE". Nicholas Thompson Gallery. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Archibald Prize Archibald 1959 finalist: Russell Cuppaidge, Esq by Jon Molvig". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Downer, Stella (2007). "Virginia Cuppaidge b. 1943". Design and Art Australia Online. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b Stowell, Jill (16 May 2019). "The nature of Abstraction". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Vol. 17 No. 37 (17 September 1955)". Trove. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Vol. 096 No. 4899 (30 Mar 1974)". Trove. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  7. ^ Nicholls, Lisa (31 May 2016). "Into the Unknown". Artonview. National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Vol. 096 No. 4901 (13 Apr 1974)". Trove. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  9. ^ "1980/1981, PP no. 57 of 1982". Trove. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  10. ^ Borlase, Nancy (6 April 1974). "The delicate but tough touch". TROVE. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Arts & Entertainment Australian artist's career boosted by recent success". Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). 20 February 1994. p. 20. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  12. ^ de Groen, Georffrey (1976). "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 12 August 2020.

External links[edit]

E-gallery of art works:

Oral History at National Library of Australia

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