From Australia’s Jewish Past: Tina Haim-Wentcher  – Internationally-acclaimed Sculptor

February 7, 2023 by Features Desk
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Tina was born on 17 December 1887 in Constantinople (Istanbul), the daughter of Jewish parents David Haim, a Serbian-born merchant, and his wife Rebecca, who was born in Italy.  

The family belonged to the Turkish-Sephardi Jews.  The family moved to Vienna and then to Berlin. Tina claimed to have lived in Berlin from 1904, but other sources suggest that she spent her childhood and adolescence there.  In 1907 she studied sculpture for twelve months at the Lewin-Funcke-School in Charlottenburg, and she was encouraged by Lewin Funcke to set up her own studio. A limestone bust she made of one of her sisters was accepted by the Berlin Sezession – Avante Garde Arts Group. This remarkable achievement resulted in a commission to carve authorised copies of sculptures in the city’s Egyptian Museum.

Tina-Haim Wentscher

In 1913 Tina spent a year studying in Paris, where her work earned praise from Auguste Rodin.  Tina’s works were also greatly admired by Heinrich Schafer, the Director of the Egyptian Museum who commissioned her in 1913 to make a detailed copy of the bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.  This was used for many years for moulding all subsequent replicas.  She made two copies in artificial stone for Wilhelm II, the German Emperor and James Simon, who had financed the excavations of Ludwig Borchardt, a German Egyptologist, and the artifacts were brought to Germany

On 8 August 1914, in Berlin Tina married Julius Wentscher, a painter then serving in the artillery.  Exhibiting as Tina Haim-Wentscher and joining the Sezession, she became a member of the Wilhelmine and Weimar Avant-Garde Group.  Numerous galleries and museums in Berlin acquired examples of her work, including a renowned artist and sculptor, Käthe Kollwitz, who became a lifelong friend.

Tina and Julius began artistic tours in the 1920’s visiting Greece and Egypt.  From 1931 the couple travelled in the Far East to Bali and Java.  The both gained social and artistic success, but her friend Kathe Kollwitz and Julius’s mother continually warned them about the worsening position of Jews in Germany, managing to convince the couple to postpone their return to Berlin.   From 1933 onwards to 1940, they held exhibitions, collected curios and accepted commissions in the Netherlands, Indonesia, China, Siam, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.  Their works were bought for public and private collections but many did not survive World War II. Tina and Julius collaborated in executing highly praised, life-size dioramas – replicas of a scene – with life-size stone figures in front of landscapes.

The outbreak of World War II saw the couple deported in 1940 as “Enemy Aliens’’ to Australia, where they were interned until 1941 in Tatura, Victoria.  After their release, they settled in Melbourne, received Australian citizenship in 1946, and anglicised their family name to “Wentcher’’.  Tina had always retained her maiden name and was now known as Tina Haim-Wentcher.  They both adapted quickly to their new life.  Tina joined the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors.  From 1940 and well into the 1950s, they continued to send sculptures to the major art societies for the next decade, exhibited regularly and won 1he 1958 Interstate Sculptors Prize of Newcastle NSW.  Among her early Australian works was a bust of Hephzibah Menuhin, exhibited in Haileybury College, East Brighton UK.

Despite her eminence among early modernist sculptors, Tina never developed as an artist beyond what she had achieved in her Asian work, which was radical to Australian eyes. The distinct personality and presence of these pieces forged her reputation, as did her connection with famous people such as Käthe Kollwitz. While praised for their delicacy and subtlety, Tina’s creations reflect the monumental sharpness and clarity of line and expression—derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek sculpture—that fascinated early twentieth-century dissident German artists. Her commissions in Australia were generally small-scale plaques and busts. Unlike male modernist sculptors, she did not receive public validation through government teaching positions, though she found many advocates among her peers.

Her charitable work for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne led to a close friendship with the philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the mother of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Childless and predeceased by her husband, Tina died on 21 April 1974 at St Kilda aged 87.  The Association of Sculptors of Victoria named a prize in her memory. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia Canberra, Art  Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Ballarat and  McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria.  In 2017 the McClelland Gallery celebrated Tina’s life with an exclusive exhibition of her works.

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story

Dictionary of Australian Biography (Juliet Peers); Wikipedia; McClelland Gallery; Design and Art Australia

The Australian Jewish Historical Society is the keeper of archives from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 right up to today. Whether you are searching for an academic resource, an event, a picture or an article, AJHS can help you find that piece of historical material. The AJHS welcomes your contributions to the archives. If you are a descendent of someone of interest with a story to tell, or you have memorabilia which might be of significance for the archives, please make contact via www.ajhs.com.au or its Facebook page.

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