Helen Marie Stewart Australia, New Zealand, 1900-83
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About Helen Stewart
Born in Wellington in 1900, Helen Stewart began her training at the Wellington Technical Institute in 1921, where she was tutored by H. Linley Richardson. Encouraged by her artistic family, she travelled extensively in England and France, and this became a regular feature of her career. She spent a year in Paris studying with the French cubist artist Andre L'Hote and his theory of balanced spatial and colour relations influenced her work for the remainder of her career. She had settled in Sydney in 1928 and held her first solo exhibition at Macquarie Galleries in 1934. The exhibition was one of the first modern shows in Sydney, and sent shockwaves through the artistic community. She returned to Wellington, New Zealand in 1946 for family reasons but found the conservative community did not accept her experimental and modernist works. She was rejected from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Art and refused to exhibit there for over a decade. She sought alternative venues to display her work, including some Australian Galleries.
The earliest auction listing we have for Helen Stewart is in 1974 and in total 135 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 94 (70%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $21,500 for Red and Blue sold by Dunbar Sloane in March 2006. This year 4 works have been offered for sale. Works by Helen Stewart are held by the Museum Of New Zealand, National Gallery of Australia and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).
Helen Stewart is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 909
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 233
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
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