In 1959, the abstract design of this four-meter high sculpture by Margel Hinder set a striking, modern tone for the entryway of the Western Assurance Building in Pitt Street, Sydney. Conceived as spanning floor to ceiling, Growth Forms is less of a column than a porous, organic structure that can be likened to the natural forms of bones or thorns. In the 1950s and ‘60s Hinder became one of only a few women in Australia to attract commissions for large public sculpture and sculptural fountains. Growth Forms was the first of several major commissions Hinder was awarded in this period.
In 1980, the Western Assurance building was redeveloped, and the sculpture was nearly destroyed. Through the intervention of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the New South Wales State Architect, Growth Forms was saved from being cut up for scrap. It was moved to the colonnade of the State Office Block in Macquarie Street, where it remained until that building was demolished in 1997. The sculpture’s final transfer, to the UTS Art Collection, was made in 1998 with endorsement from the former NSW State Architect and UTS Chancellor, Professor Peter Johnson.
In addition to the sculpture itself, the UTS Art Collection is also fortunate to have one of the maquettes (small scale models) for Growth Forms created by Hinder during the design process.
Margel Hinder (1906–1995) was born in New York, NY and trained in Buffalo and at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Art before emigrating to Australia in the early 1930s with her Australian-born husband, Frank. Margel and Frank Hinder both played an important role in the development of modernism in Australia, working and studying with Eleonore Lange and artists associated with the Crowley-Fizelle School in Sydney. The Hinders were founding members of the Contemporary Art Society NSW in the late 1930s, and later, the Society of Sculptors and Associates that formed in 1951. Margel Hinder was also a teacher, at the National Art School and later from her own studio.
Other important commissions completed by Margel Hinder include the Captain James Cook Memorial Fountain in Civic Park, Newcastle (1961); the Reserve Bank Sculpture in Martin Place, Sydney (1962); the Northpoint Fountain, North Sydney (1977) and others in Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. As testament to her lasting contribution to Australian modernist abstraction, Margel Hinder’s smaller sculptures and associated works are held by state and regional collections including the Art Gallery of NSW, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, the Lewers Bequest and Regional Art Gallery, corporate and university collections including Deakin University and the University of Sydney.
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