Guide to the Papers of Judy Cassab, 1944-2006

Summary

Collection number:

MS 1541 et al.

Creator:

Judy Cassab

Extent:

7.2 metres and (12 boxes, 15 folio boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Judy Cassab, National Library of Australia [class number, box number, series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers fall into four categories. The first series consists of general correspondence relating to Cassab's artistic activities. There are letters from fellow artists, individuals responding to her Diaries, publishers, art galleries, portrait sitters, and from private and organisational owners of her art works. There are also postcards, receipts, invitations and transcripts of addresses.

Secondly, there is a series of journals documenting Cassab's personal and family life and details of her professional career spanning the years 1944 to 1997. Themes that emerge in the journal entries are sittings for portraits and progress on her work, social occasions, exhibitions, family and friends, her reading and personal feelings and thoughts.

The third category consists of newspaper cuttings reporting on Cassab's exhibitions, and copies of corresponding exhibition invitations and catalogues.

The fourth grouping comprises 24 scrapbooks and albums containing photographs and newspaper cuttings that document Cassab's artistic achievements and exhibitions held between 1951 and 1997.

Biographical Note:

Judy Cassab was born in Vienna of Hungarian parents in August 1920. She began painting at the age of 12, and studied art in Prague (1939) and at the Budapest Academy (1945-49). In 1938 she married Jancsi Kampfner. She lived in Hungary until 1949, and in 1951, already accomplished as a painter, she emigrated to Australia with her family.

In Australia, Cassab established a reputation as a painter of abstracts and as a portraitist. In 1953 she held the first of numerous solo exhibitions at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney. Other solo exhibitions were held at the Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney, between 1963 and 1982, and in several other Australian cities. In 1978 and 1981 she exhibited at the New Art Centre in London, and she also exhibited at the Australian Embassy in Paris in 1981. Portrait exhibitions were held at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, in 1988; the von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle, in 1988; the Solander Gallery, Canberra, in 1988; the National Library of Australia, in 1988; and the Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney, in 1990.

Cassab's portraits of many distinguished Australian artists, writers, performing artists, academics and public figures include Jeffrey Smart, Eva Klug, Morris West, Sir Robert Helpmann, Dame Joan Sutherland, Margaret Olley, Bishop E.H. Burgmann, Lord D'Lisle, Professor Fred Jevons, Dr Keith Brown and Sir Frank Packer. Cassab's portrait commissions also include H.R.H. the Duke of Kent and his family, the Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra and Queen Sirikit of Thailand. She has also painted self-portraits. She is represented in galleries throughout Australia, London and Hungary.

Cassab has been the winner of several art prizes and awards. She won the Archibald Prize in 1961 for her portrait of the artist Stanislaus Rapotec, and again in 1968 for her portrait of Margo Lewers. In 1955 Cassab won her first two art prizes: the Perth Prize with a portrait of Michael Kmit and the Women's Weekly Prize with a portrait of Judy Barraclough. She was awarded the CBE for services to the arts in 1969 and she became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988. She was a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1980 to 1988. In 1995 Sydney University conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.

Cassab's artworks have featured in various publications, and in 1995 she published her Diaries, based on the journals in the collection covering the period 1944 to 1994. In 1996 she won the Nita B. Kibble Award for women writers for her Diaries.

Sources:

1. A dictionary of women artists of Australia / Max Germaine (Roseville East, N.S.W.: Craftsman House, 1991)

2. The encyclopedia of Australian art / Alan McCulloch, revised and updated by Susan McCulloch (St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen Unwin, 1994)

Provenance:

The original consignments of papers were donated by Judy Cassab to the National Library in 1975 and 1985. Subsequent donations were made under the Taxation Incentive for the Arts Scheme in 1988, 1991, 1995 and 1998. Two donations under the Cultural Gifts Programme were made in 1999.

Indexed terms

Names:

Judy Cassab

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2976241).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Judy Cassab, National Library of Australia [class number, box number, series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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