Lina Bryans
| Lina Bryans | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lina Hallenstein 26 September 1909 Hamburg, Germany |
| Died | 30 September 2000 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Mentor William (Jock) Frater and La Grande Chaumière |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Modernism |
| Awards | 1966 Crouch Prize |
Llna Bryans (26 September 1909 – 30 September 2000), was an Australian modernist painter.
Lina Bryans was born in Hamburg, Germany, on 26 August 1909, second daughter of wealthy prosperous Michaelis-Hallenstein family of industrialists, Australians Edward and Lina Hallenstein who were then visiting Europe. The following year they settled in Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria and Lina grew up moving between Australia, England and France [1]. She used her knowledge of French to work as a translator. She married Baynham Bryans in 1931 and they had a son, Edward (24-6-1932– 23-3-2010), who made his name as a newsreader on ABC radio and television. The marriage broke down and Lina moved to South Yarra in 1936. She met Jock (William) Frater and decided with his help and encouragement to become a painter. She'd had no involvement with art before. Her interest was probably encouraged in the early years by Iain MacKinnon, the Scottish watercolour artist who introduced her to modern French art, and took her to galleries and exhibitions.
A modernist, Bryans was associated with Frater's circle which included Ada May Plante and Isabel Hunter Tweddle. Her first works were painted early in 1937 and Basil Burdett selected her Backyards, South Yarra in 1938 for the Herald Exhibition of Outstanding Pictures of 1937. Her work was included in Burdett’s article in Studio (1938) and in the exhibition, Art of Australia 1788-1941, shown at MOMA (New York) in 1941. Bryans went to live in Darebin Bridge House, a converted coach-house at Darebin, in the late 1930s, joining Ada May Plante. Bryans subsequently purchased it using her inheritance, painted and decorated it distinctively and named it "The Pink Hotel". It became an artists' colony for Bryans, Plante, Frater, Ambrose Hallen and Ian Fairweather and other artists. It was a centre for a group of writers associated with the journal Meanjin, from whom Lina's son Edward developed his interest in journalism.
...
Wikipedia