Sculptor Ola Cohn OBE (1892–1964) was born in Bendigo and studied in Melbourne and London. Returning to Australia in 1931, she established a studio in Melbourne, producing pieces based on the simple lines of ancient Mediterranean art, and gained a reputation as a potent modern artist. Between 1938 and 1941 she made two huge figures for the Royal Hobart Hospital, a memorial fountain in Bendigo, panels for the Mutual Life and Citizen’s Building, Sydney, and a massive figure for the Pioneer Women’s Memorial in Adelaide. She then turned to teaching, while continuing to produce sculptures for churches.
Late in her career Cohn made the Fairies Tree for Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens. She carved her fairy tree in a red gum over three years from 1931–34, as a gift to the children of Melbourne. Inspired by Ivor Innes’ Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens, London, Cohn’s version includes fairies, dwarfs, angels, gnomes and Australian birds and animals. She inscribed the trunk with her intention to carve the tree ‘for the fairies and those who believe in them, for they will understand how necessary it is to have a fairy sanctuary – a place that is sacred and safe as a home should be to all living creatures’.
Purchased 2011
Ola Cohn OBE (age 42 in 1934)
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