1920-2001

Robert Klippel, born in Sydney, New South Wales, is widely recognised as Australia’s foremost post-war sculptor. His practice investigates the shifting relationship between the organic and the mechanical and between the human condition and modernity. His iconic assemblages, constructed from industrial remnants, metals, plastics and wood, establish a distinct sculptural language that fuses machined precision with lyrical movement. Alongside his sculptural output, Klippel produced an estimated five thousand works on paper, including drawings and collages that reveal his persistent search for form, structure and rhythm.

Serving as a model maker in the Navy during World War II, Klippel undertook sculpture studies at the East Sydney Technical College upon his return to Australia. Continuing his education in London in 1947, Klippel encountered Australian surrealist painter James Gleeson, sparking a creative exchange that shaped both artists’ early career trajectories. Returning to Sydney in 1950, Klippel expanded his technical repertoire through night courses in welding, soldering and panel beating, developing a heightened sensitivity to material form. His early assemblages, with their engineered components and dynamic compositions, contributed to the emergence of Australian abstraction and aligned his work with broader international modernist currents.

Across five decades, Klippel built a prolific and influential career defined by innovation, technical mastery and a sustained commitment to experimentation. His work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales and National Gallery of Victoria, and his archive remains central to scholarship on post-war Australian art. Klippel’s legacy endures through the sculptural language he forged and his ability to articulate the tensions and harmonies of the modern world.

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