Click an Image below to Enlarge
A Life in Abstraction and Defiance
Wendy Paramor (1938–1975) occupies a distinctive place in the history of Australian modernism. Her career, though tragically brief, was marked by a fearless commitment to experimentation, a deep engagement with international abstraction, and a quiet defiance of the gendered expectations of her time. Through painting and sculpture, Paramor forged a visual language that was both rigorously formal and deeply personal, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate in contemporary Australian art.
Born in East Melbourne on 12 December 1938, Paramor moved with her family to Sydney at the age of five. Her early education at Redlands and Wenona School was followed by a secretarial course—undertaken at her father’s insistence—but her passion for art soon led her to formal training at East Sydney Technical College and the Julian Ashton Art School. These formative years instilled in her a strong foundation in drawing and composition, which would later underpin her transition into abstraction.
In 1960, Paramor embarked on a three-year journey through Europe, a period that proved pivotal to her artistic development. She lived primarily in the south of France and Portugal, where she was awarded a grant from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. This support enabled her to hold solo exhibitions in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Oporto, and to show work in London and New York. These experiences exposed her to the international currents of modernism and helped shape her emerging aesthetic—one rooted in geometric abstraction and the formal concerns of colour, space, and structure.
Returning to Sydney in 1963, Paramor quickly established herself within the local art scene. She exhibited with the Contemporary Art Society and held her first solo show at Watters Gallery in 1965, followed by a second at the Bognar Gallery in Los Angeles. In 1966, she joined the Central Street Gallery, a hub for Sydney’s most progressive artists, and decisively shifted away from landscape-based work toward hard-edge abstraction. Her paintings from this period are characterized by bold colour fields, crisp geometry, and a sense of spatial tension that reflects her international influences.
Paramor’s commitment to abstraction extended into three dimensions. She began producing sculptural works that echoed the formal clarity of her paintings, and in 1968, she was included in The Field, the landmark exhibition that inaugurated the National Gallery of Victoria’s new building. Alongside just two other women—Normana Wight and Janet Dawson—Paramor’s inclusion in The Field marked her as a key figure in the rise of Australian abstraction. Her sculptures in the exhibition demonstrated a confident engagement with minimalism and spatial dynamics, aligning her with the international avant-garde.
Despite her growing recognition, Paramor chose a life of independence and introspection. In 1966, she moved to a rural property in West Hoxton, southwest of Sydney, where she commissioned a striking underground home designed by architect Philip Cox. It was here that she gave birth to her son, Luke, in 1967. She never married his father, the artist Vernon Treweeke, and raised her child as a single mother—a decision that reflected her commitment to autonomy and her resistance to conventional roles.
The early 1970s brought both creative evolution and personal hardship. Paramor’s work shifted toward experimental sculpture, and she participated in major exhibitions such as the Mildura Sculpture Triennials (1970 and 1973) and the Marland House Sculpture Competition. However, her solo exhibitions at Central Street were not commercially successful, and she faced the challenges of raising a child in relative isolation. In 1973, at the age of 34, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Despite her illness, she returned to figurative and semi-figurative painting in her final years and planned a large-scale metal sculpture exhibition that was never realised.
Paramor died on 28 November 1975 at the Wolper Jewish Hospital in Woollahra, Sydney. She was just 36 years old. In the decades following her death, her contributions to Australian abstraction were largely overlooked, a reflection of the broader marginalization of women artists during that era. However, recent efforts to recover and celebrate her legacy have brought renewed attention to her work. In 2014, the Liverpool City Council established the Paramor Prize, an annual award recognizing innovation in contemporary art—a fitting tribute to an artist who consistently pushed boundaries.
Today, Paramor’s work is held in major public and private collections, and her influence is increasingly acknowledged in exhibitions and scholarship. Her career, though brief, exemplifies the power of artistic conviction and the importance of challenging established norms. Through her bold forms, vibrant palettes, and unwavering independence, Wendy Paramor helped shape the trajectory of Australian modernism—and her voice continues to inspire.
Copyright © 2008 Art Nomad. All rights reserved. Click here to view copyright statement