Lisette Kohlhagen

Lisette Anna Kohlhagen (20 December 1890 – 2 February 1969) was a South Australian artist.

History

Lisette was born at Kilkerran, near Maitland, South Australia on Yorke Peninsula, the youngest child of Johann Friedrich Christian Kohlhagen (1846–1910) and his wife Anna Maria Kohlhagen née Hoffrichter (1848–1905).

She studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts in Adelaide under James Ashton and Miss McNamara, winning an award from the Royal Drawing Society in 1926, as did fellow student Ivor Hele^[1] In 1927 she and her sister Emma Adeline toured the galleries of Britain and Europe.^[2][3] and took the opportunity to study with Gratton Cooke at the R.D.S.^[4] She studied oil painting under Adelaide Perry in Sydney in 1935^[5] and later, around 1937–1938, at George Bell's School, 443 Bourke Street, Melbourne.^[6][7]

She was a longtime member of the South Australian Society of Arts, and their secretary from 1947 to 1954, and a worker for the Liberal and Country League,^[8] to which party she made generous donations of artwork.

She was a member of the self-styled "Group 9", whose members included Dorrit Black, Mary Harris, Geoffrey Shedley, Mary Shedley, Ernst Milston, Marjorie Gwynne, John Dowie and Ruby Henty.^[9] She was a foundation member of the SA branch of the Contemporary Art Society, wrote art criticism for the Adelaide News, and a volunteer guide and lecturer for the Art Gallery of South Australia.^[10]

Kohlhagen Street in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in her honour.^[11]

References

1. "Successful Art Students". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 15 May 1926. p. 8. Retrieved 27 February 2015. The RDS awarded her a Bronze Star in 1930 and a Silver Star in 1931.
2. "The Social Round". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 2 April 1927. p. 16. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
3. "Back from Abroad". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 24 December 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
4. "Adelaide Artist Wins Gold Medal". The Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 7 May 1931. p. 53. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
5. "Advanced Art in Sydney". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 October 1935. p. 5. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
6. "Woman's "One-Man" Art Show". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 27 July 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
7. "Lisette Kohlhagen". Design and Art of Australia Online. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
8. "Successful Artist". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 3 April 1930. p. 10 Edition: Home. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
9. "Novel Group 9 Exhibition". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 November 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
10. *McCulloch, Alan Encyclopaedia of Australian Art Hutchinson of London 1968.
11. "National Memorial Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature Australian Capital Territory National Memorials Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Periodic (National : 1977 - 2011). 31 August 1988. p. 9. Retrieved 9 January 2020.