The Banker sculpture

Leonard Shillam studied drawing at the Brisbane Technical College in 1931-34 and then, with the aid of a Carnegie Corporation travelling scholarship, studied art in London in 1938-39.  Shillam is credited with introducing modern sculpture to Brisbane on his return from London and from 1950 onward he worked as a full-time sculptor.  Shillam is responsible for a number of significant public sculptures in Brisbane, including Enlightenment (1959), located on the river façade of the former Queensland State Library, Northbank, and Proclamation Figure (1959), located outside the Deanery in the Cathedral Precinct off Ann Street in the Central Business District. Leonard Shillam and his wife Kathleen are considered “among Queensland’s most significant public artists”.1

According to the plaque attached to the sculpture, The Banker is intended to represent ‘Bankers and the industries they assist’.  Judith McKay, in Brisbane sculpture guide: a walk around public sculpture in the city (1988) elaborates:

The Doric columns and entablature over the money-changer refer to the stability and antiquity of banking.  The upper cast panels and openwork structure show the progress and development made possible through the banking system in rural, industrial, scientific and constructional spheres.2

Lisanne Gibson and Joanna Besley claim The Banker is one of Shillam’s “most significant pieces of work”.3 

Leonard Shillam remains a significant figure in Brisbane and Australian sculpture.  In 1968 Leonard and his wife, Kathleen, became foundation members of the Society of Sculptors Queensland; Leonard was the first instructor in sculpture at the Queensland College of Art in 1975 and both he and Kathleen received the Order of Australia in 1986 for services to sculpture and education.  Since the 1950s, Shillam’s work has been represented in galleries throughout Australia.

1. L. Gibson & J. Besley, Monumental Queensland: signposts on a cultural landscape, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 2004, p. 159

2. J. McKay, Brisbane sculpture guide: a walk around public sculpture in the city, Brisbane, Society of Sculptors, 1988, p. 26

3. Gibson & Besley, Monumental Queensland, p. 160

4. Gibson, L. & Besley, J., Monumental Queensland: signposts on a cultural landscape, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 2004

5. Kerr, J 1988, Brunswick Street, Bowen Hills and Beyond: the Railways of the Northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australian Railway Historical Society, Brisbane

6. Shillam, L., Shillam sculpture, Brisbane, CopyRight Publishing, 2000