Roland Wakelin was born in New Zealand and studied at the RAS school in Sydney under Dattilo Rubbo from 1912 to 1914. In 1917 he joined the advertising firm of Smith and Julius, where he worked alongside de Maistre, Rees, Leason and others. At the RAS he saw prints of modern French paintings and fell under the spell of Cézanne. After travel in London and Paris he returned to Sydney and joined the Contemporary Group. Becoming a leading figure in the Sydney modernist movement, he held annual exhibitions from 1936 at the Macquarie Galleries. In 1967 the Art Gallery of New South Wales mounted a major retropsective of his work. Many of his serene, cubist inpired works are held by the National Gallery and state and regional galleries.
Updated 2021
