Bust of John Bishop

This portrait bust of John Bishop OBE, the co-founder of Adelaide Festival of Arts, was commissioned posthumously after his death in London while on Festival business in 1964. Artist John Dowie worked from photographs to sculpt a likeness in clay from which a plaster mould was made, and then finally cast in bronze. 

Bishop was Professor of Music at the University of Adelaide and the first Director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music. He was the inaugural Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1960, an event that was declared a resounding success. He held this position for the first three Festivals. The establishment of the John Bishop Memorial Commission, which honours his contribution, supports musical works premiered at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. 

John Dowie AM has created many well-known public artworks in Adelaide, including a bust of Sir Robert Helpmann (1984) also on display in Festival Theatre Foyer, Sir Mark Oliphant (1978) outside Government House on North Terrace, the Three Rivers Fountain (1968) in Victoria Square/ Tarndanyangga, and The Slide (1977) in Rundle Mall.