B. 1891-1964

Reginald ‘Rah’ Fizelle was a prolific Australian painter and teacher born in Goulburn, NSW. He is best known for his contribution to abstract art from the 1930s to the 1940s. Fizelle trained at the Teacher’s College in Sydney and was a teacher in Goulburn for several years. In 1916, he enlisted for the army and fought in France in the 22nd battalion during World War I, returning to Australia in 1919 with a badly injured left arm. Two years later, he specialised in art at the Teacher’s College and was awarded a scholarship to Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School. 

After a period of study and travel in Europe between 1927-1931, Fizelle returned to Sydney and became a prominent teacher of Modernism in Australia. His interest in the Cubism movement is evident in one of his more technically significant works, 'Construction II'. Fizelle’s landscape paintings represent the beauty of the Australian countryside and seaside, whilst his portraiture works offer an intimately male perspective of female subjects.

In 1939, Fizelle became the first president of the New South Wales branch of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia, where he exhibited for years. He was also president of the Australian Watercolour Institute between 1948-51, and exhibited with them regularly until 1962. Fizelle died two years later in 1964 in Sydney. Fizelle’s works are held in major collections across Australia, including at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.

For a more in-depth biography of this artist, click here.