Rosalie Gascoigne

• Name — Rosalie Gascoigne • Born — 25 January 1917 • Birthplace — Auckland, New Zealand • Died — 25 October 1999 • Place of death — Canberra, Australia • Field — Assemblage, sculpture • Works — Earth (1999) • Awards — Exhibited, Venice Biennale 1982 Order of Australia 1994

Gascoigne was born Rosalie Norah King Walker in Auckland, New Zealand, on 25 January 1917. She was the second of the three children of Stanley and Marion King Walker. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Auckland University College in 1937. She emigrated to Canberra, Australia in 1943 where she married astronomer S. C. B (Ben) Gascoigne whom she had met at Auckland University. They set up home in the isolated scientific community of Mount Stromlo. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 1994, for services to art, particularly sculpture. She died on 25 October 1999 at the John James Hospital in Canberra.

During the many lonely years spent raising her three children, Gascoigne found solace by making natural assemblages first via traditional flower arranging then later with the rigorous Japanese art form Sogetsu Ikebana. Her work in this medium earned praise from Japanese master and founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Sofu Teshigahara. Nevertheless, by the late 1960s, she had become dissatisfied with the limitations of the medium and started experimenting first with small scrap iron sculptures and later wooden boxed assemblages, all composed of materials she found during scavenging expeditions in the fierce, sunburnt landscape of Australia. While the Australian landscape was initially a shocking change from the damp green hills of her familiar New Zealand, by this time, she had come to love the "boundless space and solitude" of her new home. Much of her art reflects this, though some also harks back to her roots in New Zealand.

The authorities additionally record the headings Rosalie née King Walker, Rosalie King Walker, Rosalie nee King Walker and Rosalie Norah King Gascoigne. Her recorded language was English. She married Ben Gascoigne. Other recorded relations include William Alfred Bayly.

Rosalie Gascoigne is recorded with the occupation object artist. Recorded as sculptor, painter and artist.

• Museum — City — Country • Art Gallery of Ballarat — Ballarat — Australia • Art Gallery of New South Wales — Sydney, New South Wales — Australia • Art Gallery of South Australia — North Terrace, Adelaide — Australia • Art Gallery of Western Australia — Perth, Western Australia — Australia • Artbank — Sydney — Australia • Geelong Art Gallery — Geelong, Victoria — Australia • Griffith University Art Collection — Brisbane, Queensland — Australia • Latrobe Regional Gallery — Latrobe, Melbourne — Australia • Metropolitan Museum of Art — New York — United States • Museum of Contemporary Art Australia — Sydney — Australia • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa — Wellington — New Zealand • National Gallery of Australia — Canberra — Australia • National Gallery of Victoria — Melbourne, Victoria — Australia • Newcastle Art Gallery — Newcastle, New South Wales — Australia • Queensland Art Gallery — Brisbane, Queensland — Australia