Dora Ohlfsen and the facade commission

Born in 1869 in Ballarat, Ohlfsen moved to Sydney with her family at age 15, led by her engineer father, Christian Ohlfsen-Bagge. She left Australia to study music in Berlin, aged 23, but was forced to abandon her promising musical career when she developed neuritis in her arm. Turning to sculpture, Ohflsen studied with Prix de Rome artists such as Alaphilippe at the French Academy. Initially, her plan was to study painting but she soon realised that ‘sculpture attracted me most, and I worked at that’. After studying with engraver Dautel, Ohflsen decided to specialise in medal art, quickly achieving success.

In 1896 Ohlfsen moved to St Petersburg, home to the woman who would become her lifelong partner, the wealthy and well-connected Elena von Kügelgen. During Russia’s pre-revolutionary ‘Silver Age’, Ohlfsen worked for the US Consul-General (some say as a spy), taught music and wrote articles on theatre and art. In 1902 the cosmopolitan couple moved to Rome, where they would stay for over 40 years.

At home in Australia, Ohlfsen was an exotic and popular figure who frequently appeared in the press – from women’s magazines to literary journals like The Lone Hand. On her death in 1948, there was national coverage of her obituary.

From May to June 1912, the Royal Art Society of NSW featured a special presentation of Ohflsen’s work within its annual show. Her twenty works were described as ‘a collection of fine medallions and statuettes such as are not often shown here.’ A quarter of the show was purchased by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. She always maintained ties to Australia, and came back from Rome to exhibit over several extended stays.

Architect Walter Liberty Vernon’s 1901 plan for the Gallery specifies a bronze sculpture for above the entrance doors. In 1913, the trustees commissioned Ohlfsen to design a bronze panel in low relief for the site. Today it remains empty …

Ohlfsen sent these photographs (in four sections) of her full-scale plaster cast to the Gallery trustees in Sydney in 1917. Later she sent two copies of the plasters themselves (one for luck in transit!), which have long since disappeared.

The Gallery commission brief included the central panel together with portrait roundels of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo on either side. Ohlfsen argued for a classical theme for the flanking spaces, which were eventually converted to windows. As she wrote in frustration to Mann, AGNSW director: ‘You have not answered me as to my suggestions for the two end panels of one yard square. As I pointed out in a previous letter two large heads of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci would be anachronisms as they don’t belong to the Greek epoch of the panel. It is a Greek chariot race.’

The Gallery trustees cancelled Ohlfsen’s commission in 1919, citing a shortage of funds. She challenged their decision, noting the large sum they were spending on the two Gilbert Bayes statues for the front of the Gallery. She suggested they install the plaster panel she had made and paint it to resemble bronze until funds became available. The trustees remained unmoved and her panel was never installed.

Throughout WWI and beyond, Ohlfsen wrote reams of often feisty correspondence to Gallery director Gother Mann and other influential friends in Australia about the progress of her commission. She was left with many unanswered questions about the side roundels (over 4 years seeking a response) and about the final casting in bronze. After the commission was cancelled, one of the most damning notes came from Sir John Sulman, chair of the trust, who wrote: ‘Miss Ohlfsen is a woman, and although she has no case, can cause mischief’.