Jenny Sages was born in 1933 in Shanghai, China and moved to Australia in 1948. Sages graduated from East Sydney Technical College in 1951, and then again from Franklin School of Art in New York in 1954. She eventually studied John Olsen / Mary White school in Sydney from 1956-1957 completing her tertiary education.
Sages’ practice allows her to “condense and distil the images in her mind”, blurring the lines between landscapes and abstractions (John McDonald, 2016, Catalogue Essay). Her frequent travels to the Kimberley and Arnhem Land allow her to physically and emotionally experience the ‘ancient landscapes’ from which she draws her inspiration. Initially, Jenny would make en plein air studies in gouache, yet she eventually came to the realisation that she preferred only to look at and then reimagine and reconfigure her subject matter in the studio.
Jenny Sages’ portraits have been hung in the Archibald Prize at AGNSW on 21 occasions. Her appreciation of and diligence towards portrait making ‘provides some respite’ from her usual practice of layering encaustic onto board, and then scoring them with dots, lines and various pigments. Her self-portrait After Jack was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra in 2018 and is currently on display.
Moreover, Jenny has been awarded the Kedumba Drawing Award (2006), Wynne Prize (2005), Mosman Art Prize (1994), and the Portia Geach Memorial Award twice (1992 and 1994).
Her work is included in various national, state and corporate collections, such as The National Portrait Gallery and the National Library, Canberra, Art Gallery of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Northern Territory Museum and Gallery, as well as NIDA Sydney and KPMG, Sydney.
Jenny Sages’ studio is in Double Bay, Sydney. Jenny has been represented by King Street Gallery since 1996.
2018
Lest I forget King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2016
On the memory of the imagination King Street Gallery on William
2013
Show Me the Way King Street Gallery on William
2010-13
Jenny Sages: Paths to Portraiture [curated by Sarah Engeldow], travelling National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW; Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Qld; Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Qld; Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie, Tas; Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2011
Transience of time King Street Gallery on William
2008
A Diary of My Days King Street Gallery on William
2005
A process of walking king street gallery on burton, Sydney
2004
King street gallery at Span Gallery [with Salvatore Gerardi] Melbourne
Film Clips Chapman Gallery, Canberra
2003
The daily act of living/just doing it king street gallery on burton
2001
Around here out there king street gallery on burton
My Children Have Gone to Toowoomba Chapman Gallery
2000
Names and Being Chapman Gallery
1999
Substrata king street gallery on burton
1997
Remember Chapman Gallery
1996
New work king street gallery on burton
1995
New Work Chapman Gallery
1994
Connections Chapman Gallery
The Wayless Way Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1991
Markers Blaxland Gallery
1990
Out of Alice Blaxland Gallery
1988
Bundle Bungles –Western Australia Blaxland Gallery
2021
Storylines + Songlines Justin Art House Museum, Vic
2019
Abstract 19 King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
Inside/Outside King Street Gallery on William
2018
Into Abstraction III- In collaboration with Brenda Colahan Fine Art Macquarie University Gallery
2016
Women in Portraiture National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2014
Kings School Art Prize Kings School, Sydney
2013
Packsaddle New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), Armidale
Looking Forward King Street Gallery on William
Last but not Least King Street Gallery on William
2012
KIAF/12 Korean International Art Fair, Seoul
The Big Picture King Street Gallery on William
The Archibald Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)
The Wynne Prize, AGNSW
Virtual Reality: Interpreting the Landscape [King Street Gallery @ Newcastle University Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
2011
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Wynne Prize AGNSW
2010
Abstract Nature Samstag Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2009-10
Idle Hours National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2009
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Drawn Line King Street Gallery on William
2008
Compositions King Street Gallery on William
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
2007
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
2006
Afilla landscapes king street gallery on burton
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
Doggett Street Studios with king street gallery Brisbane, Qld
Kedumba Drawing Prize Kedumba Gallery, Wentworth Falls, NSW
2005
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Wynne Prize [winner] AGNSW
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Regional Gallery, Sydney
Tattersall’s Club Landscape Prize Brisbane, Qld
2004
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
Singular Visions Cowra Art Gallery, NSW
2003
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Wynne Prize AGNSW
The Fleurieu Biennale for Landscape Adelaide, SA
Ned Kelly Framed National Trust of Australia, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
64 years king street gallery on burton
2002
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Dobell Prize for Drawing, AGNSW
Acquisitions & Donations, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
Two Thirds Sky-artists in desert country Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, NSW
Last show of the year king street gallery on burton
2001
A Century of Collecting Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
The Tattersalls Club Landscape Art Prize Brisbane
New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
Monochromatic king street gallery on burton
Views king street gallery on burton
Works on Paper Prize Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Wynne Prize AGNSW
Last show of the year king street gallery on burton
2000
Women and the landscape king street gallery on burton
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
Kedumba Drawing Prize Kedumba Gallery
Last show of the year king street gallery on burton
Melbourne Art Fair2000 king street galley at Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
The Wynne Prize AGNSW
Redlands Westpac Invitational Art Prize Mosman Regional Gallery
1999
Judy Cassab and Jenny Sages Customs House Gallery, Sydney
Last show of the year king street gallery on burton
Orange Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Moree Plains Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Griffith Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Prize pictures- paintings previously selected for major prize exhibitions king street gallery on burton
The Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Wynne Prize AGNSW
The Dobell Prize for Drawing AGNSW
The Tattersalls Club Landscape Art Prize Brisbane
New England Regional Art Museum
Art Gallery New South Wales
Art Bank, Australia
Avillion Hotels
Bank of America
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
Coles Myer, Australia
Colonial First State Property Ltd
Department of Transport, Canberra
Dresdner Australia Limited
Gallery of Modern Art, Qld
Gadens Ridgeway Collection
Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, NSW
IBM, Australia
Kedumba Drawing Collection
KPMG, Sydney
Labour Council of NSW
Macquarie Bank Collection
Macquarie University Collection
Manly Regional Gallery
Mosman Council, Sydney
Montifiore Collection
National Library of Australia, Canberra
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
New South Wales State Library, Sydney
NIDA, Sydney
Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery
Queensland Art Gallery
Smorgon Collection, Australia
The McDonalds Australia Collection
Trust Company of Australia
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Qld
Tweed River Art Gallery, Qld
University of New England, NSW
Warringah Council, NSW
Observation Point: Jenny Sages by Sarah Engledow
National Portrait Gallery Publication Issue 47
Spring/Summer 2014
Wood simply chuffed as Archibald targeted by graffiti artists by Adam Fulton
The Sydney Morning Herald
16 March 2012
Bets on three of a kind, or the dealer by Bruce James
The Sydney Morning Herald, Metropolitan
14 March 2003
From page to big canvas by Bronwyn Watson
The Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Arts
16 September 1994
