painter, theatrical designer and cartoonist, was born in Berlin, son of a doctor. He went to school at Riverview College, Sydney. Medicine was a family tradition, but Wolfgang wanted 'to paint bodies, not cut them up’ so studied art with
Dattilo Rubbo. Within five years, he was 'exhibiting at the Water Color (sic) Institute, the Black and White Art Society and elsewhere, and he is now preparing some canvases for the Society of Artists’ Exhibition’, stated
Smith’s Weekly in an article on him in 1936. A member of a 'bohemian colony of young men’, he lived in a stable and loft in High Street, Woollahra, with
Wallace Thornton and Michael Brown (a young Londoner who had studied at Julian’s in Paris before working with Rubbo in 1936). Prior to the stables they 'rented quarters at historic Elizabeth Bay House, where they had a very lean time’ (
Smith’s) – but fabulous parties 'amidst the ruins of colonial splendour’ (Stewart, p.175). Their landlady (who lived in the house behind) was the painter
Mary Edwards, while
Donald Friend and 'his companion’
Don Murray lived across the road in rooms that were entirely Japanese in décor and were said to have astonished their friends. In 1936 young 'Wolf’ was just waiting for his 21st birthday in order to become a British subject, then was proposing to visit Europe for further study (
Smith’s Weekly 15 August 1936, p.10).
The war intervened. According to McCulloch, Cardamatis’s art training was with
George Bell in Melbourne c.1939, where he shared a studio with
David Strachan and paid for his tuition by acting as a model. He returned to Sydney in the early 1940s and is said to have studied with
Norman Lindsay and at East Sydney Technical College. A member of the Sydney Group, his work became known during
WWII – including cartoons in
Australia, National Journal and
Australia Week-end Book no.1 (1942), i.e. “Something tells me the spirit of dear Prunella is lurking near”, and
Spring (Veronique Filosoff/ London
Punch naïve “charm school” stuff); also no.2 (1943), p.168. He did costume and stage designs, including one for a ballet in which he danced a minor role.
Cardamatis returned to Berlin permanently in 1946 and disappears from Australian art history.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1996
- Last updated:
- 2007
