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Robin Holliday (1932-2014) Sculpture| Investment-Grade Bronzes

Robin Holliday (1932-2014) PhD, FRS, FAA was one of the World’s greatest molecular biologist. Holliday was a remarkable Renaissance man of the modern era, achieving international acclaim. Influenced by British school of abstract, He produced museum-quality bronzes sculpture using the lost-wax casting (investment casting). He pursued sculpture full-time in 1997, but his artistic training began decades earlier. In the 1960s & 1970s, he took art classes at the Camden Art Centre in London and in Hertford. Remarkably, three of his instructors had previously worked as direct assistants to iconic British modernists Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Eduardo Paolozzi. Holliday is immortalized for discovering the Holliday Junction, a fundamental structure crucial to DNA. His DNA Double Helix bronze celebrates the beauty of molecular structures.

Today, Robin Holliday’s museum-quality works are held in elite private and public collections across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, standing as a brilliant testament to a life spent exploring the beautiful structures of existence.

Legacy: The Royal Society London, Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, Children Medical Research Institute Sydney, University of Sussex UK, Rockefeller University New York, Macquarie University Sydney.

Robin Holliday  (1932-2014)
DUAL Mobile (rotates)
Bronze
Size: 75 x 75 x 55 cm

Price: $12,000 ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
Tetrad
Bronze
Size: 38 x 25 x 15 cm

Price: $3,500  ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday kinetic and mobile bronze sculptures consist of a sculpture base on which one or two pieces rotate. The principle is based on the fact that the centre of gravity of the top piece that is below the point of rotation, so that it (they) is balanced. A gentle push to the top piece (s) sets it in motion and momentum takes over. Some will rotate for several minutes. Robin Holliday kinetic or mobile bronze sculptures pay homage to Isaac Newton in exploiting gravity and angular momentum.

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
Homage to Newton (rotates)
Bronze
Size: 60 x 40 x 36 cm

Price: $9,900  ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
Obelisk
 Bronze
Size: 90 cm

Price: $6,500 ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday  (1932-2014)
Synapse
Bronze
Size: 40 x 36 cm

Price: $9,900  ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
 Lacunae
 Bronze
Height: 60 cm

Price: $12,000  ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
Hollow Form
Bronze
Size: 50 x 35 cm

Price: $5,500  ENQUIRE

Robin Holliday (1932-2014)
Bird
Bronze
Size: 75 x 62 x 27 cm

Price: $5,500 ENQUIRE

The Life, Career, and Legacy of Robin Holliday  PhD, FRS, FAA (1932-2014)

An eminent sculptor, Robin Holliday (1932-2014) PhD, FRS, FAA was one of the World’s greatest molecular biologist. He obtained a Ph.D. in Genetics from Cambridge University in 1953. In 1964, Holliday proposed a mechanism of DNA strand exchange that became known as the Holliday Junction. Robin Holliday - Wikipedia.

Robin Holliday interest in sculpture dates back to the l960s and l970s when the artist attended classes at an Art School in Hertford, UK, and also at the Camden Arts Centre, Finchley in London. His career as a sculptor was highly successful, blending his deep understanding of structural form with abstract art. Many of his bronzes features fluid, sweeping geometric shapes—such as his prominent Endless Mobius Curve series and Lacunae—which subtly echoed the twists, turns, and organic symmetries found in molecular biology.

Robin Holliday (1932 – 2014) | The Syntax of Form: From Genetics to Modernist Sculpture

Robin Holliday was a true Renaissance man of the modern era, achieving international acclaim in two completely distinct lifetimes: first as a world-class molecular biologist and geneticist, and subsequently as a master modernist sculptor.

His unique life trajectory allowed him to bridge the gap between empirical science and abstract fine art, using his profound understanding of organic structures to shape timeless, physical forms.

The Scientific Foundation
Born in 1932, Holliday dedicated the first four decades of his professional life to the biological sciences. He achieved global recognition in 1964 by proposing the "Holliday junction"—a foundational model in molecular biology that explained how DNA molecules recombine and repair themselves. He served as the Head of the Genetics Division at the National Institute for Medical Research in London from 1970 to 1988, before emigrating to Australia to serve as a Chief Research Scientist at the CSIRO in Sydney, where he turned his brilliant mind toward the biology of aging.

The Artistic Awakening
While his days were spent altering the landscape of molecular biology, Holliday’s evenings were long rooted in the arts. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he formally trained at the Camden Art Centre in London. Remarkably, three of his instructors had served as direct studio assistants to the titans of British Modernism: Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Eduardo Paolozzi. This elite lineage deeply instilled in Holliday a reverence for smooth geometric lines, fluid abstract shapes, and the spatial harmony of materials.

The Modernist Sculptor
Upon retiring from his scientific career in 1997, Holliday stepped fully into his second life as a full-time sculptor. That very year, a pivotal meeting at Galeria Aniela’s “Best of Boyd” exhibition introduced his work to the Australian art market. From 1997 onward, represented by Galeria Aniela, his sculptures became celebrated highlights of numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Working from his Sydney studio until his passing in 2014, Holliday focused primarily on table-top and large-scale cast bronzes, often finishing them with complex, rich patinas. He also worked meticulously in stone, wood, clay, and resin. His art elegantly synthesised his scientific genius with pure aesthetic modernism; his acclaimed series, such as the Endless Mobius Curve and Lacunae, served as physical manifestations of the twists, turns, and inherent symmetries found within the building blocks of life itself.

Exhibitions & Legacy

From 1997 until his passing in 2014, Holliday worked out of a studio in Sydney. His art gained considerable acclaim and was regularly showcased at prominent institutions and galleries, including:

Parliament House in Sydney, SOHO Galleries Sydney, Thursday Plantation Sculpture Park in Ballina, and Galeria Aniela, former in Kangaroo Valley, since 2020 in Bowral.

Today, Holliday bronze pieces are held in private collections across Australia, the UK, and the USA.

Robin Holliday with his Bronze sculpture 'DNA Double Helix'

The Double Helix is a description of the molecular shape of a double-stranded DNA molecule. In 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson first described the molecular structure of DNA, which they called a "double helix," in the journal Nature. For this breakthrough discovery, Watson, Crick, and their colleague Maurice Wilkins won a Nobel Prize in Physiology, or Medicine, in 1962. However, a crucial contribution that enabled this discovery was made by Rosalind Franklin, who was not acknowledged at that time. After her death, Crick said that her contribution had been critical.

Robin Holliday was also creating kinetic sculpture constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium. Holliday mobile sculptures pay homage to Isaac Newton in exploiting gravity and angular momentum. The mobile principle is based on the fact that the centre of gravity of the top piece is below the point of rotation, so the sculpture is balanced. These consist of a sculpture base on which one or two pieces rotate. The principle is based on the fact that the centre of gravity of the top piece's is below the point of rotation, so the sculpture is balanced. A gentle push to the top piece's sets it in motion and momentum takes over. Some will rotate for several minutes.

The meaning of the term "mobile" as applied to sculpture has evolved since it was first suggested by Marcel Duchamp in 1931 to describe the early, mechanized creations of Alexander Calder. At this point, "mobile" was synonymous with the term "kinetic art", describing sculptural works in which motion is a defining property. While motor or crank-driven moving sculptures may have initially prompted it, the word "mobile" later came to refer more specifically to Calder’s free-moving creations. Influenced by the abstract work of Piet Mondrian, Joan Miró and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Calder in many respects invented an art form where objects (typically brightly coloured, abstract shapes fashioned from sheet metal) are connected by wire much like a balance scale. By the sequential attachment of additional objects, the final creation consists of many balanced parts joined by lengths of wire whose individual elements are capable of moving independently or as a whole when prompted by air movement or direct contact. Thus, "mobile" has become a more well-defined term referring to the many such hanging constructs Calder produced in a prolific manner between the 1930s until his death in 1976. A succinct definition of the term "mobile" in a visual art sense could be a type of kinetic sculpture in which an ensemble of balanced parts capable of motion are hung freely in space but which never come into contact with each other.

COLLECTIONS

The  Royal Society London

Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge

Children Medical Research Institute Sydney

University of Sussex UK

Rockefeller University New York

Macquarie University Sydney

 AWARDS

1976   Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

1987 awarded the Lord Cohen Medal for Gerontogical research

1995   Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy

2005   Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization

2005   Elected to the Australian Academy of Science for fundamental contributions to molecular genetics, epigenetics and cell biology

2005   Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization

2011   Awarded the Royal Medal, the Royal Society’s premier award in excellence in science

2012  Royal Medal for his research on recombination and epigenetic.

BOOKS Bibliography

Holliday was an authored and he edited numerous books including:

1981   The Science of Human Progress, Oxford University Press

1986   Genes, Proteins and Cellular Aging, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

1995   Understanding Aging, Cambridge University Press

2000   Slaves and Saviours, Blackwall Books

2007   Why We Age, Springer Science + Business Media

ARTIST STATEMENT written by Robin Holliday

My interest in sculpture dates back to the l960s and l970s when I attended classes at an Art School in Hertford, Herts, UK, and also at the Camden Arts Centre, Finchley in London.

I have been influenced strongly by the established British school of abstract sculpture, particularly Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, but also Lynn Chadwick, Jesse Watkins and Reg Butler. My interest in organic forms can be related to the paintings, drawings and prints of Graham Sutherland. Two of my instructors were the established sculptors Jesse Watkins and Mark Harvey and three others had worked as assistants to Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Paolozzi.

I have worked with stone, wood, clay and plaster. I also obtained instruction in art metalwork, and I have experimented with mixed media. My work is mainly abstract, but I sometimes bridge the gap between  representational forms and abstract ones. This is in part due to the influence of organic shapes on my sculpture. Working mainly in plaster, I can built up on wire armatures. By a combination of adding plaster and carving or wearing it down I achieve the final form. This is then finished with a bronze patina, or caste in bronze. One of my abstract pieces, known as "Diad", has been caste in bronze at Alan Crawford's foundry in Sydney . The title of the abstract bronze sculpture "Diad" has a double meaning. It refers to the two parallel pointed forms, and also to the fact that the sculpture contains two contrasting components: the pointed forms and the rounded one encircling the hole.

As well as a sculptor, I am also an author, and I earned my living until retirement in l997 as a scientist, specialising in genetics and cell biology. I now have much more time available to involve myself in sculpture. I have joined the Sculpture Society and plan to exhibit pieces for sale at the various exhibition organised by the Society or by others.

Casting Sculpture in Bronze

To make fine art bronze sculpture, the artist is using the ancient form of Lost-wax casting (also called investment casting or precision casting) method to produce it's museum quality fine art bronze castings. The "Lost Wax Casting Method" is an incredibly accurate process for reproducing sculpture in metals such as bronze. The method developed thousands of years ago, and although modern techniques have improved the process, still remains very expensive and labour intensive as skilled craftspeople are needed every step of the way.

The process begins by taking the initial-original sculpture, which might be made of materials such as clay, plaster, wood, and making a "negative" wax then rubber impression of it. This negative rubber mould is used to produce a replica of the original sculpture, with the properties and thickness of the wax capturing all of the detail of the design. The wax pattern is removed from the negative mould and a skilled artisan retouches the seams and any imperfections. Often the artist will review and approve or decide to touch up the wax pattern further themselves.

Once the wax pattern is approved, a "circulatory system" of wax tubes, often referred to as sprues, vents, and/or gates is attached to the wax pattern. This system will allow all the wax (in the soon to be made casting mould) to melt out of the casting mould, and for the metal to be poured in, and gas to escape. once gated, the wax pattern will be encased or what's called "invested" in either a traditional or solid investment molud or ceramic shell casting mould.

Both of these methods use refractory materials to encase the wax pattern and can withstand the temperature of the de-waxing process and the molten metal. The casting mould is placed in an oven or furnace and the wax is melted away leaving the negative impression in the casting mould. For the next step, bronze is melted to approximately 2000 degrees Fahrenheit (various alloys have slightly different melting points and ideal pouring temperatures), and when ready, the bronze is poured into the casting mould.

This is a particularly exciting and dramatic moment at the foundry. After the metal cools, the metal finishers will clean and chase the metal surface using a number of tools, from hand held chasing tools, to air powered grinders, and welding. Work is done until the cast meets the qualities of the original model.

At this point, if it is bronze cast, the artist will often want to further the color or patina from the natural metal color achieved during the metal finishing. The patina process is the application of chemicals to the surface of the bronze that changes the chemical composition of the metal so that it takes on a different or varied color.

This process is truly limited only by ones imagination and time. Many great patinas have been achieved simply by allowing the bronze to sit in nature and change with the air and moisture around it. In most cases at the foundry, we are required to make this process happen quickly and this is done by heating the metal and applying chemicals such as copper nitrate or ferric nitrate. It can also be done without heat: a cold patina. Either way, the patina process brings with it the many wonderful qualities that make bronze so luminous. Aluminium or other metal casts may be treated to achieve various results, highlighting the metal. Most casts are waxed for protection from the elements before they leave the foundry.

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Three Decades of Fine Art Heritage and Global Acclaim

A Visionary Legacy: Founded in 1994 in Kangaroo Valley, Galeria Aniela Fine Art Gallery & Sculpture Park pioneered museum-quality exhibitions program, bringing world-class masters and blue-chip Australian artists to a country setting.

Institutional Recognition: The first commercial art gallery freely listed in the National Gallery of Australia's Artonview (1997-2004) alongside elite national institutions, state galleries and museums.

Art Market Prestige: Highlighted by landmark modernist retrospectives officially launched by Australia’s leaders and heads of the peak art institutions:

1. Arthur Boyd Retrospective (1997): Opened by Cameron O’Reilly, Deputy Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia (Broadcasted on ABC TV National News, ABC TV Sunday Afternoon & SMH Front Page).

John Perceval Retrospective (2000): Opened by Justin Miller, Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia, (Broadcasted on ABC TV National News).

Charles Blackman Retrospective (2002): Opened by Rodney Menzies, Executive Chairman of Menzies Art Brand (Broadcasted on SBS TV ArtScream).

A Century of Boyd exhibition London's art collection (2012): Opened by Bob Hawke, former Australian Prime Minister. (Broadcasted on YouTube).

Distinguished Guests & Cultural Icons: Over the years, Galeria Aniela has had the unique privilege of welcoming esteemed guests, celebrities, and art patrons to our exhibitions. Featured below are historic visits from international icon Sir David Attenborough, Cameron O’Reilly, and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What people say

Jamie Boyd and Aniela Kos with Cameron O’Reilly (1997) | Aniela Kos and Cameron Menzies (Nov. 2023)

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