Person - Clem Millward
CLEMENT MILLWARD
Artist Clem Millward designed Under the Coolibah Tree 1956, painted David Milliss’ set Fission Chips 1959, and designed Roger Milliss’ 1960 production of Reedy River.
Clem was born in 1929 in Melbourne but spent his childhood in Western Australia. He was an evening student at East Sydney Technical School, a waterside worker (with Arnold Butcher a member of Gang 364, a “Brains Trust” who played chess during smokoes), and studied full-time at Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney where fellow students included John Olsen and Mary Heuston. Clem and Mary won scholarships to the School of Art in Bucharest. They married before leaving Australia and on their way to Romania were delegates to the Third World Festival of Youth and Students (organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth) held in East Berlin in 1951.
While in Bucharest the couple split up and Clem returned to Australia with their young daughter. In 1961 he began teaching at TAFE, and from 1977 - 85 was senior head teacher at its Hornsby college, resigning to develop his own work.
Renowned for his evocative landscapes of the Australian bush, Clem Millward is represented in several galleries including the Art Gallery of NSW. He was a finalist in the 1958 Archibald and 1966 Sulman competitions and won the 1973 Wynne Award.
A Tribune sketch, 1956
Fission Chips, 1959
