Painter, illustrator and designer, was born in Sydney in 1893 (see Australian Dictionary of Biography, 15). His interest in Aboriginal art as a source of general nationalistic art was inspired by materials collected by Sir Baldwin Spencer on various expeditions (especially Museum of Victoria) and by a set of Arnhem Land photographs obtained from C.P. Mountford (from expedition?) in 1948. His study of them led to prints, paintings, watercolours, fabrics, scarves, greeting cards, ceramic murals and even furniture in which 'rich colours “dug from the earth, powdered to a fine powder, mixed with cactus juice” were applied to works with a parrot feather brush’ (Baddelely). Baddeley catalogues his Motifs from NSW Aboriginal weapons 1949, watercolour on cardboard (private collection [p.c.]), The White Moth, Part 3 , n.d., pen and ink on paper (p.c.), The Kangaroo Hunt – Australian Aboriginal Legend n.d., gouache on paper (p.c.), Coo-ee! n.d. , gouache on paper (p.c.), Honey Ants Nest 1950, mixed media on paper (p.c.), and Ingar the Crab 1950, mixed media on paper (p.c.).
Mansell also painted murals and did theatrical designs. He designed the sets (and costumes?) for The Kulaman 1952, with music by Alfred Hill and words by W.E. Harvey & A.P. Elkin (sheet music in the Performing Arts Museum, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne). In 1956 he presented a large pottery dish with Aboriginal motifs and [some] colours to Dame Mary Gilmore on the occasion of her 91st birthday (now National Library of Australia [NLA]: see Joan Kerr, essay in Remarkable Occurrences , NLA, 2001).
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1996
- Last updated:
- 2007
