Sculptor Inge King's long life's works celebrated in NGV retrospectiveSculptor's monumental efforts celebrated in show of her life's works
Renowned Australian sculptor Inge King, who for more than 60 years was a pioneer of contemporary sculpture in her adopted homeland, has died in Melbourne. 
"Halfway between 100 and 101," the centenarian died peacefully in the presence of her family, gallerist Stuart Purves said in a statement on the Australian Galleries blog.
Born in Berlin in 1915, King left Germany in 1939 and sought refuge in England. She began her art studies at the prestigious Royal Academy in London but finished them in Glasgow when London was bombed during WWII.
She eventually fell in love with an Australian, the printmaker Grahame King, who would become her husband and the two moved to Australia in 1951. They established themselves in Warrandyte and, together, they dug out a studio under the Robin Boyd-designed home where they raised two daughters.
King has previously spoken of the impact of the Australian landscape on her work - utterly foreign to her as an emigre from Europe - which can be seen across Melbourne, from the iconic waveform sculpture on lawn of the Arts Centre (Forward Surge), the majestic, shimmering rings in the grounds of the Heide Museum of Modern Art (Rings of Saturn) to the eponymous red ringed-structure on the edge of Eastlink (Red Rings).
"I have always thought of sculpture on a large scale," she told Fairfax Media in 2013. "The Australian landscape fascinates me. It's vast and rough, it's untidy and how can you counter that? You can make something 10 or 20 metres high and it doesn't mean anything. It has to have power and the power comes through simplicity and inner strength."
A rare woman in a predominantly male field of heavy sculpture, Purves paid tribute to King's contribution to the arts in Australia as "unquestionably significant".
"The wellbeing of Australia's culture is richer for her and she will be sadly missed by those that did and did not know her. Those of us that did were touched by her magic."
with Sonia Harford