Lumper
Artist
Clem Millward
(Australian, born 1929)
Date1958
Object number00018788
NamePainting
MediumOil paint, canvas
DimensionsOverall: 370 x 260 x 25 mm, 0.7 kg
Sight: 255 x 140 mm
Sight: 255 x 140 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionPainting titled 'Lumper' by Clem Millward depicting a man carrying a bale on his shoulders.
Artist Clem Millward worked as a wharfie in the late 1950s.HistoryThis work by Clem Millward reflects his experience working on the waterfront. Millward had studied painting in Australia and overseas, and worked casual shifts as a wharfie, enabling him time to pursue his art. Millward sketched wharfies in the union canteen during meal breaks and slack periods at work, producing paintings from those sketches afterwards. These men, often anonymous, represent the character and culture of the wharf workers environment at the time.
Millward was also active in the Waterside Workers Federation Art Group, and together with Nan Hortin and Vi Collins, presented art classes for waterside workers' children on Saturday mornings from 1956.
Maritime unions in the mid-twentieth century fostered cultural and educational groups within their ranks. The Waterside Worker's Federation - with a communist-based philosophy - saw a broad role for trade unions in society. Waterside workers lived as well as worked together and were also receptive to the union filling some of the roles of a local social club.
SignificanceThis artwork is significant in documenting life on the waterfront in the 1950s. It was produced at a time when the Waterside Workers Federation (WWF) was home to a very active movement including the WWF Art Group, the New Theater and the WWF Film Unit.