MS 1541
Papers of Judy Cassab
Scope and Content Note
Papers
1944-1999
3.66 metres (8 boxes + 12 folio boxes)
Partly restricted: Series 3 and 4 are available for reference; Series 1
and 2 are restricted.
The original consignments of papers were donated by Judy Cassab to the
National Library in 1975 and 1985. Subsequent donations were made under the
Taxation Incentive for the Arts Scheme in 1988, 1991, 1995 and 1998. Two
donations under the Cultural Gifts Programme were made in 1999.
The papers fall into four categories. The first series consists of
general correspondence relating to Cassabs artistic activities. There are
letters from fellow artists, individuals responding to her Diaries,
publishers, art galleries, portrait sitters, and from private and
organisational owners of her art works. There are also postcards, receipts,
invitations and transcripts of addresses.
Secondly, there is a series of journals documenting Cassabs
personal and family life and details of her professional career spanning the
years 1944 to 1997. Themes that emerge in the journal entries are sittings for
portraits and progress on her work, social occasions, exhibitions, family and
friends, her reading and personal feelings and thoughts.
The third category consists of newspaper cuttings reporting on
Cassabs exhibitions, and copies of corresponding exhibition invitations
and catalogues.
The fourth grouping comprises 24 scrapbooks and albums containing
photographs and newspaper cuttings that document Cassabs artistic
achievements and exhibitions held between 1951 and 1997.
Biographical Note
Judy Cassab was born in Vienna of Hungarian parents in August 1920. She
began painting at the age of 12, and studied art in Prague (1939) and at the
Budapest Academy (1945-49). In 1938 she married Jancsi Kampfner. She lived in
Hungary until 1949, and in 1951, already accomplished as a painter, she
emigrated to Australia with her family.
In Australia, Cassab established a reputation as a painter of abstracts
and as a portraitist. In 1953 she held the first of numerous solo exhibitions
at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney. Other solo exhibitions were held at the
Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney, between 1963 and 1982, and in several other
Australian cities. In 1978 and 1981 she exhibited at the New Art Centre in
London, and she also exhibited at the Australian Embassy in Paris in 1981.
Portrait exhibitions were held at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, in 1988; the
von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle, in 1988; the Solander Gallery, Canberra, in
1988; the National Library of Australia, in 1988; and the Holdsworth Gallery,
Sydney, in 1990.
Cassabs portraits of many distinguished Australian artists,
writers, performing artists, academics and public figures include Jeffrey
Smart, Eva Klug, Morris West, Sir Robert Helpmann, Dame Joan Sutherland,
Margaret Olley, Bishop E.H. Burgmann, Lord DLisle, Professor Fred Jevons,
Dr Keith Brown and Sir Frank Packer. Cassabs portrait commissions also
include H.R.H. the Duke of Kent and his family, the Duchess of Gloucester,
Princess Alexandra and Queen Sirikit of Thailand. She has also painted
self-portraits. She is represented in galleries throughout Australia, London
and Hungary.
Cassab has been the winner of several art prizes and
awards. She won the Archibald Prize in 1961 for her portrait of the artist
Stanislaus Rapotec, and again in 1968 for her portrait of Margo Lewers. In 1955
Cassab won her first two art prizes: the Perth Prize with a portrait of Michael
Kmit and the Womens Weekly Prize with a portrait of Judy
Barraclough. She was awarded the CBE for services to the arts in 1969 and she
became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1988. She was a Trustee of the
Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1980 to 1988. In 1995 Sydney University
conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
Cassabs artworks have featured in various
publications, and in 1995 she published her Diaries, based on the
journals in the collection covering the period 1944 to 1994. In 1996 she won
the Nita B. Kibble Award for women writers for her Diaries.
Sources
-
A dictionary of women artists of Australia /
Max Germaine (Roseville East, N.S.W.: Craftsman House, 1991)
- The encyclopedia of Australian art / Alan McCulloch, revised and
updated by Susan McCulloch (St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1994)
Series List
| Series |
Title |
| 1 |
Correspondence, 1959-99 |
| 2 |
Diaries, 1944-97 |
| 3 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1951-75 |
| 4 |
Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1951-97 |
Series Descriptions
Series 1 Correspondence, 1959-99
The series comprises both personal and business correspondence and
consists chiefly of letters received by Cassab. The correspondence covers
Cassabs public engagements, commissions for portraits, arrangements for
including her artworks in exhibitions, requests to reproduce her artworks in
publications, and requests from publishers and the media to hold interviews.
There are letters from readers congratulating her on her publications and from
individuals and organisations that have acquired her works. There are letters
from her husband, Jancsi, written in Hungarian.
The series also includes copies of opening addresses given by Justice
Michael Kirby and Monique Atlas at exhibitions held in 1996 (folder 17) and
1999 (folder 22), respectively. There is a copy of a paper by Justice Kirby
entitled "Ping Pong" with Judy Cassab (n.d.) (folder 21). Folder 17
also contains a letter from Edwin Wilson enclosing the autographed poem
Judys chair.
Correspondents include Hal Missingham, Sir Percy Joske, Lady Cutler,
Judith Wright, Lou Klepac, John Hayes, Edmund Capon, Elizabeth Riddell, Jeffrey
Smart, John Wolseley, Eva Klug, Morris West, Sir Asher Joel, Elwyn (Jack) and
Lily Lynn, Fr Emmet P. Costello, Anna Gray, Justice Michael Kirby, Liz Byrski,
Brenda Niall, Chris van Otterloo, Marlene Stafford, Joseph Brown, Paul Knobel,
Bernhard Newman, Rosalie Gascoigne, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Princess
Alexandra.
Folder
| 1 |
Correspondence, 1959-60 |
| 2 |
Correspondence, 1973-75 |
| 3 |
Correspondence, 1976-79 |
| 4 |
Correspondence, 1980-81 |
| 5 |
Correspondence, 1982 |
| 6 |
Correspondence, 1983 |
| 7 |
Correspondence, 1984 |
| 8 |
Correspondence, 1985-89 |
| 9 |
Correspondence, 1990 |
| 10 |
Correspondence, 1991 |
| 11 |
Correspondence, 1992 |
| 12 |
Correspondence, 1993 |
| 13 |
Correspondence, 1994 |
| 14 |
Correspondence, Jan.-Oct. 1995 |
| 15 |
Correspondence, Nov.-Dec. 1995 |
| 16 |
Correspondence, Jan.-June 1996 |
| 17 |
Correspondence, July-Dec. 1996 |
| 18 |
Correspondence, Jan.-June 1997 |
| 19 |
Correspondence, July-Dec. 1997 |
| 20 |
Correspondence, Jan.-June 1998 |
| 21 |
Correspondence, July-Dec. 1998 |
| 22 |
Correspondence, Jan.-Sept. 1999 |
| 23-24 |
Correspondence (undated) and photograph |
Series 2 Diaries, 1944-97
This series comprises Cassabs diaries, in English, dating from
1944, when Cassab was 24, until 1997. Transcribed from handwritten originals,
the journals are bound in numbered volumes.
In 1995 Cassab published her journals covering the fifty year period
from 1944 to 1994 under the title Judy Cassab diaries (Milsons Point,
N.S.W.: Random House).
Item
| 1 |
April 1944 15 August 1958 |
| 2 |
27 August 1958 10 June 1965 |
| 3 |
10 March 1966 15 June 1973 |
| 4 |
20 June 1973 27 April 1978 |
| 5 |
5 May 1978 16 June 1984 |
| 6 |
26 June 1984 8 August 1987 |
| 7 |
20 November 1986 4 November 1990 |
| 8 |
8 November 1990 23 September 1993 |
| 9 |
5 October 1993 28 November 1997 |
Series 3 Newspaper cuttings, 1951-75
This series contains newspaper cuttings, including some cuttings in
Hungarian. It also includes copies of exhibition invitations and catalogues,
two photos, and copies of handwritten autobiographical notes. Most of the
cuttings are photocopies. Folder 1 includes copies of letters dated 1951.
Folder
| 1 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1951-53 |
| 2 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1953-55 |
| 3 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1955-56 |
| 4 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1956-57 |
| 5 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1957-59 |
| 6 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1961 |
| 7 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1961-64 |
| 8 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1964-68 |
| 9 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1964-74 |
| 10 |
Newspaper cuttings, 1968-75 |
Series 4 Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1951-97
The scrapbooks and albums contain photographs of Cassabs art works
and exhibitions, exhibition brochures and catalogues, newspaper cuttings,
articles, exhibition reviews and photographs of social occasions. Early albums
contain correspondence as well.
Item 2 contains the invitation and catalogue issued for Cassab's first
exhibition held at the Macquarie Galleries, 22 April - 6 May, 1953. Item 12
includes a letter from Patrick White. Item 15 has photographs of Beregszasz in
Hungary where Cassab lived with her mother and grandmother. Item 18 includes
photographs of portraits by Cassab exhibited at the National Trusts S.H.
Ervin Gallery in 1988, together with the subjects of the portraits.
Item
| 1 |
1951-53 |
| 2 |
1953-55 |
| 3 |
1955-56 |
| 4 |
1956-57 |
| 5 |
1957-59 |
| 6 |
1959-79 |
| 7 |
1960-61 |
| 8 |
1961-64 |
| 9 |
1964-70 |
| 10 |
1968-76 |
| 11 |
1975 |
| 12 |
1982-83 |
| 13 |
1984 |
| 14 |
1984-85 |
| 15 |
1984-89 |
| 16 |
1985-86 |
| 17 |
1986-88 |
| 18 |
1987-89 |
| 19 |
1988-89 |
| 20 |
1989-90 |
| 21 |
1990 |
| 22 |
1992 |
| 23 |
1995-96 |
| 24 |
1996-97 |
Box List
|
Box |
Series |
Folder/Item |
| |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1-7 |
|
2 |
1 |
8-14 |
|
3 |
1 |
15-21 |
|
4 |
1 |
22-24 |
|
5 |
2 |
1-5 |
|
6 |
2 |
6-9 |
|
7 |
3 |
1-7 |
|
8 |
3 |
8-10 |
Folio Box List
|
Box |
Series |
Item |
| |
|
|
|
1 |
4 |
1-4, 9 |
|
2 |
4 |
5-6 |
|
3 |
4 |
7-8 |
|
4 |
4 |
10-12 |
|
5 |
4 |
13-14 |
|
6 |
4 |
15-17 |
|
7 |
4 |
18 |
|
8 |
4 |
19 |
|
9 |
4 |
20 |
|
10 |
4 |
21 |
|
11 |
4 |
22 |
|
12 |
4 |
23-24 |
September 2000 |