Australian sculptor, Thomas Dwyer Bass aka Tom Bass,  was born in Lithgow, New South Wales, on 6th June 1916. He studied at the Dattilo Rubbo Art School and the National Art School.  After his graduation, Tom developed a philosophy of working as a sculptor as being the maker of totemic forms and emblems, that is, work expressing ideas of particular significance to communities or to society at large. Examples of his work include:

• The Trial of Socrates and The Idea of a University at Wilson Hall, Melbourne University;
• The Falconer on Main Building at UNSW, representing the conflict between beauty and the intellect;
• The winged figure of Ethos in Civic Square, Canberra, representing the spirit of the community and;
• The Lintel Sculpture at the National Library, Canberra, representing the idea of Library.

In 1974, Tom established the Tom Bass Sculpture School in Sydney and fourteen years later, was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to sculpture in 1988.  A retrospective of his work, spanning 60 years, was exhibited at the Sydney Opera House in November 2006. In 2009, he was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Visual Arts (honoris causa) at the University of Sydney. He departed this life on the 26th February, 2010.

Further items can be found under my category Sculpture.

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