Tall Women

Rod Dudley created the Tall Women series for La Triennale di Milano in 1973. These ten iconic figures were then acquired by Adelaide Festival Centre and form a memorable part of the Works of Art Collection. 

Born in 1935, Dudley is an Australian sculptor and painter who lives between Melbourne and Northern Italy. In the early 1960s, Dudley received a scholarship to study in Italy where he was influenced by the work of the Italian Renaissance and contemporary Italian sculpture. Italy was at the centre of contemporary sculpture during the 1970s, and it was here that Dudley hand-carved these Tall Women sculptures.  

The ten female figures stand over two-metres-high, created from found legs taken from shop mannequins combined with carved wooden bodies and heads; they have no arms, are dressed in leather, fur, and wrought iron, and painted in vibrant colours.  

‘The female figure, she presents herself as a media icon, which I know has very little to do with what she is like in flesh and blood. As an angry young socialist, I was haunted by another reality: the blatant show of wealth and power as seen in glossy magazines at the time. I had escaped from Australia’s love of Tachisme and the New York School and sought the opposite: a certain realism. I loved David’s hand by Michelangelo, the audacity of Warhol’s soup can, or the liquid cool of a Hockney pool.’ 

Throughout his career Dudley has continued to work with wood and often combines sculpture and painting. His early works also used found materials such as plastic, leather and shoes. He now creates his figurative sculptures using computerised wood carving techniques.