Lisa Dennis
An exhibition honouring our World War I diggers was recently unveiled at Maryborough’s new-look Central Goldfields Art Gallery.
Featuring the work of Castlemaine artist Clayton Tremlett, Immortals celebrates and connects a shared history for regional communities and brings together a portrait study of the faces of digger memorials throughout Victoria.
Through his comparative portrait study, Tremlett provides us with an opportunity to focus on cenotaphs to fallen soldiers in WWI.
Tremlett told the Express the latest exhibition was the second iteration of the project that had spanned almost five years.
“The first exhibition of 46 portraits was at the Soldiers Memorial Institute in Bendigo in May 2022.
“This latest edition features 54 digger memorials and will culminate will the exhibition of all 65 portraits at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne in October,” Tremlett said.
The artist and restoration expert said there was a myth that the digger memorials were mass-produced and his research set out to dispell this.
Tremlett said he enjoyed the opportunity to visit communities all over regional Victoria and document each monument depicted in the exhibition.
With most of the monuments facing east, the artist was often onsite at sunrise to capture images of the faces of the diggers in the light of the rising sun.
Each monument was digitally photographed between 80 and 120 times with one selected image transformed via digital editing software. The image was then separated into five tonal (grey) layers and produced as a screen print that resembles a WWI studio portrait.
“Some of the monuments were quite high so I had to utilise ladders and even a drone to capture images of the detail in the faces.
In some cases it is the first time community members have been able to view the faces of these memorials up close,” Tremlett said.
The result of Tremlett’s extensive research shows that each Digger Cenotaph is a unique individual and not just mass-produced generic faces as may be assumed by the onlooker.
“No two are the same. Each memorial was fundraised for and installed as a result of grassroots movements by local communities to honour those ‘volunteers’ who served and paid the ultimate price. Many feature the names of the dead and also those who enlisted.
“I discovered around a quarter were created by a pacifist of Swiss German heritage, August Rietman, who worked at H B Corben and Son of Clifton Hill,” the artist said.
“Around 50 per cent were produced by Italian artisans often from Carrara marble. Many of these figures have the appearance and accoutrements of Italian Alpini soldiers,” he said.
Most of the figures created in Australia were carved from marble, four from sandstone, and four are bronzes sculpted by Margaret Baskerville and Charles Web Gilbert.
“The majority of monuments feature men – most characterised as infantry soldiers. However, there are four sergeants and four light horsemen, six are women with differing allegories, which depict victory or peace. One may be a nurse but the research on this is ongoing. There are no memorials that I’ve seen honouring the service of the 400 Victorian Indigenous soldiers who volunteered,” he said.
Virtually every memorial incorporated Harcourt granite as its central pedestal.
Local community members can catch an Artist’s Talk with Tremlett at the Maryborough gallery this Sunday, May 14, at 2pm to learn more about the exhibition and his art practice.
The exhibition will be on display until June 11.
Central Goldfields Art Gallery is located at 1 Neill Street, Maryborough. The gallery is open from Thursday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm and entry is free.
