On Tuesday 21 November 2006, the statue of Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe was unveiled. The ceremony, presided over by the Governor, Professor David de Kretser, AC, took place on the forecourt of the State Library of Victoria.
The statue is the first bronze sculpture of La Trobe to be erected. Funds for the work of art were raised almost entirely from members of the La Trobe Society. The statue was commissioned by the La Trobe Society from noted sculptor, Peter Corlett, who got to know his subject by thorough research before embarking on the work. The sculpture is 1.3 life-size. Among Corlett's many works, he is well-known for his statues of 'Weary' Dunlop in St Kilda Road, and the Victorian Premiers located in Treasury Place, Melbourne.
Special guest at the unveiling was Dr Charles La Trobe Blake, who bears a remarkable resemblance to his great-greatgrandfather, although at six feet three inches, his forebear was rather taller.
Peter Corlett's involvement in the La Trobe Society dates back to the establishment of
the Society in 2001 when he and his wife, Willys Keeble, took out membership No. 8.
With his large portfolio of sculptures of famous Australian characters, real and
fictional, from 'Weary' Dunlop and Victorian Premiers to Kylie Minogue and
Dame Edna Everage, I was keen to understand why Peter was enthusiastic about creating a sculpture of Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe. Following the launch of the statue, I asked Peter Corlett if I could talk to him about his approach to creating the sculpture and he kindly agreed to do so. The following article was gleaned in
conversation with the sculptor about his history and modus operandi, for creating the
statue that was unveiled on 21 November 2006.
Peter Corlett said that he didn't enjoy school too much. What he did enjoy was his mother showing him photographs of Michelangelo's work which entranced him; indeed, 'Michelangelo's heroic nudes remain forever at the back of his mind'. He was also encouraged by his father to 'make things' and was able to do this by attending art school; he began to study at RMIT at the age of 15. There, he studied for a time under Lenton Parr, one of Australia's leading abstract sculptors.2 However, though he described himself at that time as shy, Corlett appears to have had clear ambitions he wanted to become an artist, and sculpture appealed to him more than any other artistic form.
He abandoned RMIT in 1963 without graduating he was keen to become a working artist and couldn't see the point in having a degree to prove it. Perhaps his most notable early commission was the Tarax Children's Play Sculpture, 1968, commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria and initially located in the Grimwade Gardens, National Gallery of Victoria, St Kilda Road. The sculpture is a collection of spheres with music which invites children to play, unconstrained.
From 2003 it was relocated to the McClelland Gallery. This sculpture set him on his chosen course as a freelance sculptor. Peter Corlett Sculptures is a study by Patrick Hutchings, of his work from 1965 to 1992 and highlights his various artistic phases. Some of Peter's well known biographical pieces, such as Simpson and His Donkey, are featured in this retrospective. The study assists the amateur to place this current work, Charles Joseph
La Trobe, into Corlett's personal oeuvre. But what of the man today and his desire to capture the essence of Charles Joseph La Trobe? Initial discussions with La Trobe Society's John Drury established the artistic questions that he wanted to answer within the parameters set by the Society.
The commission called for a portrait in full official regalia. Corlett decided to attempt to illustrate the inherent Britishness of the subject and the times. A previous commission for a sculptural portrait in Tasmania of Ronald Campbell Gunn (1808-81), a personal friend of La Trobe, informed his study of La Trobe, as well as his ancestry, British inheritance and ideals. Research into La Trobe the man was fundamental to the commission. Peter spent months immersing himself in the period, reading texts of the time, finding sketches by La Trobe, making notes and preparing himself to begin a maquette of the figure he would eventually cast. In the end, there were few images of La Trobe he could rely on and he used his instincts and research and a process of distillation to draw the figure we have today. As he said, this meant 'finding out about La Trobe, getting into his psyche, fleshing him out and developing empathy' with the man.
The well-known oil painting of La Trobe by Sir Francis Grant, RA, he felt, somewhat idealised, therefore he believed he had to engage more with the personality of the man which meant more reading and research. Corlett found an official uniform and sword on which he could base his design. In his attempt to find other images of La Trobe he was assisted by Dianne Reilly and her knowledge of the State Library of Victoria's collections. At the same time, two undamental aspects of the La Trobe commission had to be addressed. The first was the context: La Trobe's history prior to his appointment as Superintendent and, later, as ieutenant-Governor. This included the history of Melbourne and Victoria up until 1839 and beyond. The second was the location at the State Library of Victoria: siting within this heritage precinct influenced his perspective. For example, the feathers on the cocked hat and the way they would blow naturally in the breeze were important to the siting of the statue.
Peter Corlett felt that the unveiling of the clay model at the cocktail party in his studio for La Trobe Society members in August was important to the creative process issues raised on the night assisted in answering some of the questions he had posed for himself prior to commencing the project. As we know, the process of commissioning, modelling, casting the clay, feedback, adjustments and final casting in bronze took most of 2006, culminating with the unveiling of the statue on 21 November. The result is an informed study and an intriguing figure to contemplate.
The artist, Peter Corlett, could not now be described as a shy man. He is passionate about his work; he researched his subject thoroughly and developed a level of empathy which enabled him to achieve a magnificent result in recreating not only the likeness but something of the enigmatic character of harles Joseph La Trobe. This we see in the superb statue now standing in the forecourt of the State Library of Victoria.
Fay Woodhouse
