Vignette 126: Dorado

In 2007, prominent art collector and jazz entrepreneur Kym Bonython AC DFC AFC gave the University a special gift: a welded steel sculpture by Bryan Kneale MBE RA.

Bonython purchased the work Dorado (1964) from London’s prestigious Redfern Gallery. Dorado is a fine example of 1960s British modernism. Made partly of found materials, it has been fashioned into a combination of soft organic and hard inorganic shapes both complementing and challenging each other.

This work survived the Ash Wednesday bushfire, which destroyed many other works of the collection held at Bonython’s Mount Lofty residence. Dorado was restored with advice from the artist, and now finds its home in the Napier Building forecourt, where it forms part of a significant collection of public sculptures on the University’s North Terrace Campus.

The University of Adelaide: 150 Years of Making History.  Providing a place. p.171