Alannah Coleman born in Melbourne 1918, died in London 1998.  Artist, dealer, promotor of Australian art and artists in London during the 'Antipodean Summer', 1950-1965.

The photo on this blog shows Alannah Coleman, in the later part of the 1930s, at work in the National Gallery School (Melbourne).  She is on the left of the photo, shown with fellow students.  I'll talk more about these fellow students as time goes by.  Her gift of friendship was life long, discreet, caring and loving.  She extended her friendships into her life as a dealer and promoter and worked tirelessly for old friends and new throught out her life.  These were the famous (Sid Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John and Sunday Reed for example) and just as precious were those for whom fame had slipped by without pausing or who having paused moved on. 

I have had many very elderly men speak to me of this artist, art dealer and promoter of Australian artist in London.  What was the first thing they all said?  "She was so beautiful.  I can still see her standing on the steps in that dress". 

Being beautiful can be a blessing, but for a woman whose passion was the promotion of art, it could also be a curse.  I'll be talking about this a bit more as this blog moves forward.  I'll be putting up some photos so you can see for yourself.

This blog will move along as I write the biography of this remarkable woman.  In 1986 when I began my research,  it was only the artists, collectors and those others deeply involved in the art world of those years from 1935 in Melbourne and Sydney, and then in London from 1950 until her death in 1998 who knew anything of her.  Now, I am happy to say, there is finally interest in who she was and what she did.  So everyone out there (who ever you might be) please make this a two way street.  Add your comments.  I am particularly interested in locating any of her paintings done in the period of late 1930s to 1950.  

Her portraits were hung in the Archibald Prize (Art Gallery of NSW) in the 1940s, and I have the catalogues of her exhibitions.  I had traced a number of her works, but the information is now so old I doubt most of the owners are still alive. 

I will talk in some detail in the next blog about those interesting years in Melbourne when those artists represented in Angry Penguins exhibition in 1988  were struggling, and creating and bickering and generally growing as artists in leaps and bounds.  These years formed the woman who I am writing about.

Once I sort out how to get hard copy photos and slides in a form I can load onto to this blog, it will be photos of what ever I can manage to load.