Professor Peter Pinson 

PhD in Creative Arts -1988

Peter PinsonWhen Emeritus Professor Peter Pinson was undertaking his PhD in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong in 1988-1989, celebrated sculptor Dr Bert Flugelman was in charge of the sculpture program.However Professor Pinson, Australia’s first peacetime war artist, focused on painting during his time at UOW and rarely crossed paths with Dr Flugelman.

He has made up for that since. Professor Pinson has just completed a book on Dr Flugelman’s major public sculptures, and hosted an exhibition of the sculptor’s smaller works at his new art gallery in Woollahra (the exhibition ends on 20 December).

“Bert is Australia’s greatest senior generation contemporary sculptor,” Dr Pinson said. “He has been a dynamic figure in the Australian sculpture scene since the 1960s, and his work has never been better. He is now 85 and his work is still absolutely cutting edge.

“I have admired his work for many years, but have only really got to know him over the last decade or so.”

Professor Pinson recently opened the Peter Pinson Gallery at 143 Edgecliff Rd, Woollahra after retiring from an academic career in the arts that included time as chief education officer at the National Gallery of Victoria, as a senior lecturer at Alexander Mackie College in Sydney and most recently at the College of Fine Arts at the University of NSW.

“The gallery will focus particularly on artists who established a national reputation between 1950 and 1970,” Professor Pinson said. “Bert’s exhibition is our second, and features his work of ‘domestic dimensions’, with 10 of Bert’s smaller pieces. However, all of these works were conceived as being able to be 'scaled up' by Bert, with such larger versions being suitable for location in public squares, or in parks, or in architectural contexts.”
The book concentrates on Dr Flugelman’s major public sculptures, and is richly illustrated with photographed by David Perry.

“Bert has built up a major body of work that certainly justifies the book,” Professor Pinson said. “David Perry travelled around Australian photographing Bert’s public works, and has really captured their elusive, reflective qualities.”

Dr Flugelman, who received an Honorary Doctorate from UOW in 1995 for his contribution to the University and has a number of sculptures in Wollongong and on the UOW Campus, said he was honoured to have a book published about his work.

“It is a first,” Dr Flugelman said. “My work has featured in plenty of catalogues over the years, but this is the first hard-cover book. It deals with a particular area of my geometric sculptures from 1969 to today.”

The book, "Flugelman: On Further Reflection", published by The Watermark Press, is available for $75 through art galleries and specialist art bookshops, or though the Peter Pinson Gallery.

Last reviewed: 23 December, 2008