William Pidgeon

William Edwin Pidgeon, aka Bill Pidgeon and Wep, (1909–1981) was an Australian painter who won the Archibald Prize three times. After his death, cartoonist and journalist Les Tanner described him: "He was everything from serious draftsman, brilliant cartoonist, social observer, splittingly funny illustrator to multiple Archibald prizewinner.^[1]

Pidgeon was born on 7 January 1909 in Paddington, an inner suburb of Sydney.^[2] He was the son of Frederick Castledine Pidgeon and Thirza Jessie Pidgeon, née White. He was educated at Sydney Technical High School.^[3][4] Pidgeon served in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve between 1927 and 1930 (Service Number S6342).

Pidgeon was married twice. He married Jessie Graham in 1933. They moved to Northwood, New South Wales in 1940 where he lived for the remainder of his life. They had one son in 1944. After Jessie's death, he married Dorothy Lees and a second son was born in 1959.^[5] From 1956 he suffered from glaucoma in both eyes. This condition led to gradual deterioration of his eyesight and necessitated six operations.^[5] In 1965 Hazel de Berg interviewed him as part of an oral history project to interview Australian artists.^[6] He died 16 February 1981 aged 72 years.^[7]

Cartoonist Les Tanner studied under Pidgeon.

Career

Pidgeon began his drawing career by doing comic illustrations for his Technical High School magazine; at 16 years of age he began a newspaper artist cadetship at The Sunday Times. He studied for a period of 6 months under J. S. Watkins^[4] In September 1926, at the age of 17, he had his first comic strip published. The Trifling Triplets appeared in The Sunday News.^[8] He was also published regularly in the (Sydney) Evening News^[9] where he was employed as a cadet artist. He also worked in Sydney for the Daily Guardian, the Sun, the World and the Sydney Daily Telegraph.^[10] Editor George Warnecke soon employed Pidgeon as an illustrator on the Smith's Weekly. He also illustrated for The Telegraph in the 1930s.^[11]

Art Reviews

Pidgeon wrote occasional art reviews for the Daily Telegraph for a number of years, and returned to this in 1974 when his eyesight was failing.^[5]

Warnecke asked Pidgeon to help produce a dummy for a new magazine The Australian Women's Weekly which he did. Warnecke took the idea to media proprietor Frank Packer. The first issue was published 10 June 1933.^[12] Pidgeon commenced his career illustrating for the magazine starting with the first issue where he illustrated a short article on the scotch terrier.^[13] Pidgeon collaborated with humourist Lennie Lower during the late 1930s. This collaboration contributed to the magazine achieving the highest circulation in Australia.^[10]

In and Out of Society

Pidgeon used the moniker Wep for the In and Out of Society comic strip which entered the pages of The Weekly in September 1933.^[8] It had a theme of the emancipated woman. The leading lady dominated the strip and most of Wep's gentle humour saw the male on the receiving end.^[14] Pidgeon used an extreme style that has been considered comic, original and modern in approach and has influenced humorous artists since.^[10] Although the strip continued through to the 1970s and drawn by other artists, Wep's work on the strip made it a household name.^[14]

War Correspondent

Pidgeon was a war correspondent^[15] for The Australian Women's Weekly (Consolidated Press). He visited Darwin, Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, Morotai and Borneo. He produced cartoons, illustrations and paintings which were produced as covers.

He continued to provide cartoons and art work, including covers until he left full time employment with the Weekly in 1949 with an agreement to do occasional work which he did through the 1950s.^[5][16]

Pidgeon left The Weekly in 1949 to pursue portrait painting. Commissioned portraits became his livelihood over the next twenty-five years.^[5] He was a member of the Journalists' Club Sydney and painted the portraits of practically every club president up to 1976. Some of his subjects included:

• Don Angel^[17]
• Arthur Crouch^[17]
• Keith Newman^[17]
• Syd Nicholls^[17]
• Jack Paton^[17]
• Con Simons^[17]
• Kenneth Slessor^[17]
• E. G. Theodore, Australian politician^[18]
• John Christopher Thompson, Catholic priest and educationalist^[19]
• Sir William Gaston Walkley, oil company director^[20]
• King Watson^[17]
• Fannie Whitely, family friend and brother of artist Brett Whiteley.^[21]
• Jerry Wilkes^[17]

He also enjoyed painting landscapes and other styles.^[22]

Pidgeon won the Archibald Prize three times. In 1958 with a portrait of journalist Ray Walker, in 1961 with a portrait of Rabbi Dr I Porush and in 1968 with a portrait of fellow artist and friend, Dr Lloyd Rees.^[23]

Pidgeon was a member of the Journalists' Club Sydney. His first painting of Club President Ray Walker won the 1958 prize.^[17]

The 1961 portrait of Rabbi Dr. I. Porush was commissioned for the Great Synagogue by Randwick bookmaker and horse breeder Mr. A. Davis, to mark the Rabbi's twenty-one years of service and in memory of Davis's younger sister Ettie. Pidgeon had competed in every prize since 1949. This was his second win.^[24]

Pidgeon was one of four local artists represented on the Lane Cove Art Panel. In March 1968, at the suggestion of this panel, Lane Cove Council commissioned Pidgeon to paint a portrait of Lloyd Rees for their art collection. The painting was subsequently entered in the 1968 Archibald Prize competition and won.^[5] The portrait was to hang in the Lane Cove town hall.^[24]

Pidgeon was invited to illustrate a number of books, and in some cases book covers:

• Willis, Collins. Rhymes of Sydney by Collins Wills and "Wep". First published in 1933. New edition 1982. ISBN 0959359214
• Raffaello, Carboni. The Eureka Stockade: the consequences of some pirates wanting on quarter-deck a rebellion, with an introduction by Herbart V. Evatt and illustrated by W. E. Pidgeon^[25]
• Simpson, Colin. Come Away Pealer, 1952 [Jacket design only]
• Warren, Marian. No Glamour in Gumboots, 1958
• Cullota, Nino (John O'Grady) They're a Weird Mob, 1959^[26]
• Davy, G. C. The Christian Gentleman: a book of courtesy and social guidance for boys, 1960
• Cullota, Nino (John O'Grady) Cop this Lot, 1960 ISBN 0725402008
• Pearl, Cyril. So, you want to buy a house .. and live in it. 1961
• Cullota, Nino (John O'Grady) Gone Fishin', 1962
• Pearl, Cyril. The Best of Lennie Lower presented by Cyril Pearl and Wep, 1963
• O'Grady, John. Aussie English: an explanation of Australian idiom, 1965
• O'Grady, John. The Things they do to you, [1969]

Pidgeon's paintings are held in the collections of the following organisations:

• Australian War Memorial^[27]
• Government House (Sydney)^[2]
• Great Synagogue^[2]
• National Library of Australia^[28]
• National Museum of Australia^[29]
• National Portrait Gallery^[30]
• New South Wales Art Gallery^[2]
• Newcastle Art Gallery^[31]
• Parliament House^[32]
• Royal Prince Alfred Hospital^[2]
• State Library New South Wales^[30]
• St Vincent's Hospital Sydney^[2]
• Sydney Children's Hospital^[2]
• University of New England^[2]
• University of New South Wales^[2]
• University of Sydney^[2]

In 1988 Bloomfield Galleries, New South Wales held an exhibition of Pidgeon's war paintings.^[33]

In 1997 the Journalists' Club Sydney closed. The Archibald Prize winner painting of club President Ray Walker went missing.^[34] In May 2020 the Art Gallery of New South Wales put a call out for its return.^[35]

Over 400 works of art by Pidgeon were donated to the Australian War Memorial in 2014.  These included illustrated letters to his wife while working as a war correspondent and artist with Consolidated Press in New Guinea, Borneo, and Morotai in 1943–1945. It also includes his War Correspondent's Licence and Identification Card and paintings, sketches, drawings, photographs, and other ephemeral material relating to his time as a war correspondent. The collection was one of the largest donations received by the Memorial over the past ten years. The Memorial holds the most comprehensive collection of Pidgeon's work in Australia.^[36]

In 2015 the Australian War Memorial held an exhibition William Edwin Pidgeon (1909-1981), war correspondent and artist which presented a selection of over 400 works held in the Memorial's collection.^[27]

• William Edwin Pidgeon website
• Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• "Illustration by Wep" tag on historical newspapers and more via Trove
• The Australian Women's Weekly Covers by Wep list via Trove
• Lane Cove Art Society WILLIAM EDWIN PIDGEON “WEP” (1909–1981)
• William Edwin Pidgeon interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection (sound recording) National Library of Australia