Teapot, Flinders Street Station 1984

Summary

Leigh Hobbs is most well known as an author and artist of children’s picture books, having forged a successful career through his distinctive illustrative style and his cast of idiosyncratic characters. In fact, he was appointed Children’s Laureate in 2016–17 and he shared the small canvas of a postage stamp with his character Mr Chicken in 2019 for his contribution to children’s literature and literacy. While always a storyteller, Hobbs studied art at Caulfield Technical Institute School of Arts (now Monash University), and he began his career with a studio practice that ranged over mediums, including painting, drawing and sculpture. This limited-edition teapot, in the shape of Melbourne’s distinctive historic train station, is one of two in the Art and Heritage Collection. The hand-painted, slip-cast porcelain vessel was made in 1984 and came into the collection through a private donation in 2019; the other was purchased in 2016. An identical teapot was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989, and the State Library of Victoria also holds one in its collection.