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Operative Painters and Decorators Union of Australasia Banner

W.G. Dunstan1915

Museums Victoria

Museums Victoria
Carlton, Australia

This banner was produced for the Operative Painters' ; Decorators' Union of Australasia, Victorian Branch, in 1915. It was painted by W.G. Dunstan. On one side, Dunstan has painted the interior of a large drawing room, with figures demonstrating the variety of skills needed at the time for painting, decorating and paperhanging, including marbling, gilding, freehand drawing and frieze painting. In the centre of the image a paper hanger prepares wall paper on a trestle table; to the left a second paper hanger stands on a ladder-supported plank while below him a painter sits on a step and paints marbling on the wall next to him. Towards the rear of the room other painters are busy working on gilding, friezes, murals and wall paintings.On the other side, four female figures representing Art (with palette and brushes), Sign writing (with mahl stick and brush), Paperhanging and Pasting (with scissors, roll of paper and container of paste) are depcited. The figures are framed by a loggia decorated with the linked triple eight symbol of the '8 Hour Day' movement, and are grouped around a monument inscribed with words attributed to Schiller. A coat-of-arms using abstracted forms derived from two main sources - the arms granted to the London guild of painters in 1486 and the arms subsequently given to the Company of Painter-Stainers who amalgamated with them in 1502 - is in the centre near the top.This banner was included on the Victorian Heritage Register on 8 December 2005.

Details

  • Title: Operative Painters and Decorators Union of Australasia Banner
  • Creator Lifespan: 1868 - 1926
  • Creator Nationality: Australian
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Date Created: 1915
  • Physical Dimensions: w4300 x h3500 mm
  • Type: Object
  • Rights: Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: W.D. Dunstan, Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: W.D. Dunstan
  • External Link: Museum Victoria Collections
  • Medium: Painting; Oil on Silk
  • Themes: Trades
  • Artist biography: Victorian painter and sign writer WG Dunstan is known to have painted five banners between 1912 and 1917. Unusually, one of these banners was an interstate commission by the New South Wales branch of the Operative Painters and Decorators Union, for whom he had painted the Victorian branch banner.
  • Artist: W.G. Dunstan

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