• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Jacqueline Hick Jacqueline Hick Born Wise ‘Jackie was born wise, and born unperturbed,’ said Jeffrey Smart of his friend Jacqueline Hick. Jacqueline Hick (1919–2004) was one of Australia’s most successful figurative painters. In a long and fruitful career she also explored printmaking and enamelling. Her subjects included the Australian landscape, musical and theatrical performances, and city life. Above all, Hick was drawn to the human figure. Whether observing the foibles of modern Jacqueline Hick living or the displacement of Aboriginal people’s traditional lifestyles, her figurative works sought to expose human insensitivity. Hick’s later works, depicting the figure in an Born wise Gloria Strzelecki aquatic environment, explored movement and expressions of light. Gloria Strzelecki Jacqueline Hick: Born wise showcases many of Hick’s finest works, and traces a life that, like her art, was imbued with wit, wisdom and empathy. Cover: Pas de Trois (detail), c. 1964, oil and synthetic polymer paint on composition board, ISBN 978-1-74305-200-6 134.1 x 181.6 cm; Maude Vizard‑Wholohan Art Prize Purchase Award 1964; Art Gallery of South Australia Cover design by Liz Nicholson, designBITE, and 9 781743 052006 Clinton Ellicott, Wakefield Press Jacqueline Hick Born wise Jacqueline Hick Born wise Gloria Strzelecki Wakefield Press Gloria Strzelecki is a freelance curator and writer, and has 1 The Parade West been Gallery Manager at the Adelaide Central School of Art Kent Town since 2009. She has worked at the Art Gallery of South South Australia 5067 Australia as a curatorial research assistant, and from 2007 www.wakefieldpress.com.au until 2009 was co-director of a contemporary art space, ‘A Room of Her Own’, which she established in Adelaide. First published 2013 She is the author of Kathleen Sauerbier: A modern pursuit, also part of the Carrick Hill series. Text copyright © Gloria Strzelecki, 2013 Also in this series Copyright for the works of Jacqueline Hick is jointly held John Dowie: A life in the round, Tracey Lock-Weir by Mark Galaz, Michele Galazowski, Daniel Galazowski Ivor Hele: The productive artist, Jane Hylton and Meredith Nickels, aside from Late shift workers, William Dobell: Portraits in context, Jane Hylton Dark mourning and Boys at the dam whose copyright rests Hans Heysen: Into the light, Jane Hylton and John Neylon with the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Robert Hannaford: Natural eye, John Neylon Nora Heysen: Light and life, Jane Hylton Every effort has been made to trace and contact the owners of Adrian Feint: Cornucopia, edited by Richard Heathcote works reproduced. Kathleen Sauerbier: A modern pursuit, Gloria Strzelecki All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair Cover: Pas de Trois (detail), c. 1964, oil and synthetic dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or polymer paint on composition board, 134.1 x 181.6 cm; review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be Maude Vizard-Wholohan Art Prize Purchase Award 1964; reproduced without written permission. Enquiries should be Art Gallery of South Australia addressed to the publisher. Half-title page: Andamooka Creek, 1970–1975, oil on board, 63.0 x 100.0 cm; Purchased with a Visual Arts Board Edited by Charlotte Michalanney, Wakefield Press Grant, 1975; Hamilton Art Gallery Carrick Hill series designed by Liz Nicholson, designBITE Designed and typeset by Clinton Ellicott, Wakefield Press Title page: Self-portrait, c. 1947, oil on plywood, Printing and quality control in China by Tingleman Pty Ltd 53.0 x 45.6 cm; Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art; University of Western Australia National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry First published to coincide with the exhibition Born Wise: Author: Strzelecki, Gloria. The art of Jacqueline Hick held at Carrick Hill from Title: Jacqueline Hick: born wise / 27 March to 30 June 2013. Gloria Strzelecki. ISBN: 978 1 74305 200 6 (pbk.). Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Hick, Jacqueline, 1919–2004. Painters – South Australia – Biography. Women painters – South Australia – Biography. Painting, Australian – South Australia – 20th century. Dewey Number: 759.994 Contents F oreword B y D R P aula F urb y 7 preface B y R ichard H E A T H C O T E 8 Introduction 1 1 C hapter 1 ‘The time of discovery’ 1 3 C hapter 2 ‘Take a bath in all the art’ 2 0 C hapter 3 ‘Mad to paint’ 2 4 C hapter 4 ‘Earth, sea and city’ 2 9 C hapter 5 ‘Born wise’ 3 3 Gallery 3 6 NOTES 1 1 8 BIBLIOGRAPH y 1 2 1 BIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE 1 2 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 3 4 I nde x of W O R K S 1 3 5 Foreword Jacqueline Hick was a brilliant Australian artist 7 whose work primarily arose from the circum- stances of her life. Talented in any medium she chose, Hick was able to achieve her aim of representing the reality of her subjects as well as a personal reaction to them. Her reactions could vary, from humorous, amused satire to deep compassion or trenchant comment. She loved representing the human figure but also expressed the beauty of the Australian land- scape and a fascination with music performance, among many other subjects. In 1988 I was privileged to stay with Jacqueline Hick for several days in her home at Jindalee, Brisbane, conducting interviews and looking at works with the artist. During that time and in later interviews after she returned to live in Adelaide, I was able to gain insights into her dedication as an artist, her keen interest in being part of the western tradition in art, her sense of humour and her deep compassion for human tragedy. She told me about the wartime experiences of her husband Frank Galazowski, which I believe influenced her development as a mature artist. Carrick Hill Trust and curator Gloria Strzelecki are to be congratulated for presenting a new retrospective exhibition and accompanying publication on this significant artist. Of par- ticular interest is Gloria’s focus on Hick’s early prints and later, grand, symbolic paintings on Aboriginal dispossession. Jacqueline Hick was a sincere and humane artist, and her work is likely to be a revelation to those who have not previously experienced her contribution to Australian art. Dr Paula Furby The widows, 1944, aquatint on paper, 23.9 x 24.8 cm (plate), 34.5 x 37.7 cm (sheet); David Murray Bequest Fund 1944; Art Gallery of South Australia Preface 8 This is the eighth book focussing on the work of his friendship with Hick and of Adelaide in of a South Australian artist, produced collabo- the 1940s. ratively between Wakefield Press and Carrick Jacqueline Hick is one of several South Hill in association with Carrick Hill’s in-house Australian women artists who rose to a position exhibition program. It would not have been pos- of national importance and significance during sible to present such a special series without their lifetimes. She was and is widely recognised the continuing contribution of the Carrick Hill for her early socio-realist works, her surrealist Development Foundation, and the support of the landscapes and still-lifes and her later, powerful Gordon Darling Foundation, who have assisted depictions of Australia’s Aboriginal people. with this publication and several others in the Her work shows a remarkable understanding of series. It remains a source of great pride for the human relationships, vulnerabilities and frail- Carrick Hill Trust to be in a position to con- ties, and of humankind’s capacity to disassociate tribute material so important to the history of the self from the unjust treatment of others. art in this state and nationwide. Growing up and initially studying art in This remarkable group of publications and Adelaide, and then practicing for much of her exhibitions commenced in 2000 with Tracey professional life in South Australia, Hick was Lock-Weir’s examination of the life of the late deeply influenced by another highly significant John Dowie (1915–2008) (John Dowie: A life in female artist, the modernist painter and print- the round). In 2013 Carrick Hill and Wakefield maker Dorrit Black (1891–1951), who had con- Press are again collaborating, this time to siderable input as a teacher in the 1940s. During present the art of well-known Adelaide-born a period of significant change within the South artist Jacqueline Hick (1919–2004). This is the Australian art scene – and in Australian art gen- third in the series to focus on a woman artist, erally – Black inspired many of Adelaide’s young the previous two having been Nora Heysen (Nora artists keen to experiment with modernism and Heysen: Light and life by Jane Hylton, 2009) to step beyond conservatism. Both Jacqueline and Kathleen Sauerbier (Kathleen Sauerbier: Hick and Jeffrey Smart moved within this circle, A modern pursuit by Gloria Strzelecki, 2011). engaging with fellow artists and students in All of the artists who have been the sub- lively discussions about art, politics and society. jects of this series had some kind of link with Carrick Hill is delighted to be able to present Ursula and Bill Hayward or with Carrick Hill. the work of such a significant Australian artist. Jacqueline Hick, along with her close friend, Gloria Strzelecki is to be congratulated on her expatriate artist Jeffrey Smart (born 1921), latest publication Jacqueline Hick: Born wise was a welcome guest at Carrick Hill and had and exhibition Born Wise: The art of Jacqueline access to the Haywards’ remarkable collec- Hick. We are grateful to her for bringing to our tion of works by modern British and French attention the remarkable contribution made by artists.

Load more

  19

Copy Link