Art Gallery of New South Wales Australian

Home , Claude Flight, Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers, Thea Proctor, The Home

Art Gallery of New South Wales Australian Collection Focus Room 13 March – 11 July 2010 Introduction Margaret Preston was inspired to create some of her most admired woodcuts such as Sydney Heads whilst living in Sydney’s north shore suburb of Mosman and encouraged The 1920s and 30s witnessed a resurgence of activity in Thea Proctor to make a small number of prints using the wood and lino cutting among Australian printmakers. This technique, of which The rose is perhaps the most display highlights the vitality of work by a group of artists celebrated. A number of artists also experimented with who were excited at the capacity of these techniques to linocutting, which was taught in schools and art schools create images that were modern. during this period as an exercise in design. Adelaide Perry Such a blossoming of work was influenced by the greatly influenced its popularity through the example of her example of contemporary European and American own work – seen here in her impressive print The bridge - printmakers through the English journal Studio and by and through teaching. Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers and Australian artists Lionel Lindsay, Margaret Preston and Eveline Syme studied under English artist Claude Flight at Napier Waller who championed the art of relief printmaking; the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London, producing reinforced by exhibitions, articles published in the journal works that exemplified his credo that lino cutting was ‘the Art in Australia and a contemporary enthusiasm for ultimate modern medium’. Due to the association of wood Japanese prints. Artists’ interest in wood and lino cuts and lino cuts with craft, décor and the feminine sphere should also be seen in the context of early twentieth century (particularly through The Home magazine), work in this area art, which witnessed a continuing breakdown of barriers of printmaking, though praised and published, was judged between art and craft; and of modernism, in which artists of lesser importance by the mainstream art establishment. In increasingly emphasised the formal qualities in their work. more recent decades, it has been recognised as one of the There was a new focus on design: simplified shapes and earliest manifestations of modernism in Australian art. lines, broad areas of flat colour and bold rhythmic patterns – an approach facilitated by these techniques.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN works

Dimensions are of the block mark: height x width. Where block edges cannot be determined, only image size is given.

Thea Proctor Thea Proctor born Armidale, NSW 1879, born Armidale, NSW 1879, England 1903–12 and 1914–21, England 1903–12 and 1914–21, died Sydney 1966 died Sydney 1966 The rose 1927 Summer 1930 hand coloured woodcut, 22.1 X 20.8 cm hand coloured woodcut, 17.5 x 22.8 cm Purchased 1975 Purchased 1965 © AGNSW © AGNSW

Proctor’s image of fashionable, independent women and their shared pleasure in the fragrance and beauty of flowers, epitomises the artist’s championing of the feminine. Its modern approach through a simplified, close-up view, in bright, unmodulated colour also reflects the artist’s enthusiasm for Japanese prints. Based on a coloured pencil drawing, originally created as a cover for The Home magazine, the artist’s cousin Hera Roberts is seen on the right.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Thea Proctor born Armidale, NSW 1879, England 1903–12 and 1914–21, died Sydney 1966 Women with fans 1930 woodcut, 21.9 x 22.1 cm Purchased 1975 © AGNSW

This is thought to be a double portrait of printmakers Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme against a background of Rushcutters Bay in Sydney.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Thea Proctor Thea Proctor born Armidale, NSW 1879, England 1903–12 born Armidale, NSW 1879, England 1903–12 and 1914–21, died Sydney 1966 and 1914–21, died Sydney 1966 The fountain 1925 La poupée 1925 hand coloured woodcut, 19.4 x 19.9 cm hand coloured woodcut, 17.8 x 11.3 cm Purchased 1975 Purchased 1978 © AGNSW © AGNSW

The bold, simplified lines of this work and La poupée Proctor’s strong emphasis on design through simplified (adjacent) result from Proctor cutting the block in a direct forms and bright, flat colour is modern; but the bonnets, way that acknowledges the demands of the technique. parasol and costumes of La poupée (The doll) reveal her There is minimal or no shading of the forms, unlike The rose nostalgia for fashions of the Victorian era. which reflects its origin in a shaded pencil drawing. Encouraged by the example of Margaret Preston (who gave her the wood to work with) Proctor made her first woodcuts in 1925, later stating that they were made mainly for children’s nurseries.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Margaret Preston In this image of busy and ordered ferry activity at Circular born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, Quay, Preston stresses the modernity of the city. Close died Sydney 1963 inspection reveals that there is quite extensive application Circular Quay 1925 of black and white gouache, to correct the printing hand coloured woodcut, 24.7 x 24.4 cm and emphasise pattern. Both uncoloured and hand Purchased 1964 © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney coloured versions of the image were produced, as was her common practice.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Margaret Preston Margaret Preston born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, died Sydney 1963 died Sydney 1963 Sydney Heads (2) 1925 Mosman bridge circa 1927 hand coloured woodcut, 25.1 x 18.6 cm hand coloured woodcut, 25.2 x 18.7 cm Gift of Mrs Alison Brown 1968 Bequest of Margaret Preston via (her husband) WG Preston 1986 © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

Preston printed only the structural design of this image in black ink from a carved block, then applied the colour by hand to the resulting print, with gouache. This is one of relatively few landscape images made by her and of an even smaller number (including Mosman bridge adjacent) that celebrate the seductive colour and natural beauty of the harbour.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Adelaide Perry born Beechworth, Victoria 1891, London 1922–25, died Sydney 1973 The Bridge, October 1929 1930 linocut, 32.8 x 44.4 cm Gift of George Soutter and John Yu 2008 © Adelaide Perry Estate

This image of the emerging structure of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the largest of the artist’s known linocuts. Perry combines rhythmic form and contrast between light and dark to great dramatic effect, exploiting the innate potential of a purely black and white image. It is one of a relatively small number of urban subjects created by Australian artists using the technique of linocutting.

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Adelaide Perry born Beechworth, Victoria 1891, London 1922–25, died Sydney 1973 Kurrajong (The citrus orchard) circa 1929 linocut, 15 x 22.1 cm Purchased 1975 © Adelaide Perry Estate

Adelaide Perry born Beechworth, Victoria 1891, London 1922–25, died Sydney 1973 South coast 1930 linocut, 14.1 x 19.1 cm Purchased 1975 © Adelaide Perry Estate

COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Margaret Preston born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, died Sydney 1963 Protea 1925 hand coloured woodcut, 24.8 x 24.6 cm Purchased 1976 © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

10 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Margaret Preston Margaret Preston born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, died Sydney 1963 died Sydney 1963 N.S.W. orchid circa 1935 Flowers in jug circa 1929 hand coloured woodcut, 19.2 x 19.2 cm hand coloured woodcut, 28 x 20.5 cm Purchased 1965 Purchased 1975 © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

In 1913 Preston declared that ‘Decorative work’ was the ‘only thing worth aiming for’. In pursuit of this aim in which abstract relationships were all-important, she arranged the flowers so that they radiate to create a strong design. Both Preston and Proctor advocated the display of wood and lino cuts in the modern home. Each copy of the book Margaret Preston: recent paintings, edited by Sydney Ure Smith and published by Art in Australia in 1929, was accompanied by a woodcut of either this image or of Mosman bridge c. 1927 for that purpose.

11 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Gladys Gibbons Gladys Gibbons born Sydney 1903, died Sydney 1969 born Sydney 1903, died Sydney 1969 Daisies circa 1933 Still life circa 1933 linocut, 26.2 x 23.5 cm linocut, 16.4 x 15.9 cm Gift of George Soutter and John Yu 2008 Purchased 1975 © Estate of the artist © Estate of the artist

Gladys Gibbons studied design (which included linocutting as an exercise in simplification) at Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School under Thea Proctor, who became a lifelong friend. Gibbons exhibited her linocuts throughout the 1920s and 30s, later pursuing a career as an art teacher at secondary schools in Sydney and Melbourne.

12 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Ethel Spowers Children were a favourite subject for Spowers, but her born Melbourne 1890, approach here reflects a new interest in being modern, Europe 1921–24, 1928–29 and 1931, following studies at the Grosvenor School in London died Melbourne 1947 under Claude Flight. She was encouraged to choose lively, Swings 1932 contemporary subjects and create images in which the colour linocut, 24.2 x 26.3 cm (image) Purchased 1976 forms were simplified and abstracted. Colour was to be bright and ‘flat’ (unmodulated) in tones of equal value. On her return to Australia, she acted as Flight’s agent – and with Dorrit Black and Eveline Syme, promoted his teachings and work through a number of exhibitions, mainly in Melbourne.

13 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Ethel Spowers Ethel Spowers born Melbourne 1890, born Melbourne 1890, Europe 1921–24, 1928–29 and 1931, Europe 1921–24, 1928–29 and 1931, died Melbourne 1947 died Melbourne 1947 Wet afternoon 1929–30 Special edition 1936 colour linocut, 23.9 x 20.2 cm (image) colour linocut, 28.2 x 22.4 cm (image) Purchased 1968 Purchased 1977

14 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Eveline Syme Syme was a friend and fellow student of Ethel Spowers at born England 1888, childhood in Australia, France 1921–24, the Grosvenor School in London. She had discovered the England and Europe 1929–30, died Melbourne 1961 work of Claude Flight through his publication Lino-cuts, in a Skating 1929 Melbourne bookshop and later wrote ‘Here was something colour linocut, 13.5 x 16.5 cm (image) new and different, lino-cut no longer regarded as a base Purchased 1977 © Estate of the artist form of woodcut, but evolved into a distinct branch of 20th century Art. I had seen nothing more vital and essentially ‘modern’ in the best sense of the word than the reproductions shown …’

15 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Dorrit Black Dorrit Black born Adelaide 1891, Europe 1927–29, born Adelaide 1891, Europe 1927–29, Sydney 1929–35, died Adelaide 1951 Sydney 1929–35, died Adelaide 1951 Music 1927 Nocturne, Wynyard Square 1932 colour linocut, 24.1 x 21.3 cm (image) linocut, 22.6 x 15 cm Purchased 1976 Purchased 1976

Inspired by a jazz night at the Dominion Arts Club, London This print was based on a view adjacent to the site of Dorrit – Black has placed dancing figures and pianist amidst a Black’s art school ‘The Modern Art Centre’ which she set up dynamic zigzagging pattern of lines and earthy colour to and taught at from 1932–35 in Margaret Street, Sydney. Her evoke the lively beat of the ‘new’ music. One of her earliest stark composition of geometrically-reduced architectural prints, made whilst studying at the Grosvenor School under forms reflects a renewed adherence to the principles of Claude Flight, it was exhibited at the first exhibition of cubism, following studies in France under André Lhote and linocuts to be held in Britain (at the Redfern Gallery, London) Albert Gleizes. The gallery also has the drawing and block in 1929. for this print.

16 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Murray Griffin born Melbourne 1903, died Melbourne 1992 Lyre bird feeding 1935–36 colour linocut, 16.5 x 43.2 cm Purchased 1984 © Estate of the artist

Griffin’s prints were particularly admired for their technical virtuosity and innovation. Based on sketches made in the Museum of Victoria, he specialised in birds, a popular genre, and made his prints comparable in size to paintings. The density and gloss of his oil-based inks also differentiate Griffin’s prints from those of many of his contemporaries. The simplicity and stylisation of this composition has been attributed to the influence of Japanese prints, while his realistic rendering of the lyre bird reflects Griffin’s admiration of Austrian artist Norbertine Bresslern-Roth, whose work was widely-known at the time.

17 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Murray Griffin Dorrit Black born Melbourne 1903, died Melbourne 1992 born Adelaide 1891, Europe 1927–29, Sydney 1929–35, died Adelaide 1951 Rabbit trapper’s daughter 1936 colour linocut, 35 x 27.7 cm Watersprites circa 1931 Purchased 1984 colour linocut, 18.6 x 28 cm © Estate of the artist Purchased 1976

Black’s linocuts reveal a great diversity of approaches and reflect her interest in experimenting with technique. This evocation of mythical water creatures contrasts with her other works shown here, in drawing upon the imagination for its subject and in reducing the forms to near-abstract, rhythmic patterns.

18 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Mabel Pye born Melbourne 1894, died Melbourne 1982 The mountain 1930s colour linocut, 17.1 x 21.7 cm Gift of Dr Robin Sharwood 1975 © Estate of the artist

Mabel Pye born Melbourne 1894, died Melbourne 1982 Bushfire 1930s colour linocut, 14.2 x 17.1 cm Purchased 1975 © Estate of the artist

An art school contemporary of Adelaide Perry and Ethel Spowers, Pye exhibited linocuts with the Victorian Society of Women Artists during the late 1930s. The Gallery has nine linocuts by her, which reveal a range of approaches from this imaginatively abstract image to the poetic colour harmonies of other works on landscape themes.

19 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Vera Blackburn Blackburn studied linocutting under Thea Proctor and born Sydney 1911, England from 1937, died England 1991 subsequently at Adelaide Perry’s art school. The inspiration Lake of swans 1935 for this image came from a passage in Tchaikovsky’s music linocut, 30.2 x 24.4 cm for the ballet ‘Swan Lake’ and from an Irish legend about the Purchased with funds provided by the Australian Prints, Children of Lir who were transformed into swans. Drawings and Watercolours Benefactors Fund 2006 © Estate of the artist

20 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Dorrit Black born Adelaide 1891, Europe 1927–29, Sydney 1929–35, died Adelaide 1951 Black boys circa 1939–45 colour linocut, 26.3 x 22.9 cm (image) Gift of Mr JFB Black (the artist’s nephew) 1968

The subject derives from a stay on the farm ‘Woodenup’ (owned by one of the artist’s uncles) in the Kojunup region of Western Australia.

21 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Margaret Preston Margaret Preston born Adelaide 1875, Europe 1912–19, Woodblock for ‘Wheel flower’ circa 1928 died Sydney 1963 nine end-grain huon pine blocks, buff-jointed and engraved 44 x 44.3 cm block Wheelflower circa 1929 Gift of Mr W.G. Preston the artist’s widower 1963 hand coloured woodcut, 44 x 44.3 cm © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney Bequest of W.G. Preston, the artist’s widower 1977 © Margaret Rose Preston Estate. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney

Considered by the artist to be one of her best woodblock prints, Wheelflower shows the Firewheel tree (Stenocarpus Sinuatus), in its various stages of development from flowering bud to seed, an approach familiar to botanical illustrators. It was one of the few prints that Preston kept in her own collection.

22 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Dorrit Black Four linoblocks for ‘The acrobats’ born Adelaide 1891, Europe 1927–29, four linoleum (lino) blocks, 25.4 x 21.6 cm each block Sydney 1929–35, died Adelaide 1951 Gift of the artist’s sister, Mrs Helen Finlayson 1967 The acrobats 1927–28 colour linocut, 25.1 x 17.7 cm (image) Purchased 1967

In some cases the gallery owns the artist’s wood or lino block/s from which a print was made. For Dorrit Black’s linocut The acrobats, one colour was printed from the relief surface of each block (hence the term ‘relief’print) in the following order: yellow, red, viridian, black. Dorrit Black

23 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN Select bibliography

General (chronological) Artists (alphabetical)

Nicholas Draffin, Australian woodcuts and linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1976 Ian North, Dorrit Black 1891-1951, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1979 Roger Butler, Melbourne woodcuts and linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria, 1976 (ex cat) Roger Butler, Vera Blackburn, Deutscher Galleries, Melbourne, 1979 (ex. cat) Chris Deutscher and Roger Butler, A survey of Australian relief prints 1900-1950, Deutscher Galleries, Melbourne, 1978 (ex. cat) Alisa Bunbury, Murray Griffin : the journey. A retrospective 1922- 1980, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria, Janine Burke, Australian women artists 1840-1940, Greenhouse 2001 (ex. cat) publications, Melbourne, 1980 Gill Lumsden Overlooked but not forgotten: Adelaide Elizabeth Josef Lebovic (ed), Masterpieces of Australian printmaking, Josef Perry and her students, Drill Hall Gallery, The Australian National Lebovic Gallery, Sydney, 1987 (ex. cat) University, Canberra, 1995, (ex cat.) Stephen Coppel, Linocuts of the machine age: Claude Flight and the Roger Butler, The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, Aldershot (UK), 1995 raisonné, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, (rev. edn) 2005 Joan Kerr (ed), Heritage: the national women’s art book, Art and Deborah Edwards and Rose Peel, Margaret Preston, Art Gallery Australia, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995 of New South Wales, Sydney, 2005 (ex cat) Roger Butler, Sydney by design: wood and linoblock prints by Chris Deutscher, Roger Butler, Jan Minchin, Thea Proctor: the Sydney women artists between the wars, National Gallery of prints, Resolution Press, Sydney, 1980 Australia , Canberra, 1995 (ex. cat) Barry Humphries, Andrew Sayers, Sarah Engledow, The world Robert Holden, Cover up: the art of magazine covers in Australia, of Thea Proctor, Craftsman House, Sydney, & National Portrait Hodder & Stoughton, Sydney, 1995 (ex cat) Gallery, Canberra, 2005 (ex. cat) Helen Topliss, Modernism and feminism: Australian women artists 1900-1940, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996

Hendrik Kolenberg, Anne Ryan, Australian prints from the Gallery’s collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1998 (ex. cat)

Jane Hylton, Modern Australian women: paintings & prints 1925- 1945, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2000 (ex. cat)

Bridget Elliott and Janice Helland (eds), Women artists and the decorative arts 1880-1935: The gender of ornament, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, UK, 2002

Roger Butler, Printed: images by Australian artists 1885-1955, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2007

24 COLOUR, RHYTHM, DESIGN AcknowledgEments

With thanks to staff at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for their help with this exhibition, in particular: Carolyn Murphy and Sarah Bunn (conservation), Felicity Jenkins (photography), Nick Strike and Tom Langlands (framing), Jill Sykes, Suzanne Briggs, installation and workshop staff and to Hendrik Kolenberg, senior curator Australian art, and Anne Ryan, curator of Australian prints, for their encouragement and support.

Helen Campbell, exhibition curator

Online catalogue design: Vivien Sung Rights and permissions: Michelle Andringa

Published in association with the Australian Collection Focus Room exhibition: Colour, rhythm, design: wood & lino cuts from the 20s and 30s, 13 March – 11 July 2010

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Cover image: Thea Proctor The rose 1927 © AGNSW The Art Gallery of New South Wales is a statutory body of the NSW state government

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