Centre Five

also: Centre 5

movement c. 1960-1974 Melbourne, Victoria Australia

Centre Five was a group of seven Melbourne sculptors - Julius Kane, Inge King, Clifford Last, Norma Redpath, Vincas Jomantas, Teisutis Zikaras and Lenton Parr - formed in 1960-61 from the earlier Group of Four (Kane, King, Last, Redpath, founded 1953) as a splinter from the Victorian Sculptors' Society. Their five-point program called for a closer relationship with architects, and as a pressure group they pursued it: exhibitions at the Hungry Horse Gallery, Newcastle, Sydney and Geelong, and work sited in modern public buildings. Mostly European-born and trained, they favored abstract, simplified constructed forms in steel, wood and stone. Contemporary critics saw a lobby group; later scholarship credits them with habituating Australian taste to modernist sculpture and preparing the ground for the Systems generation.

Australian Sculpture Centre, 1966. Clifford Last 'The Lovers' (front), Lenton Parr 'Armageddon' (mid-ground) and untitled (right) and Alan I
Australian Sculpture Centre, 1966. Clifford Last 'The Lovers' (front), Lenton Parr 'Armageddon' (mid-ground) and untitled (right) and Alan ICC BY-SA 4.0 (credit: Australian News and Information Bureau, photographer, W Pede) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Abstract, simplified constructed forms rather than modeled figuration
  • Steel, aluminum, wood and stone worked with clear geometric order
  • Sculpture conceived in dialogue with modern architecture and civic space
  • Serial and modular thinking shared across the group
  • Preference for simplicity over ornamentation

Key figures

  • Julius Kane (1921-1962) — Hungarian-born founder of the group
  • Inge King (1915-2016) — Large-scale steel reliefs and open-form sculptures for public sites
  • Clifford Last (1918-1991) — Abstract constructed sculpture; long-standing group member
  • Norma Redpath (1928-2013) — Melbourne-born sculptor of architectural reliefs and cast forms
  • Vincas Jomantas (1922-2001) — Experimental constructed sculpture and reliefs

Example works

  • Forward Surge (maquette) — Inge King (1972)

Sources

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