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Home , Australian art, Australian Modernism, Ben Quilty, Clarice Beckett, Elisabeth Cummings, French art

artonview o n v i ew ISSUE 56 ISSUE ISSUE 56 ISSUE 

SUMMER  2008–09 NATIONAL 2008–09 summer 2008–09 summer GALLERYOF

DEGAS: MASTER OF  AUSTRALIAN PRINT COLLECTIONS The National Gallery of Australia is an Agency Issue 56, summer 2008–09

published quarterly by 2 Director’s foreword National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 5 Foundation and Development ACT 2601 nga.gov.au exhibitions and displays ISSN 1323-4552 Print Post Approved 8 Degas: master of French art pp255003/00078 Jane Kinsman © National Gallery of Australia 2008 Copyright for reproductions of artworks is 16 Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950 held by the artists or their estates. Apart from uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, Tracy Lock-Weir no part of Artonview may be reproduced, transmitted or copied without the prior 20 Soft permission of the National Gallery of Australia. Enquires about permissions should be made in Lisa McDonald writing to the Rights and Permissions Officer. The opinions expressed in Artonview are not collection focus necessarily those of the editor or publisher. 22 Australian prints: four fabulous birthday acquisitions! editor Eric Meredith designer Kate Brennan, Kristin Thomas Sarina Noorduis-Fairfax photography Eleni Kypridis, Barry Le Lievre, Brenton McGeachie, Steve Nebauer, John Tassie acquisitions rights and permissions Nick Nicholson 26 Balang (Mick) Kubarkku’s bark advertising Erica Seccombe Brenda L Croft printed in Australia by Blue Star Print, Canberra 28 Frederick McCubbin At the falling of the year enquires The editor, Artonview Anne Gray National Gallery of Australia GPO Box 1150 30 Hilda Rix Nicholas Snow, Montmartre Canberra ACT 2601 Anne Gray [email protected] advertising 31 Juan Davila and Howard Arkely Interior with built in bar Tel: (02) 6240 6587 Fax: (02) 6240 6427 Alexandra Walton [email protected] 32 Kevin Gordon Sea urchin I RRP $8.60 includes GST Free to members of the National Gallery Robert Bell of Australia 33 Raphael & Co Worktable For further information on National Gallery Robert Bell of Australia Membership: Coordinator, Membership 34 Heri Dono Flying angels GPO Box 1150 Canberra ACT 2601 Melanie Eastburn Tel: (02) 6240 6504 [email protected] 36 Solomon Islands Bonito fish Crispin Howarth

37 Travelling exhibitions (cover) The class c 1873 (detail) 38 : an extraordinary journey oil on canvas 47.6 x 62.2 cm The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 40 Faces in view William A Clark Collection, 1926

(back cover) Edgar Degas Ballet dancer with arms crossed c 1872 oil on canvas 61.3 x 50.5 cm Museum of Fine , Boston Bequest of John T Spaulding, 1948 Photograph © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Director’s foreword

Michael Brand, Director, Escape the summer sun to the National Gallery of Australia From the mid to late 1870s, his experiments with J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and , and experience the superb exhibition Degas: master of monotypes heavily influenced the way he approached Director, National Gallery French art. Among the most recognised names in late other techniques and mediums as well as his subjects and of Australia, Canberra, in the Gallery’s Aboriginal and nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century art, Degas compositions. Similarly, his experiments in photography Torres Strait Islander gallery was highly influential in the development of . in the 1890s led the way to later innovations. All this A painter, draftsman, sculptor, printmaker and photographer, is explored in the exhibition. An insightful publication Degas’ impact on his contemporaries and successors was as accompanies Degas: master of French art and includes far-reaching and as broad as his art practice. Although he texts by the exhibition’s curator, Jane Kinsman, Senior is widely regarded as one of the first and most important Curator, International Art, as well as a major essay by Impressionists, he found the term distasteful (sometimes to Michael Pantazzi, a Degas authority and emeritus curator the point of being anti-Impressionist). He preferred, instead, of European art at the National Gallery of Canada. to be seen as working in the tradition of , from This non-touring exhibition is the first ever Degas which had stemmed in the 1860s and 1870s. exhibition to be held in Australia or, indeed, the Southern His paintings of ballet dancers, the racetrack, café Hemisphere so people must make every effort to visit culture, laundry women and prostitutes are no doubt Canberra. familiar; however, this exhibition delves further to uncover To coincide with Degas: master of French art, the lesser-known Degas, whose highly innovative practice we are staging a very interesting exhibition of European was perhaps nowhere more evident than in his monotypes. prints, Degas’ world: the rage for change, curated by

2 national gallery of australia Mark Henshaw, Curator, International Prints, after living in for over a decade and developing an and Illustrated Books. This exhibition, which opens international reputation, Rix Nicholas returned to Australia on 23 January, explores the prints of Degas’ major and married a NSW grazier. She became the ‘Grand contemporaries, their influence on him and his influence Duchess’ of the Monaro district and could almost be on them. Together, these exhibitions provide an exciting considered a Canberra artist. opportunity for visitors to expand their understanding Eighteen stunning bark paintings by the late Balang of the developments in art in Europe during a highly (Mick) Kubarkku have joined the Gallery’s existing small innovative time. holdings by this artist. Kubarkku’s traditional yet distinctive Our exhibition Gods, ghosts and men, which showcases figures of ancestral beings are extraordinarily arresting. A the Gallery’s Pacific arts collection and has already selection of these works is on display in the Aboriginal and pleasantly surprised a large audience, continues until Torres Strait Islander gallery on our entrance level. 11 January 2009 (see issue no 55 for more information). This year, with the assistance of the Gordon Darling The exhibition draws on our finest and most interesting Australia Pacific Print Fund, the Gallery acquired over 2000 examples of sculpture and objects from Melanesia and prints from four of Australia’s major contemporary print Polynesia, some of which are the finest of their kind in any workshops: Larry Rawling Fine Art Prints, Cicada Press, Australian public collection and many of which have not Franck Gohier and Viridian Press. These four collections, been exhibited before. This is a rare display of traditional spanning just over four decades, are significant additions to art from the Pacific, and one not to be missed. It has been the Gallery’s substantial holdings of Australian curated by the Gallery’s Curator of Pacific Arts, Crispin and provide significant insights into the history and Howarth, who is now joined by our first Senior Curator of development of contemporary Australian printmaking. Pacific Arts, Michael Gunn, recently arrived from the Saint They include prints by major Australian artists such Bea Louis Art Museum, Missouri, to take up the position. Maddock, , Juan Davila, Brook Andrew, The Art Gallery of ’s exhibition Misty Mike Parr, Aida Tomescu, Imants Tillers, Judith Wright, moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950, curated by Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, Rover Thomas, Queenie Tracy Lock-Weir, arrives in Canberra in February. It sheds Mckenzie, Paddy Carlton, , John Peart, light on the often misunderstood early twentieth-century , Adam Cullen and Ben Quilty. art movement of ’s Australian , Much-needed behind-the-scenes facilities have been the theory behind it and its followers. The driving force added to the Gallery with the newly completed Stage 1A behind the Tonalist movement, Max Meldrum was seen in of our current building project. The new space includes some circles as divisive within the conventional art scene in new loading docks, staff entrance, registration space, at the time. Tracy Lock-Weir’s catalogue brings quarantine, mountcutting space and exhibition storage. this interesting and complex history into focus and, as well The larger Stage 1B—the new visitor entrance, gallery as works by Medrum, includes excellent works by Clarice shop, function hall and, most importantly, Australian Beckett, Colin Colahan, and many others. Indigenous galleries—is on track and will open in about This year the Gallery has added a number of major 16 months. Australian works to the national collection. We have The Gallery will be a hive of activity this holiday season been fortunate to acquire another key work by Frederick with the important Degas exhibition and other exhibitions, McCubbin—this time, an early work—At the falling of new acquisitions, new displays and exciting public the year 1886. This intimate sketch of the Australian programs. bush soon led McCubbin to his more famous figures-in- a- subjects such as Lost 1886. At the falling of the year was last shown in 2007 in the popular exhibition Australian Impressionism at the National Gallery of . The acquisition has been generously funded by Terry and Christine Campbell. Australian painter Hilda Rix Nicholas’s magnificent Ron Radford, AM Snow, Montmartre c 1914 is another recent acquisition and shows the influence of French Impressionism. In 1918,

artonview summer 2008–09 3 credit lines

Donations Robert Gilliland Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund Noel Birchall Emmanuel Hirsh in memory of Etta Hirsh Robert Brennan Don and Janet Holt and family Ruth Burgess Impress Printmakers Studio Kathy Davis Linda Malden Winifred Davson, MBE Bill Meldrum-Hannah Dimity Davy Dr Orde Poynton, AO, CMG Anthony Eastaway Ross Searle Peter Eddington and Joy Williams Prof Bernard Smith David Diana Woollard Louise and Robert Goldsmith Graham World and family Aileen W Hall Narelle Hillsdon Grants Elspeth Humphries C and J Hurlstone Australia Council for the Arts through the Showcasing the Dr Anthea Hyslop Best International Strategy, and through its Aboriginal Pamela V Kenny and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board, Board Dr Peter Kenny and Community Partnerships and Market Development Valerie Kirk (International) Board. Robyn Long The Gordon Darling Foundation Robyn McAdam Visions of Australia through its Contemporary Touring Simon McGill Initiative, an Australian Government program Dr Stephen McNamara supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding Stephen Miles assistance for the development and touring of Joahanne Mulholland and David Rivers Australian cultural material across Australia, and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, AC, DBE through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative Donald W Nairn of the Australian Government and state and territory Prof Brian O’Keeffe, AO, and Bridget O’Keeffe, AM governments Oliver Michael Pracy Michael Proud Sponsorship Judy Richmond ActewAGL Dr Lyn Riddett Adshel Alan and Helen Rose Brassey Hotel of Canberra Dr Michael Slee BHP Billiton Spectrum Consultancy Pty Ltd Canberra Times Elizabeth G Ward Casella Wines Peter Webster Champagne Pol Roger Muriel Wilkinson Eckersley’s Art & Craft We would also like to thank the numerous anonymous Forrest Hotel and Apartments donors who have donated to the National Gallery of Mantra on Northbourne Australia. National Australia Bank Qantas Gifts and Bequests RM Williams, The Bush Outfitter Barbara Tribe Foundation Sony Foundation Australia Janelle Constable Ticketek Gordon Darling, AC, CMG, and Marilyn Darling Yalumba Wine Sir William and Lady Deane and family WIN Television Lauraine Diggins

4 national gallery of australia Foundation and Development

Twenty-fifth Anniversary Gift Program exhibitions Michael Riley: sights unseen and Imants Tillers: Robyn Maxwell, Senior Curator, Asian Art, with Australia comes to the party! one world, many visions, Ocean to Outback: Australian guests at the launch of the On Wednesday 27 August 2008, the National Gallery landscape 1850–1950 and Picture paradise: Asia– Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2008. of Australia officially announced that it had raised Pacific photography 1840s–1940s. $25.722 million, exceeding the target of the Twenty-fifth Important acquisitions that were made possible Anniversary Gift Program, which was to achieve $25 million through the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Gift Program include by the end of 2008. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri’s Warlugulong 1977, Frederick Individuals and corporate sponsors from around McCubbin’s Violet and gold 1911, ’s La Australia contributed to the program, which was initiated mort d’un esprit (Death of a spirit) 1916, Cy Twombly’s by the Foundation to commemorate 25 years since the Untitled 1987–2004, ’s Habakuk 1934/1970 opening of the Gallery. and a sandstone seated Buddha from the Kushan dynasty Major gifts were received from generous philanthropists in India. as well as hundreds of smaller donations to the Significant gifts included the Agapitos/Wilson collection Masterpieces for the Nation Fund. Significant sponsorship of Australian , a collection of twenty-five Albert from BHP Billiton, National Australia Bank, ActewAGL, Namatjira watercolours gifted by Gordon Darling, AC, Hindmarsh and RM Williams, The Bush Outfitter, have been CMG, and Marilyn Darling, and the donation by Ben integral in achieving the target. Gascoigne, AO, and the Gascoigne family of Rosalie The Gallery’s Council members and Foundation Gascoigne’s Earth 1999. Directors have also been extremely supportive in assisting The generous support of the Australian community the Foundation. Council members generously contributed demonstrates the importance of philanthropy in assisting to major acquisitions and supported the National Gallery the Gallery to acquire significant works for the enrichment of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund, which funded the of the national collection.

artonview summer 2008–09 5 Helen Rose and Alan Rose, To commemorate this significant occasion, the Director Approximately seventy guests, who had donated AO, and Ms Shanthini Naidoo, Assistant Director also launched the first handbook on the collection of the towards the fund in September this year, attended to Development, Marketing National Gallery of Australia, Collection highlights, which celebrate the acquisition of these works. The Director, Ron and Commercial Operations, National Gallery of Australia, features works from the Gallery’s various collecting areas. Radford, gave a warm welcome and thanked all donors at the launch of the Masterpieces for the Nation Many of these works were gifted or bequeathed to the who have consistently supported this program, and Robyn Fund 2008. Gallery, or purchased with assistance of donated funds. The Maxwell, Senior Curator, Asian Art, and Brenda Croft,

Michelle Mortimer and major works acquired as a result of the 25th Anniversary Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Jason Prowd, at the launch Gift Program were all included in the handbook. provided insights into these valuable works of art. of the Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2008. When you can see tangible examples of philanthropy such as this, you realise the importance of the role of National Gallery of Australia Bequest Circle benefactors in assisting the Gallery to build the national We are in the process of establishing the National Gallery collection. All gifts, large and small, make a difference, of Australia Bequest Circle. The purpose of this group is to assisting the Gallery to develop the national collection for unite a group of Gallery supporters who would like to leave generations to come. a bequest to the Gallery and would like to be involved in the life of the Gallery. Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2008 If you would like to be involved in this inaugural group, The annual Masterpieces for the Nation Fund began in please contact Annalisa Millar, Executive Director, National 2003 and has steadily grown in support over the last Gallery of Australia Foundation, on 61 2 6240 6691. five years. Most of the donors to the first fund are still contributing and the group keeps on expanding. It is an Degas: master of French art excellent example of how many small donations can work ActewAGL (Principal Partner) together to assist in purchasing significant works of art. We extend our gratitude to ActewAGL, particularly their new Three works, which were acquired as a result of the Chief Executive Officer Michael Costello, for their generous Masterpieces for the Nation Fund, were included in the support as the Principal Partner of Degas: master of French Gallery’s handbook: Long’s Flamigoes c 1904, WC art. Thank you also to Mark Sullivan, Managing Director of Piguenit’s Near Liverpool c 1908 and the nineteenth-century Actew Corporation, John McKay, Chairman of ActewAGL, Indian work of art Festival of the Cattle (Gopashtami). for his support over many years, and Paul Walshe, Director Masterpieces for the Nation Fund 2008 raised $64 360, of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, and his team. Their which has assisted the Gallery to purchase two works support for the exhibition is testimony to ActewAGL’s for the national collection: an eighteenth-century Indian corporate responsibility and commitment to supporting the pichhavai (shrine painting) and Doreen Reid Nakamarra’s arts, locally and nationally. We are honoured that ActewAGL Untitled 2007. have committed to sponsoring this landmark exhibition.

6 national gallery of australia ActewAGL have been supporting the National Gallery of Australia for over a decade and it is through the strength of relationships like these that it is possible for us to provide exhibitions of the highest calibre. WIN Television We are delighted to announce WIN Television as one of the supporting exhibition sponsors for Degas: master of French art. In addition to sponsoring Degas, we would like to thank WIN Television for their commitment to the exhibition Soft sculpture (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 24 April – 19 July 2009). We thank Corey Pitt, Station Manager, Natalie Tanchevski, Advertising Account Executive, and the entire team at WIN Television. The Canberra Times We are also grateful to our other supporting sponsor, The Canberra Times, for their contribution and support of Degas: master of French art and for committing to a partnership with the National Gallery of Australia to promote and support other exhibitions and activities throughout 2009. We thank Peter Fray, Editor, Ken Nichols, General Manager, and Kylie Dennis, Group Advertising Manager, and the team at The Canberra Times. Champagne Pol Roger and Yalumba Wines We extend our appreciation to Champagne Pol Roger and Yalumba Wines as the official wine sponsors of the opening of Degas: master of French art and all associated gala events. It is a great privilege to welcome Champagne Pol Roger back as a sponsor of yet another great French exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. Champagne Pol Roger’s unwavering dedication to their two essential values of excellence and independence make it a perfect fit with the distinctive art of Edgar Degas.

QANTAS Twenty-fifth anniversary lecture On the evening of 7 August 2008, the National Gallery of Australia and our long-term supporters QANTAS welcomed Dr Michael Brand, Director, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. As a former curator of Asian art at the Gallery, Dr Brand discussed some of the key issues in the development of Australia’s national collection over the past 25 years. The evening was a great success with over 180 people attending the lecture. We would like to thank QANTAS for Corporate Members Program Michael Costello, Chief their continued support of the Gallery’s birthday lectures. Executive Officer, ActewAGL, We would like to welcome Eckersley’s Art & Craft to the at the sponsorship launch of Corporate Members Program as sponsors of the Gallery’s Degas: master of French art. Council Circle Education and Public Programs activities. Eckersley’s Director Ron Radford with We welcome Mantra on Northbourne into the Council Circle. sponsored the Big Draw event held on 19 October. Big Michael Costello, Chief Mantra has been a long-term preferred accommodation Executive Officer, ActewAGL, Draw was a great success and we would like to thank and Mark Sullivan, Managing supplier and supporter of the Gallery and are the official Director, Actew Corporation. Eckersley’s for supplying art materials on the day. accommodation sponsor for Degas. We would like to thank all our sponsors and corporate We are also delighted to welcome the Brassey of Canberra members. If you would like more information about into the Council Circle. We are grateful to the Brassey for sponsorship at the National Gallery of Australia please their ongoing support of the Gallery, especially through their contact Frances Corkhill on 61 2 6240 6740. sponsorship of the annual National Gallery of Australia and Sony Foundation Australia Summer Art Scholarship.

artonview summer 2008–09 7 exhibition

Edgar Degas: master of French art

12 December 2008 – 22 March 2009 | Exhibitions Galleries

Edgar Degas In late 1872, the French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917) with the inaction of his brothers—one leaning on a window A cotton office in New Orleans 1873 left . He travelled via England to the United States and the other reading a newspaper—both seeming to have oil on canvas of America to visit his relatives in New Orleans. One of a relaxed attitude to their work. 74 x 92 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau the results of his visit was his painting A cotton office in On his return to Paris in 1873, Degas painted The New Orleans 1873, which is remarkable for its class, an ambitious and complex interpretation of Edgar Degas The dance class c 1873 (detail) interpretation of a group . dancers at a ballet class. This is no glamorous portrayal of oil on canvas 47.6 x 62.2 cm It is one of extraordinary innovation, where the figures the life of the dancer. By clever design and the clustering The Corcoran Gallery of Art, are not posed in some formal arrangement before a velvet of figures, Degas manages to evoke a real sense of what Washington, DC William A Clark Collection, 1926 backdrop, which was often the case at this time. Rather, it was like to be in the middle of a class: the pitter-patter Degas chose to depicts his relatives and associates at work of the dancers’ feet as they make their way down a spiral in the family’s cotton office. The space is full of activity and staircase to the left of the composition and the close-up Degas’ framing of the figures, the office and its furniture of several ungainly figures in the foreground on the other side of enliven his composition. The bustle of the office contrasts the composition.

8 national gallery of australia artonview summer 2008–09 9 Edgar Degas Shortly after this, Degas began another investigation painting, which provides a strong sense of movement At the races in the countryside (Carriage at the races) 1869 of the same theme. The dance class, began 1873, that is reinforced by the cropping of figures. However, the oil on canvas completed 1876, is a particularly complex arrangement of motion of the horses racing in the background is not yet 36.5 x 55.9 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston individualised figures in a variety of poses. This could have adequately rendered—this was a pictorial problem Degas 1931 Purchase Fund been a discordant grouping, but Degas has confidently would solve later in his artistic life. The painting is notable Photograph © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston moulded the figures into an organic whole, creating an ebb for its clear colours and fine brushwork, reminiscent of and flow of dancers with their gestures and their stances seventeenth-century Dutch masters. echoing through the assembled troupe. Some eight years after painting this picture of the In tandem with his exploration of the ballet theme, Valpinçon family, Degas began The racecourse (Amateur Degas tackled another theme of modern life—the races. jockeys close to a carriage) 1876–87. This work took him At the races in the countryside (Carriage at the races) 1869 an agonising 11 years to complete and is a key work, is an early example of a theme Degas returned to again showing all the hallmarks of Degas’ signature style. The and again. The brilliant green colouring suggests the composition is decidedly asymmetrical: while the races are influence that English scenes of horseracing had on the continuing in the background, the figures of race-goers artist in his early race scenes. and the carriage are placed to the forefront and cropped to The composition is a transitionary one as it combines emphasise movement. The structure is reminiscent of racing a family portrait with the artist’s growing interest in imagery of Honoré Daumier’s (1808–1879) as seen in his depicting horses and the racetrack. The family seated caricatures such as Nautical sports of 1856 (published in Le in their carriage has been identified as the Valpinçons, Charivari on 14 May 1856) in which a crowd of race-goers Degas’ close friends. Their son Henri is seated on the watch jockeys racing their horses in the rain. knee of a wet nurse and the group is accompanied by At the races: before the start c 1880–92 is one of the the family pet. The family, horses and carriage have last in an important series of horizontal canvases that Degas all been placed in the foreground to one side of the began in the early 1880s. The composition is characterised

10 national gallery of australia by the depiction of horses and jockeys in a variety of Edgar Degas The racecourse (Amateur positions. The horizontal format that he uses here is one jockeys close to a carriage) that he favoured for many of his compositions, both of the begun 1876, completed 1887 ballet and of horses, during this period. The high horizon oil on canvas line, flattened sense of space and brilliant colours suggest 66 x 81 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts. Degas had Legacy of Count Isaac de Camondo, 1911 become interested in the art of Japan in the 1860s, early in © RMN / Hervé Lewandowski his career, and the style was to permeate his compositions Honoré Daumier as he matured as an artist. Nautical sports of 1856: Oh! Over his working life, Degas turned his mind to many It’s amazing how fast they can go … and without oars different arts and became thoroughly accomplished in from the series What’s on, published in Le Charivari, several fields. He was a noted sculptor, though a self-taught 14 May 1856 one, and worked in the tradition of the sculptor–painter. lithograph sheet 27.6 x 25.4 cm His facility for making three-dimensional forms was clearly National Gallery of Australia, evident in many of his . Canberra Purchased 1980

artonview summer 2008–09 11 Edgar Degas Little dancer aged fourteen, modelled 1880–81, audiences. It goaded and intrigued. Subsequently, it has Little dancer aged fourteen modelled 1880–81; cast appeared in the sixth Impressionist exhibition in 1881, continued to do so in the form of a bronze cast, which also 1920–21 causing a sensation in the art world. This ‘little flower of features the additions of a tutu in net and a ribbon binding bronze, gauze, and satin 97.8 x 41.3 x 34.9 cm the gutter’, as commentator Jules Claretie described it at her hair. Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint the time, was a radical statement regarding the possibilities The ballet, opera and races were not the only subjects Louis Funds given by Mrs Mark C of sculpture.1 It was as if Degas was throwing down the that Degas entertained in his search for subjects of modern Steinberg gauntlet to the art world and the accepted conventions of life. The café-concert was another favourite theme. The Edgar Degas sculpture of his day. The original model was built of wax combination of musical entertainment at a café seemed Bust of a café-concert singer 1877–79 tinted a skin colour, and Degas added to this the fabric to tap the Parisian soul and cater to low-brow tastes. As charcoal on paper of her tutu, real hair bound by a silky ribbon, and ballet commentator André Chadourne put it: 47.3 x 30.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris shoes. Astonishingly, the sculpture was almost life-size The particular attractions of this sort of entertainment © RMN / Gérard Blot and far from idealised. The crude features of the dancer’s which are very well suited to the needs of a thrifty republic physiognomy, based on those of his model the ballerina should be noted: it is within reach of the most restricted Marie van Goethem, also caused controversy. The critic budget; it requires neither etiquette nor elegance in attire Henry Trianon complained that Degas had chosen his or appearance, and appeals most to partisans of those 3 model ‘from among the most odiously ugly’ and achieved special delights enjoyed between a pipe and a tankard. a ‘standard of horror and bestiality’ not suitable for an Many café-concerts sprung up in the centre of Paris—at exhibition of art; rather, it belonged to one of ‘zoology, establishments such as the Alcazar, Eldorado, Le Bataclan anthropology, or physiology’.2 and Café des Ambassadeurs—and gained notoriety. The As a self-taught sculptor, in this provocative work, singer depicted in Degas’ charcoal Bust of a Degas pushed the boundaries of scale, technique, use of café-concert singer 1877–79 is shown with her mouth materials, subject matter, genre and style. Little dancer wide open, as if in full voice, and with hand raised in an aged fourteen both tantalised and unsettled contemporary emphatic and dramatic gesture—no doubt performing

12 national gallery of australia songs that deal with ‘matters below the belt’, as the stance and gestures and compositional relationships of Edgar Degas At the races: before the start 4 witty Gustave Coquiot commented. This was a favourite the sitters, rearranging furniture and works of art, and c 1880–92 composition to which Degas would return. setting up reflections of figures in mirrors—a motif he oil on canvas 40 x 89 cm Degas readily embraced the process of making adopted from the art of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, monotypes in the second half of the 1870s. He called (1780–1867) and Diego Velázquez (1599–1660). Richmond Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon monotypes his plats du jour and described the ways of Degas preferred to stage his photographic sessions Photograph: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, making them as his ‘cuisine’. In particular, his figurative in the evenings, using artificial light rather than natural Richmond, Virginia monotypes are of an intensely intimate nature and daylight. Lamps, wall lights and chandeliers were relate to a seamier side of Parisian life such as the placed to serve as props and as a means of diffusing brothels. One such work is Prostitute seated in an or spotlighting his scenes, or augmenting reflections armchair 1876–77. (1881–1973) admired in mirrors such as in Portrait in front of a mirror of the and collected some of these scenes of prostitutes. For artist Henry Lerolle and his two daughters, Yvonne and an artist who took pride in his lack of spontaneity, the Christine 1895–96. Degas carefully composed his sitters, process of making monotypes allowed Degas to develop the photographs often being taken after dinner. He his powers of observation and provided an almost was close friends with the author Ludovic and Louise instantaneous means of experimentation—in line, form, Halévy and would frequently invite them and their brushwork and composition. Making monotypes was an children, Daniel and Elie, to dine with him. Daniel Halévy important outlet for Degas’ ideas, and it enhanced and (1872–1962) has described the regimented nature of influenced his future art practice. these sittings:

During the summer of 1895, and continuing the Degas raised his voice, became dictatorial, gave orders that following year, he became obsessed with another process a lamp be brought into the little salon and that anyone of making art—photography. Degas’ photographic who wasn’t going to pose should leave. The duty of the subjects range from , interiors and women evening began. We had to obey Degas’s fierce will, his bathing to the occasional landscape. As with many of his artist’s ferocity.5 monotypes, this was an excursion into black and white In Dancers, pink and green c 1890, Degas has populated and, despite his keen interest in colour, Degas found the the painting with many of his favourite figures of experience a welcome one. His compositions became dancers, which he had developed over the years. One more complex during this intense, albeit brief, period. ballerina, barely seen, adjusts her bodice. Two more, He would photograph friends and associates in rooms, with their backs turned to the viewer, adjust their hair taking particular care with their placement: adjusting the

artonview summer 2008–09 13 14 national gallery of australia or the shoulder straps of their tutus. A fourth stands In conjunction with the exhibition, the book Degas: the Edgar Degas uncontested master is available from the nga shop. For further Prostitute seated in an with her hands on her hips staring down at her feet. In armchair 1876–77 information, telephone (02) 6240 6420 or send an email to the foreground, another peers up at the boxes at the monotype in black ink on [email protected]. white wove paper, heightened opera from behind the stage. In the far distance are the with brush and ink The exhibition Degas’ world: the rage for change, an exhibition of plate-mark 15.8 x 11.4 cm ill-defined forms of two more dancers on stage. Some European prints by Degas’ contemporaries, will also be on display National Gallery of Australia, of the figures are almost fused with the backdrop of from 23 January to 3 May 2009 in the Orde Poynton Gallery. It Canberra Purchased 1980 the scenery—a view of woodlands with tall trees and demonstrates how artists at the end of the nineteenth century altered the direction of art, moving away from the tradition of abundant foliage. Edgar Degas the Paris Salon towards art that was revolutionary, independent Portrait in front of a mirror of The thin shadowy figure of the man in a top hat and and modern. the artist Henry Lerolle and his two daughters, Yvonne and tails is barely perceptible behind the pole. He is one of notes Christine 1895–96 (detail) the caddish ‘Lions’ from the Jockey Club who used to 1. Jules Claretie, La vie à Paris: 1881, Victor Harvard, Paris, 1881, gelatin silver photograph pp 148–57. taken from a glass negative lurk backstage, seeking out the young ballerinas. The 2. Henry Trianon, Le Constitutionnel, 24 April 1881, quoted in Fronia E and enlarged figure references Degas’ 1870s monotypes inspired by Wissman, ‘Realists among the Impressionists’, in Charles S Moffett, 29.0 x 36.2 cm Ruth Berson and Barbara Lee Williams et al, The new painting: Musée d’Orsay, Paris Ludovic Halévy’s stories of the Cardinal family—Monsieur Impressionism 1874–1886, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, © RMN / Hervé Lewandowski and Madame Cardinal and their daughters Pauline and Washington, 1986, p 362. 3. André Chadourne, Les café-concerts, E Dentu, 1889, p 2. (opposite) Virginie—and their unsavoury encounters backstage at 4. Gustave Coquiot, Les cafés-concerts, Librairie de l’art, Paris, 1896. Edgar Degas 5. Daniel Halévy, My friend Degas, trans and ed Mina Curtiss, Wesleyan Dancers, pink and green c 1890 the Paris Opéra. University Press, Middletown, 1964 (1960), p 82. oil on canvas Though this work uses many favourite figures and views 82.2 x 75.6 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, that could be found in Degas’ earlier art, it also signals his New York growing interest, in the 1890s, of almost abstracted forms, HO Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs HO Havemeyer, 1929 and his radical application of paint and a new, vivid palette. Image © The Metropolitan Museum It shows the influence of his monotypes and photography of Art and anticipates the beginning of and the art of the twentieth century.

Jane Kinsman Senior Curator, International Art, and curator of Degas artonview summer 2008–09 15 exhibition

Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950

21 February – 26 April 2009 | Project Gallery

There are many complex reasons that have contributed to Tonalism’s marginalisation, and certainly its radically humble qualities were overshadowed by more fashionable genres such as narrative painting and grand sunlit . However, possibly of greatest detriment has been its confusion with the long Western art tradition of tonal painting. Tonal painting was popular around the turn of the twentieth century, coinciding with a renewed appreciation of the dark-toned seventeenth-century subjects of Velázquez (1599–1660) and Rembrandt (1606–1669). A descendent of this tradition was a dominant form of low-toned painting taught in Melbourne, whereby the painted surface is progressively and slowly built up, working in part from dark to light. Form is sharply painted in great detail, creating an effect of realism, and is typically seen, for example, in the early work of , Hugh Ramsay and George W Lambert. Tonalism is fundamentally different and is best understood as a painting system. It involves no under drawing and is based on the rapid and direct recording of tonal impressions (generalised massed areas of light and dark) onto the canvas in the order the impressions meet the eye of the artist. Its intention is to create an exact illusion of nature. In this way, it is a spontaneous, ‘perceptual’ and responsive form of painting, as opposed to traditional tonal painting, which is craft-based and measured. Thus, rather than appearing highly detailed and photographic, Tonalist paintings are more generalised and identified by a soft-focus, tonal atmospheric aesthetic. The blocked-in tonal transitions in many of these paintings Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950 is the are also sometimes slow to unfold and demand time and Taxi rank c 1931 physical distance from the viewer (six metres) as the fields oil on canvas on board first exhibition of its kind ever assembled, and showcases 58.5 x 51 cm the previously unexplored riches of the Australian of tone optically shift and lock into focus to create the Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth desired three-dimensional illusionary effect within a unified formerly Orica Collection Tonalist painting movement, which flourished during the Photograph: Jenni Carter twentieth-century interwar period. Remarkably, despite tonal pitch. Max Meldrum the fact that some of Australia’s greatest twentieth- This Tonalist system of painting was highly controversial The three trees c 1917 and was pioneered by Max Meldrum (1875–1955), the oil on board century artists, such as Max Meldrum, Clarice Beckett, 35.5 x 25.5 cm Lloyd Rees, and , variously ‘stormy petrel of ’ and one of the most Private collection important artists, teachers and theorists of the first half of © estate of the artist explored the gentle atmospheric effects of Tonalism, it became maligned over time and developed into one the twentieth century. When Tonalism arrived in Melbourne of the most misunderstood and most underestimated in 1919 in the form of a large group exhibition at the movements in Australian art. Athenaeum Gallery, it was bitterly received and divided the arts community. The sheer immediacy of its technique,

16 national gallery of australia artonview summer 2008–09 17 Roy de Maistre its modest subject matter and the subtle appearance of and recessive space demonstrated in these early reductive Berry’s Bay c 1920 the paintings fundamentally challenged well-established, paintings of Eltham are significant today for prefiguring the oil on board 26.5 x 33.0 cm nationalistic and elevated painting traditions that were more late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s Minimalist interpretations of Art Gallery of South Australia, reliant on high craftsmanship and immediate visual impact. the Australian landscape. Gift of Peggy Barker, Margaret Misty moderns charts the earliest beginnings of the The deep impression that Meldrum’s perceptual Bennett, Diana Evans, the Hon Dr Kemeri Murray, AO, and Adam Tonalist movement through Meldrum’s 1917 revolutionary painting system had on Australia’s first wave of modernists Wynn through the Art Gallery perceptual . These small-scale experimental is also demonstrated in Misty moderns by the inclusion of South Australia Foundation Collectors Club, 2007 studies demonstrate arguably the first important of rare Tonalist works by Roy de Maistre, Roland Wakelin, © Caroline de Mestre Walker advance in Australian landscape painting since Australian Lloyd Rees, Arnold Shore, and Godfrey Miller. Impressionism of the 1880s. Using his newly devised Among the most interesting of these early exploratory painting system, Meldrum responded to the delicate tonal subjects is Roy de Maistre’s Berry’s Bay c 1920, which is qualities of the Australian bush in Eltham (29 kilometres a rare synthesis of formal elements related to the artist’s north-east of Melbourne) and painted a watershed series pioneering semi-abstract ‘colour music’ studies and the of spontaneous works remarkable for their brevity and softened forms of Tonalism. A small group of Tonalist spatial penetration. Paring back his painting process to self-portraits painted by some of these young artists in a rapid application of broken areas of restricted tone, the privacy of their studios are among the most engaging Meldrum created works of extraordinary dynamism, light and most unexpected works in Misty moderns. The sheer and space. Meldrum’s The three trees c 1917 is one of his economy of Roland Wakelin’s brushwork in his introspective most progressive paintings from this early Eltham period, and monochromatic Self-portrait 1920 accounts to the and along with several of his other key early works, became pull of Meldrum’s ideas in the preeminent artistic circles widely known in artistic circles when illustrated in his of Sydney at this time. Meldrum galvanised the artists’ influential hardcover book Max Meldrum: his art and views, commitment to forging a pathway into art by offering a published in 1919. The startling simplification of form painting system that strengthened and simplified their

18 national gallery of australia approach. Tonalism also inadvertently sharpened the artists’ Misty moderns concludes with a series of introspective Roland Wakelin Self-portrait 1920 receptivity to modernism. These surprising experimental themes painted during the early 1940s as the terror of oil on paperboard paintings challenge pre-existing ideas about the war raged and the competing forces of modernism began 26.7 x 25.4 cm The Art Gallery of New development of Australian modernism and point towards to firmly take hold. Living and working in in South Wales, Sydney the reinstatement of Max Meldrum as a major force in 1942, expatriate Colin Colahan was appointed an official Edward Stinson Bequest Fund 2006 twentieth-century Australian art. war artist, providing him with an opportunity to extend © estate of the artist Clarice Beckett’s spellbinding suburban, coastal and his gaze beyond the domestic realm to produce a series city views of the 1920s and early 1930s included in Misty of sensitively observed war subjects. His poetic airfield moderns confirm Beckett’s position as one of the movement’s scene of Ballet of wind and rain 1945 is one of the many greatest artists. Forgotten for over 30 years, Clarice Beckett revelations in Misty moderns that will be on display at the has only in recent times been rightfully acknowledged as one National Gallery of Australia in Canberra from February of Australia’s greatest landscape painters of the twentieth to April 2009. The exhibtion brings together 82 paintings century. The National Gallery of Australia led the way in by 18 artists drawn from significant private and public resurrecting the reputation of Clarice Beckett when James collections from around Australia. Mollison, as acting director, acquired a seminal group of the Tracey Lock-Weir artist’s then recently rediscovered works in 1971. Curator, Australian Paintings and Sculpture, Art Gallery of South Beckett transcended Meldrum’s painting system, Australia, and curator of Misty moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915–1950 transforming it into her own ethereal signature style, distinguished by a wonderful command of design and The Art Gallery of South Australia’s Misty moderns: Australian feeling for colour. Carefully selected examples of her most Tonalists 1915–1950 national tour has been made possible by the support of the Australian Government, through Visions of luminous and minimal landscapes, such as Passing trams Australia. and Taxi rank of the early 1930s, are displayed in elegant A catalogue published to accompany this exhibition is available groupings that collectively resonate, forming a moving from the nga shop. highlight of this exhibition.

artonview summer 2008–09 19 forthcoming exhibition

Soft sculpture

24 April – 12 July 2009

Eva Hesse Soft sculpture looks at the ways artists use non-traditional tensions between rigidity and malleability, continuity and Contingent 1969 cheesecloth, latex, fibreglass materials to question the changing nature of sculpture. change. Completed shortly before the artist’s untimely installation The exhibition explores the historical relationship between death, the superlative installation is testament to Hesse’s 350 x 630 x 109 cm (variable) National Gallery of Australia, anti-form works of the 1960s and 1970s, the Surrealist influence on the genre of sculpture. Canberra and Pop art objects that inspired them and contemporary Audiences will also have the opportunity to view Purchased 1973 Courtesy the Estate of Eva Hesse, art practice from the 1980s to the present day. Drawing important works by European artists. Joseph Beuys’s Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zurich on the strong holdings of the National Gallery of Australia, Stripes from the house of the shaman 1962–72 1980 supplemented with loans from private lenders and other art uses felt, animal skin, rubber tubing and ground minerals museums, the exhibition includes rarely displayed treasures as autobiographical metaphors for experiences and from the collection. feelings. The commanding work blends symbolic and The term ‘soft sculpture’ emerged during the later years poetic meaning as Beuys explores the alchemy of art. His of the 1960s to describe works of art that were constructed installation transcends the physical and acts as a powerful from pliant materials. As artists began to explore and means of drawing in space. exploit the qualities of supple substances, unconventional The hand-sewn forms of Annette Messager’s objects comprising fibres and fabrics, plastic, vinyl and Penetration 1993–94 highlight contemporary explorations rubber were introduced into gallery spaces. The resultant of the soft sculpture genre. Oversized internal organs and forms were often fragile rather than robust and, in many viscera constructed from vividly coloured fabrics hang cases, combined metaphorical and metaphysical concerns. from the gallery ceiling, taking the viewer on a tour of Leading the innovation, Claes Oldenburg created the body. In this installation, Messager replaces sculptures that referenced banal, everyday objects. His the kinetic experience proposed by Oldenburg and the manipulation of media and form rendered him one of ephemeral approach of the Minimalists with a psychological the foremost exponents of Pop art. Ice bag—scale B ordeal that immerses the viewer’s entire body. 1971 explores the impact of mechanical movement on A selection of works by Australian artists will parallel a playfully oversized commonplace item. Central to the international tendencies, revealing local approaches to soft themes of the exhibition, Oldenburg’s piece pre-empts sculpture. Originating with Tony Coleing and Les Kossatz, contemporary experimentation with alternative materials following generations of artists referred to Surrealism, and modes of construction. Pop art and in their creations. Luke Roberts Soon after, artists such as Richard Serra, Michelle manipulates conventional children’s toys in his installation Stewart and Robert Morris also began to explore the All souls of the revolution 1976–94 to conjure perverse qualities of pliable matter. Their innovative use of naturally humour and sinister connotations, while Rosslyn Piggott’s occurring and found materials led to the development High bed 1998 reflects upon the contradictions of the of anti-form sculptures that championed the themes of subconscious mind. Minimalism. The display of large-scale works by these Soft sculpture, the first Australian survey to critically artists will encourage contemplation of the conceptual reappraise this major tendency, will challenge and subvert nature of post-war American sculpture. traditional notions of art. The exhibition presents a broad The survey is further enhanced by Eva Hesse’s array of objects that promises to intrigue and amaze celebrated Contingent 1969. Comprising eight rectangular audiences of all ages. pieces of latex-covered cheesecloth, each end embedded Lisa McDonald in a translucent field of fibreglass, the work explores the Assistant Curator, International Painting and Sculpture

20 national gallery of australia

collection focus

Australian prints: four fabulous birthday acquisitions!

Queenie McKenzie outskirts of Melbourne reflects the broad nature of the Franck Gohier (printer) Fund which, under the guidance of Roger Butler, Senior University (print workshop) Curator of Australian Prints and Drawings, aims to collect Joodal country—Tick Dreaming 1995 a comprehensive overview of contemporary printmaking in lithograph, printed in dark blue ink, from one stone Australia and the region. printed image 28.4 x 29.8 cm The four print workshops are not only geographically National Gallery of Australia, Canberra scattered but each operates along a different model of Gordon Darling Australia Pacific the artist-printer association. In the case of Larry Rawling Print Fund, celebrating the National Gallery of Australia’s 25th and his eponymous studio, the role of the printer is based anniversary, 2007 on a traditional custom-printing approach. Coming from Brook Andrew a commercial printing background, he is known for his Larry Rawling (printer) Larry Rawling Fine Art beautifully produced screenprints in which the colours are Prints (print workshop) crisp, clear and perfectly registered. Over the four decades The man 2005 screenprint, printed in colour, that he has been printing limited edition prints, Rawling from multiple stencils has demonstrated his versatility in the medium—producing printed image 150 x 100 cm National Gallery of Australia, screenprinted text for artist’s books, custom-mixing ink Canberra Purchased with the assistance of colours and trialling countless experimental techniques the Gordon Darling Australia Pacific to help achieve the artist’s vision for the work. It is this Print Fund, in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia’s 25th remarkable resourcefulness that has made Larry Rawling anniversary, 2008 a much sought-after printer, and he has worked with © Brook Andrew. Represented by VISCOPY, Australia, 2008 over eighty artists during his long career. Rawling began printing for Alun Leach-Jones in the 1960s and went on to produce prints with artists such as , Charles Blackman, Robert Jacks and Jan Senbergs. Since moving his studio to the outskirts of Melbourne in 1998, Rawling has continued to produce innovative prints for a new generation of artists, including Brent Harris, David Band, Juan Davila and Brook Andrew. Don’t you just love a birthday? The Gordon Darling John Loane initiates print-based collaborations with Australia Pacific Print Fund certainly does—celebrating the established artists at his Canberra-based studio Viridian Press. National Gallery of Australia’s twenty-fifth anniversary by After working as the inaugural director of the Victorian Print acquiring the extraordinary archives of four major print Workshop, Loane established Viridian Press in Melbourne workshops based around Australia—Larry Rawling Fine Art in 1988. Over the years, he has invited selected artists to Prints, Cicada Press, Franck Gohier and Viridian Press. work with him on developing editions of prints, producing It is fitting that Gordon Darling was involved with etchings, lithographs and woodblock prints with artists such this hugely generous gesture as he has been a staunch as Mike Parr, Aida Tomescu, Jeffrey Harris, Imants Tillers, supporter of the Australian Prints department since the Judith Wright and Savanhdary Vongpoothorn. Diverse Gallery opened in 1982. As the inaugural chairperson, in their style and conceptual approach, many had never he encouraged the development of the print collection, worked with printmaking before and Loane’s approach and in 1989 he established what is now the Gordon often involves an exchange of ideas and technical expertise. Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, which assists with Working together can be the catalyst for a shift in scale or the purchase of prints produced after 1960. This recent the discovery of new possibilities in their work. In 2004, acquisition of over two thousand works on paper from Loane worked with -based artist Judith Wright on workshops based in Sydney, Darwin, Canberra and the developing a series of prints based on her dance-derived

22 national gallery of australia artonview summer 2008–09 23 films and drawings. Wright was surprised by how her fragile Cicada Press, based at the College of Fine Arts in Adam Cullen Cicada Press (print workshop) shadow drawings were transformed by the process of Sydney, follows the -derived apprenticeship model Special concerns 2001 printmaking into robust and monumental pieces, such as her and was established in 2003 by the Head of Printmaking relief-etching, printed in black ink, from one plate 2004 etching One dances. The elongated abstract shape is Studies, Michael Kempson. It offers short-term residencies plate-mark 21.4 x 25.2 cm printed in a soft transparent black, which echoes the shadow to established artists, who are invited to produce a National Gallery of Australia, Canberra of dancers in the spotlight. series of prints, which are often editioned by students Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, celebrating the Artist and printer Franck Gohier is recognised for his from the printmaking workshop. This dynamic exchange National Gallery of Australia’s pivotal role in initiating Indigenous printmaking in the Top enriches the process for the artists—many of whom have 25th anniversary, 2007

End. He began printing at the Northern Territory University had limited experience in printmaking—and allows the Ben Quilty in 1992 and helped establish their groundbreaking print students to gain invaluable insight into the artist’s process. Cicada Press (print workshop) Fang 2005 workshop with Leon Stainer and George Watts. They The residency program often results in exciting new etching and aquatint, printed in brown ink, from formed links with the community and initiated printmaking works such as Adam Cullen’s 2001 dark and spiky relief one plate workshops to encourage painters such as Rover Thomas, etching Local concerns which, although condensed in size, plate-mark 28.5 x 29.5 cm National Gallery of Australia, Queenie Mckenzie, Tommy Bung Bung, Lily Karadada and contains the same disturbing energy as his forceful large- Canberra Paddy Carlton to try other mediums. Printmaking offered scale paintings. Other participants have included senior Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, celebrating the a new way of recording traditional stories and Gohier artists Elisabeth Cummings, John Peart, National Gallery of Australia’s introduced the artists to , etching, woodcuts John Coburn and Reg Mombassa as well as younger 25th anniversary, 2007 and linocuts, which he printed in the rich earth tones of Sydney-based figurative artists Adam Cullen, Cherry (opposite) Judith Wright the desert country. In 1997, funding cuts to universities Hood, Nicholas Harding, , David Fairbairn John Loane (printer) prompted Gohier to set up the independent print workshop and Ben Quilty. Cicada Press has also had a long-term Viridian Press (print workshop) Red Hand Print Studio with Shaun Poustie (formerly of Red commitment to working with Indigenous artists based in One dances 2004 etching, printed in sepia ink, Planet Posters). This open-access studio was founded on the Sydney and remote communities. from one copper plate principle of community-based printmaking, and underpinned The acquisition of this significant group of prints has plate-mark 98.2 x 79.2 cm National Gallery of Australia, by the Gohier and Poustie’s ideological vision that prioritised been a fantastic accomplishment for the Gordon Darling Canberra the hand of the artist above the commercial viability of the Australia Pacific Print Fund in the twenty-fifth birthday Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, celebrating the image. Red Hand continued to work with established and year, and has further strengthened the National Gallery of National Gallery of Australia’s emerging artists based in Aboriginal communities. After Australia’s exceptional collection of contemporary prints. 25th anniversary, 2007 Poustie moved to Sydney in 1999, Gohier continued to run Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax the workshop before setting up his own studio in 2000 to Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings concentrate on producing his own works on paper.

artonview summer 2008–09 25 acquisition Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Balang (Mick) Kubarkku’s bark paintings

Balang (Mick) Kubarkku’s life spanned a period of incredible change for his people, the Kunwinjku (eastern Kunwinjku), of central Arnhem Land. From the Kulmarru clan, Kubarkku was of the Dhuwa moiety and Balang subsection. He was born at Kukabarnka, part of his homelands in the Marrinj clan estate, which included Yikarrakkal and Kubumi. He died in May at the township of Maningrida, central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Kubarkku was born into a world that had minimal contact with non-Indigenous people and culture, when the only white people who travelled to largely inaccessible Arnhem Land were traders, anthropologists and later missionaries. The first bark paintings were collected in the 1870s from Port Essington. Maningrida did not exist until just after Second World War when it was established as rations distribution centre/trading post; however, the timeless culture of the Kunwinjku has been inherent in the land for thousands of generations. As with many Indigenous artists from traditional communities, Kubarkku was tutored in artistic and cultural practices by his father, Ngindjalakku, initially creating paintings for sacred ceremonies and later selling his works through the government established township of Maningrida. At the time of his death, Kubarkku had been infirm for some time and had not created any works of art since the early 2000s. Very few works were created after 1995, when Kubarkku was acknowledged for his artistic vision and prowess in the exhibition Rainbow, sugarbag and moon, with Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek, curated by Margie West, then Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. These bark paintings are part of a group of eighteen barks recently acquired by the Gallery, marking an extremely valuable addition to the holdings of this significant artist’s work in the national collection, bringing the total number of works in the collection by Kubarkku to Balang (Mick) Kubarkku twenty-five. Spanning four decades by one of the country’s Namorodo spirit 1971 natural earth pigments on most significant Arnhem Land artists, the group of barks bark 153 x 61 cm were collected by a single vendor over a number of years. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Kubarkku was a traditionalist in his approach to Purchased 2008 © Balang (Mick) Kubarkku. painting, mirroring his upbringing with minimal contact Represented by VISCOPY, with white people prior to war. His art adhered to the Australia, 2008 style reminiscent of rock art painting, similar to his

26 national gallery of australia colleague and countryman Bardayal Nadjamerrek and Bamdjelk, the pandanus spirit; lorrkon (hollow log coffin); Balang (Mick) Kubarkku Dird Djang (Moon other contemporaries such as Anchor Kulunba, Peter namorroddo, yawk yawk and mimih spirits; and assorted Dreaming) c 1990 Marralwanga and Crusoe Kuningbal—all of whose freshwater fish species and native animals such as the natural earth pigments on bark 112 x 90 cm descendents are among the current group of acclaimed namanjwarre (estuarine crocodile) and lambalk (sugar National Gallery of Australia, Kunwinjku artists. glider). He is the cultural custodian, or djungkay (manager), Canberra Purchased 2008 Kubarkku produced highly figurative work, allowing of the Bird Moon Dreaming. © Balang (Mick) Kubarkku. Represented by VISCOPY, space around his depictions of totemic animals and Namarrkon, the Lightning Spirit is associated with the Australia, 2008 spirit beings, differing markedly from the innovative and intense electrical storms of kunemeleng, the pre-wet Balang (Mick) Kubarkku increasingly abstracted rarrk (cross-hatched) designs created season between October and December. Namarrkon is Njaljod–Rainbow snakes at by acclaimed Kunwinjku artists like John Mawurndjul. typically illustrated in the rock art and bark paintings of Gubumi on the Mann 1979 natural earth pigments on Initially he commenced painting at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) the region with a circuit of lightning encircling its body. bark 126 x 79 Kulburru, the stone axes which protrude from his joints, National Gallery of Australia, after the war before moving to Maningrida in 1957, Canberra are hurled by Namarrkon to cause the lightning and where he and David Milaybuma were the first regular Purchased 2008 thunder that accompany tropical storms. The body form of © Balang (Mick) Kubarkku. painters at Maningrida. The present Maningrida Art and Namarrkon is said to represent ngaldjurr the Leichhardt’s Represented by VISCOPY, Australia, 2008 Culture—arguably one of the country’s most recognised Grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera), which is active and and successful art centres—evolved from the establishment most visible during this time of year.1 of an art and craft centre in 1968, auspiced through the Contemporary Arnhem Land artists create works for Maningrida Progress Association. the art market, acquired for public and private collections, His representations of malevolent spirit beings and and none paint designs on the rock art sites, some of ancestral figures resonate with power, and the works of which dated as old as 50 000 years (if not older). Kubarkku and Nadjamerrek are a direct connection to Kubarkku was one of the few men who could recall those the ancient tradition of painting on rock surfaces and bark artists of earlier generations and was able to provide shelters, a tradition that ceased in 2004 when Bardayal detailed interpretations of images on the rock galleries. painted the last image on rock galleries near his homeland. Kubarkku’s first paintings were on bark shelters and he Brenda L Croft later incorporated the rarrk designs associated with the Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Mardayin ceremony into his art. note 1. Margie West (ed), Rainbow, sugarbag and moon: two artists of the Among his repertoire were Ngalyod, the Rainbow stone country, exhibition catalogue, Museum and Art Gallery of the Serpent; Namarrkon, the lightning spirit; Kodjok Northern Territory, Darwin, 1995.

artonview summer 2008–09 27 acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Frederick McCubbin At the falling of the year

Frederick McCubbin In At the falling of the year 1886, Frederick McCubbin During 1886, both McCubbin and Roberts painted At the falling of the year 1886 oil on canvas 30.6 x 15.1 cm lovingly depicted a small segment of a woodland. Two baby outdoors in front of the motif, using a limited range National Gallery of Australia, magpies fly among the trees. He carefully delineated the of colours (predominantly greens and browns). In its Canberra Purchased with the assistance of bark and leaves of the slender eucalypt saplings as well as freshness and immediacy, close viewpoint and tonal palette, Terry and Christine Campbell, 2008 the grasses and twigs in the foreground. We feel as if we McCubbin’s At the falling of the year also resembles works are in the midst of this intimate scene, listening to the soft that Roberts painted around this time, such as A Sunday rustling of the bush. afternoon c 1886 and A summer morning’s tiff 1886. McCubbin was a prominent Australian Impressionist McCubbin, however, generally presented his scenes from and At the falling of the year comes from a key period in an even more intimate viewpoint than Roberts. his oeuvre. The title derives from a line in Adam Lindsay The image of the two tall eucalypt saplings at the right Gordon’s poem ‘A song of autumn’, where the poet wrote: of At the falling of the year is also a feature of several of

Where shall we go for our garlands glad McCubbin’s works at this time. He painted this work in the At the falling of the year, same year as his seminal Lost 1886, for which it could be When the burnt-up banks are yellow and sad, considered a study—as it could for other significant works When the boughs are yellow and sere? of this period such as Gathering mistletoe 1886. Although … small, McCubbin saw At the falling of the year as a work in McCubbin evoked this season through his use of yellow its own right and exhibited it in the First annual exhibition and red tones, and a fading evening light. He most likely of the Australian Artists’ Association at Buxton’s Galleries painted it at Houston’s farm, Box Hill, on the outskirts of in Melbourne on 7 September 1886, three years before the Melbourne. From 1885 to 1886, McCubbin was working famous The 9 by 5 impression exhibition of oil sketches by alongside at the artists’ camp at Box Hill McCubbin, Roberts, Streeton and Conder was shown at (near Heidelberg). It was an ideal place to work because this same venue. it allowed them easy access to the bush during the In 1886, McCubbin was appointed drawing master weekends and was a short train journey from Melbourne, of the school of design at the National Gallery School in where they worked during the week. They were soon Melbourne—a position he held for the rest of his life. joined by other artists, including , Charles Five years later, in September 1891, Roberts and Streeton Conder and . moved from Melbourne to New South Wales, where they This painting shows the advances that McCubbin painted at Sirius Cove on Sydney Harbour and elsewhere and Roberts made in Australian landscape painting. in New South Wales. They subsequently travelled overseas. Telescoping in on a small segment of the bush, their McCubbin remained in Melbourne, crafting his own art paintings were radically different in composition and out of the well-known and much-loved places around technique from the wide panoramic views of earlier him. In these works, he showed the breadth of his vision Australian landscape painters. In contrast to the work of and his deep understanding of nature, capturing sparkling previous artists, they depicted treescapes in which the sensations of light and atmosphere. sky is nearly absent and the eucalypts are viewed in close Anne Gray focus. In these works, they sought an intimate, naturalistic Head of Australian Art approach to the bush, capturing the play of light and The exhibition McCubbin: greatest impressions will be at the shade in the landscape. National Gallery of Australia from 14 August to 1 November 2009.

28 national gallery of australia

acquisition Australian Painting and Sculpture

Hilda Rix Nicholas Snow, Montmartre

Nicholas’s studio window as she is unlikely to have ventured outside in the cold to paint such a scene. The low viewpoint suggests she painted it sitting down. Unlike so many of her other works, it is unpeopled—it is a pure image of light, the interplay of sunshine and shadow on the surface of the snow, and conveys some of the feel of a wintry day in Paris. It is constructed with strong forms: the horizontals of the buildings and fence contrast with the diagonals of the roofs and the -like pattern of the trees. She painted it expressively, using energetic brushstrokes and vibrant colour: blues, creams, browns and greens. Rix Nicholas probably painted this work around 1914—the artist was in from 1907 to 1914 and the subject is a French one. The high key palette, free handling of paint and bold composition is similar to those she adopted in 1912 and 1914 for her Moroccan pictures. When Rix Nicholas moved to England at the end of 1914 she depicted a house and garden in Kent using a bright palette of reds and yellows as well as blues and purples. Snow, Montmartre captures a time before tragedy struck Rix Nicholas. At the start of the war, her mother and sister (with whom she lived) contracted typhoid. Her sister died soon after but her mother lived for a few more years, until 1916. Six months after her mother’s death, she married Major George Matson Nicholas. After a brief honeymoon he returned to the front and was killed in action a month after their wedding. When she came back to Australia in 1918, Rix Nicholas received critical acclaim for the range and versatility of her work. Renewed by her return, she reformulated her approach to art, exchanging her European imagery for nationalistic images of Australian country life. She visited Hilda Rix Nicholas Born in in 1884, Hilda Rix Nicholas was one of Snow, Montmartre c 1914 Britain and France in 1924–26, and painted Breton subjects. oil on canvas on board Australia’s most significant women artists during the She continued to exhibit her work throughout the 1930s and 58.5 x 48.5 cm early 1900s. While working abroad from 1907 to 1918, National Gallery of Australia, 1940s, but failing eyesight and ill health limited her output Canberra she painted portraits and depicted people in the streets Purchased 2008 during the 1950s. She died in 1961 at the age of 76. and gardens of Étaples in Paris and views of daily activity Hilda Rix Nicholas gained a place among contemporary in Tangier. Following her return to Australia she painted Australian artists through the power and strength of her images of Australian rural life and landscape. imagery. Snow, Montmartre c 1914 is one of her boldest and most joyous landscapes. Painted in Montmartre just before Anne Gray the First World War, it is an urban scene, capturing the cold Head of Australian art northern light on snow. It is most likely the view from Rix

30 national gallery of australia acquisition Australian Prints and Drawings

Howard Arkley and Juan Davila Interior with built in bar

As part of a recent purchase of works from the innovative unfinished at the time of Arkley’s death in 1999. It was Juan Davila Howard Arkley Melbourne screenprinter Larry Rawling, the Gallery finally shown in an exhibition at Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Larry Rawling (printer) acquired Interior with built in bar 1992, a collaborative print Galleries in 2001 and served as a heart-felt tribute from Larry Rawling Fine Art Prints (print workshop) by Australian artists Juan Davila and Howard Arkley. At the Davila to his friend. This installation was a reversal of their Interior with built in bar 1992 screenprint, printed in colour, time, Arkley and Davila seemed an unlikely partnership. earlier Blue chip instant decorator: a room in that it did not from 17 stencils 163 x 216 cm Aside from their volatile personalities, their backgrounds depict real furniture in a created environment, but rather National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and aesthetics were very different. Arkley was born in the virtual furniture in a real space. The exhibition also included Purchased with the assistance Melbourne suburb of Box Hill in 1951 and his art became Interior with built in bar. of the Gordon Darling Australia Pacific Print Fund, in celebration of synonymous with the kitsch decorative themes of the Arkley’s contribution to Interior with built in bar was the National Gallery of Australia’s 1950s and subsequent decades. In contrast, Davila was a background packed with the patterns and symbols of 25th anniversary, 2008 born in Chile and immigrated to Australia in 1974 with his suburban Melbourne. His hyper-intensive colours were own set of cultural and political baggage. informed by suburban decoration as well as pop culture In the late 1970s, Tolarno Galleries represented both imagery of the period. Davila subsequently sabotaged artists and it was through the gallery that they first met. Arkley’s work by turning it upside down and putting Arkley and Davila soon discovered that they shared an his own version of a suburban interior over the top, ambivalent attitude towards the mainstream abstraction of challenging Arkley’s kitsch imagery. The theme of interior the period and a passion for popularised images. decoration in this and other collaborations is a vehicle From their first collaboration, Blue chip instant decorator: with which the artists question and subvert Melbourne a room, installed at Tolarno Galleries in 1991, to their last, suburban values. Icon interior 1994–2001, the theme of interior decoration Alexandra Walton stayed with them. Icon interior began in 1994 and was Gordon Darling Graduate Intern, Australian Prints and Drawings

artonview summer 2008–09 31 acquisition Australian Decorative Arts and Design

Kevin Gordon Sea urchin I

Over the past twenty years, the diverse practices of contemporary Australian studio glass have seen its innovators acknowledge the rich visual and technical history of the material while developing it with the aid of new design and production technologies. The Western Australian artist Kevin Gordon is among the leading group of taking glass beyond the expected. Kevin Gordon was born to British parents in Norway in 1968, moved to in 1972 then to Perth in in 1980. He trained with his father, the glass engraver Alastair Gordon, from 1989 to 1992, before establishing his own studio in 1992. In 1995, he operated the Gordon Studio Glassblowers with his sister Eileen Gordon in Melbourne before returning to Perth to re-establishing his studio with glassblower David Hay in 1999. Gordon has a strong reputation for his work in engraved, multi-layer cameo glass, an ancient glass decorating technique used by few designers and artists in Australia due to its technical complexity and long production times. Gordon’s earlier work reflects a strong influence of French cameo glass of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much of which was the period’s most vivid expression of the natural world. With its complex engraving, carving, sandblasting, Kevin Gordon wheel-cutting and polishing of clear blown glass, Sea Sea urchin I 2008 glass Urchin I moves on from Gordon’s coloured and opaque 30 x 37 (diam) cm National Gallery of Australia, Canberra works. It was developed following a period of intensive Gift of Sandy Benjamin, 2008 research undertaken by Gordon in the Western Australian Museum’s Department of Aquatic Zoology. His interest in the museum’s collections of dry marine specimens stimulated his research into computer-aided design templates as a way to interpret, in glass, the intricate organic complexity of these marine forms. The resulting work was revealed in his exhibition Systema naturae at the Form Gallery in Perth in early 2008. His precision cutting and polishing of sections of this work into lens- like discs allow its engraved textures and patterns to be refracted and reflected through them. This ethereal object invites the curious and concentrated gaze and rewards the viewer with an invocation of the drama and mystery of the natural world.

Robert Bell Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

32 national gallery of australia acquisition Australian Decorative Arts and Design

Raphael & Co Worktable

Sydney cabinet-making firm Raphael & Co was run by British-born Joseph G Raphael, who had arrived in Sydney around 1839, in partnership with Andrew Lenehan and Edward Flood. Lenehan had come from Ireland in 1835 and, in 1841, had set up his own cabinet-making firm with Flood, taking over the former cabinet-making firm of James Templeton. Lenehan’s workshop supplied furniture to Sydney’s Government House in 1846 and, by 1863, he had acquired new premises on King Street. Raphael took over the running of Lenehan’s business in 1868, forming Raphael & Co. Lenehan and Raphael were both British-trained and were importers of furniture. The design of this worktable (for sewing and needlework) illustrates the amalgam of historical revival styles that characterised mid-Victorian period furniture produced in Australia. The great exhibition of 1851 in London, which celebrated industrial technology and design, created a taste for flamboyant furniture and virtuoso craftsmanship. The influence of this exhibition was seen in the Australian production of elaborate and expensive furniture that celebrated the use of Australian native woods. This worktable has a support structure of solid turned and carved tulipwood, on four brass and castors. The frieze is Huon pine and rose mahogany veneer and the corner blocks are tulipwood with applied shields of Huon pine. The hinged lid is solid brush cypress pine veneered with strips of book-matched tulipwood, Huon pine and black bean, with a central motif of four connected diamond-shaped panels in Huon pine, Tasmanian musk and native cherrywood veneers. Under the lid, its precisely fitted interior consists of thirty small compartments surrounding a larger rectangular compartment. A tapered workbox slides out from underneath the table and is covered with new Raphael & Co pleated silk in a colour based on the deteriorated original Worktable c 1869 wood, brass, porcelain and silk silk fragments. The table retains its original waxed patina 75 x 63 x 47.5 cm and bears a partial Raphael & Co ink stamp on the base of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2008 the workbox. This worktable, with its fine turned frame elements, elaborate veneers and precise functionality is an excellent and rare example of the best of Australian design and production of the mid-nineteenth century.

Robert Bell Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

artonview summer 2008–09 33 acquisition Asian Art

Heri Dono Flying angels

Heri Dono Heri Dono is among Indonesia’s most prominent and human vulnerability but are also uplifting personal symbols Flying angels 2006 (detail) polyester resin, clock innovative contemporary artists. Working in sculpture, of freedom, conscience and hope. Actively opposed to parts, electronic installation, performance, paint and print, he brings oppression, injustice, violence and abuses of power, Heri components, paint, wood, cotton gauze together elements of Indonesian artistic tradition with his Dono is interested in the role of the individual in society installation 60 x 135 cm own distinctly contemporary concepts and playful imagery. and has referred to his angels as a replacement for the (each, approx) The intersection of these constituents, and the tensions garuda, mythical man-bird, as an emblem of Indonesian National Gallery of Australia, Canberra that ensue, are recurring features of Heri Dono’s work. identity. He has described the garuda as ‘a symbol of Gift of Gene and His Flying angels 2006—an installation of nine whimsical collective identity and to prevent individuals Brian Sherman 2008 electronic angels with elaborate headdresses, impish painted from developing their intellect and personality freely’.1 faces, broad cotton wings, tiny red boots and exposed As it is in much of the artist’s work, the subversive genitals—is part of an ongoing series begun in 1995. spirit of Flying angels is shrouded in incongruously quirky Since their first showing at the 1996 Bienal de São Paulo, cheer. Powered using temperamental low-tech motors angels from the cluster have been exhibited in various constructed from discarded clock parts and electronics, configurations in many parts of the world, including Japan, the angels flap their wings while emitting discordant Indonesia, Switzerland, Singapore and Australia. Invited sound; their chorus brings together contemporary popular to participate in vast numbers of biennales, triennials and music with birdsong, insect chirps and the voice of the residencies internationally, Heri Dono is a constant traveller artist chanting in several languages, including old Javanese. who creates and recreates his work on the move. Flying angels is a gift of Gene and Brian Sherman, Stylistically inspired by Flash Gordon cartoons and who are long-standing supporters of contemporary Asian American robots from the 1950s, the Flying angels also art and the National Gallery of Australia. It is an excellent draw on the Indonesian theatre tradition of wayang complement to the Gallery’s small but high-quality puppetry, an art form long associated with social collection of from Asia and, especially, to commentary and political expression. After graduating from the single Heri Dono angel acquired by the Gallery in 1999. the Indonesia Institute of the Arts in Jogjakarta in 1987, Created in 1995, the single angel was one of the first such Heri Dono trained in wayang kulit shadow play—using sculptures produced by the artist. two-dimensional, perforated leather puppets—under the Previous works of art acquired with the support of modern master Sukasman. In contrast to many Indonesian Gene and Brian Sherman include Red rain (Hujan artists active in the 1970s and 80s, artists from Heri Dono’s merah) 2003, a popular installation by Brisbane-based generation have tended to embrace rather than reject contemporary Indonesian artist Dadang Christanto, local artistic practices. While much of his work, particularly and Taiwanese artist Lin Shu-Min’s holographic installation painting and performance, draws strongly on the aesthetic Glass ceiling, both purchased through the Gene and Brian and form of wayang kulit, Flying angels and the related Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Fund. series Bidadari turun dari langit (Fairies from the heavens) Melanie Eastburn 2004 have greater affinity with the three-dimensional Curator, Asian Art puppet dolls used in wayang golek. note For the artist, whose work expresses his particular 1 Heri Dono, ‘Watching the logic through an upside-down mind’, in Yasuko Furuchi (ed), Heri Dono: dancing demons and drunken deities, experiences and concerns, the dangling angels represent The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, 2000, p 83.

34 national gallery of australia artonview summer 2008–09 35 acquisition Pacific Arts

Solomon Islands people Bonito fish

Solomon Islands people Large sculptures of the bonito fish (Katsuwonus pelamis), The canoe house is where the large sculpture of bonito Bonito fish 1900–30 wood, nautilus shell, patinas more commonly known as skipjack tuna, are iconic symbols fish along with carvings of sharks and relics such as the 38 x 90 x 35 cm in the art of the Solomon Islands. The fish were, and still skeletal trophies of pigs, people and fish decorated the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra are in some areas, considered sacred. They form a link to already elaborate structure. On certain occasions, such as Purchased 2008 the ancestors and to sea spirits; their presence indicates the arrival of the bonito schools, sculpture of bonito fish good relations between man and the spirit world. This can and those of frigate birds would be moved out of the canoe perhaps be explained by the important role they play in the house and attached to dance platforms near the shore. fishing cultures of the Solomon Islands. The Gallery’s bonito exhibits a widely used aesthetic Bonito are attracted to shoals of smaller fish and tend choice in the art of the Solomon Islands: the use to form schools that aggressively attack the shoal, driving of hundreds of tiny triangles of shell inlay against a them to the surface of the water. Birds are attracted by contrasting black mass—the black colouration is derived this turmoil, swooping into the fray for their pickings. This from a mixture of soot, plant resin and possibly ink spectacle is a signal for fishermen who are also intent in obtained from nautilus fish. This technique gives the taking advantage of the bonito schools work. Although impression, when displayed in a darkened canoe house the smaller fish are made easy to catch by the bonito, the illuminated by torchlight, of the sculpture being underwater real prize is the bonito itself. Actually catching a bonito, with rippling reflections of the sun and watery shadows however, requires consummate skill. shimmering as if the fish is in motion. Bonito are smooth-skinned with no scales; they have The artist has presumably observed bonito in its red blood and are described as being the ‘ of the underwater habitat, when its fins would be fully extended, sea’. The sighting of the first bonito each season is a signal and captured its essence in this work. to begin festivities that involve passing the traditional Crispin Howarth knowledge of this unpredictable fish to young initiates. Curator, Pacific Arts These festivities were organised in front of the sacred canoe This acquisition is on display in the exhibition Gods, ghosts and houses, which faced out toward the sea. men at the National Gallery of Australia until 11 January 2009.

36 national gallery of australia Travelling exhibitions summer 2008

Exhibition venues and dates may be subject to change. Please contact the Gallery or venue before your visit. For more information on travelling exhibitions, telephone (02) 6240 6525 or send an email to [email protected].

Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial painting 1850–1950 Proudly supported by BHP Billiton; the Australia Council The National Gallery of Australia’s 25th Anniversary for the Arts through its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Travelling Exhibition Islander Art Board, Visual Art Board and Community Supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Partnerships and Market Development (International) Government Program supporting touring exhibitions Board; the Contemporary Touring Initiative through Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program; by providing funding assistance for the development Maringka Baker and touring of Australian cultural material across Kuru Ala 2007 and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative synthetic polymer paint on Australia. The exhibition is also proudly sponsored of the Australian Government and state and territory canvas 153.5 x 200.0 cm governments; the Government through the by RM Williams, The Bush Outfitter, and the National National Gallery of Australia, Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund Canberra Purchased 2007 Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency © Maringka Baker To mark the 25th anniversary of the National Gallery of Culture Warriors, the inaugural National Indigenous Art Arthur Streeton Australia, Director Ron Radford, AM, curated this national Triennial, presents the highly original and accomplished work of The selector’s hut (Whelan on touring exhibition of treasured works from the national thirty Indigenous Australian artists from every state and territory. the log) 1890 Featuring outstanding works in a variety of media, Culture oil on canvas 76.7 x 51.2 cm collection. Every Australian state and territory is represented National Gallery of Australia, through the works of iconic artists such as Clarice Beckett, Warriors draws inspiration from the fortieth anniversary of the Canberra Purchased 1961 , , , Hans 1967 Referendum (Aboriginals) and demonstrates the breadth Heysen, Max Meldrum, , Tom Roberts, Arthur and calibre of contemporary Indigenous art practice in Australia. Streeton and Eugene von Guérard. nga.gov.au/NIAT07 nga.gov.au/OceantoOutback Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Qld Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW 14 February – 10 May 2009 8 November 2008 – 1 February 2009 Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, ACT 14 February – 17 May 2009

The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Travelling Exhibitions War: the prints of Three suitcases of works of art: Red case: and rituals Otto Dix’s Der Krieg cycle, a collection of 51 etchings, is includes works that reflect the spiritual beliefs of different regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth cultures; Yellow case: form, space, design reflects a range of art century. Modelled on Goya’s equally famous and equally making processes; and Blue case: technology. These suitcases devastating Los Desastres de la guerra (The disasters of war), thematically present a selection of art and design objects that the portfolio captures Dix’s horror of and fascination with the may be borrowed free-of-charge for the enjoyment of children experience of war. and adults in regional, remote and metropolitan centres. Otto Dix nga.gov.au/Dix nga.gov.au/Wolfensohn Ration carriers near Pilkem 1924 plate 43 from the portfolio War , Brisbane, Qld For further details and bookings telephone (02) 6240 6650 etching, aquatint 24.8 x 29.8 cm Sri Lanka or email [email protected]. National Gallery of Australia, 7 November 2008 – 1 February 2009 Seated Ganesha 9th–10th century Canberra The Poynton Bequest, 2003 bronze 10.0 x 6.8 x 4.4 cm © Otto Dix. Licensed by VISCOPY, in Red case: myths and rituals Australia, 2008 The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift Red case: myths and rituals and Yellow case: form, space and design Young District Arts Council, Young, NSW Imagining Papua New Guinea: 3 November – 16 December 2008 prints from the national collection Cable Beach Primary School, Broome, WA 9–23 February 2009 Imagining Papua New Guinea is an exhibition of prints from St Mary’s College, Broome, WA the national collection that celebrates Papua New Guinea’s 23 February – 16 March 2009 independence and surveys its rich history of printmaking. Artists whose works are in the exhibition include Timothy Akis, Mathias Kauage, David Lasisi, John Man and Martin The 1888 Melbourne Cup Morububuna. Western Australia Museum, Albany, WA nga.gov.au/Imagining Mathias Kauage 8 December 2008 – 7 January 2009 Independence celebration I 1975 (detail) stencil Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, SA The 1888 Melbourne Cup 1888 Western Australia Museum, Geraldton, WA 50.2 x 76.4 cm 5 December 2008 – 28 January 2009 The Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift 9 January – 20 February 2009 National Gallery of Australia, Southland Museum and Art Gallery, Invercargill, Canberra Ulli and Georgina Beier Collection, purchased 2005 20 February – 19 April 2009

The National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibitions Program is generously supported by Australian airExpress.

artonview summer 2008–09 37 vale

James Gleeson: an extraordinary journey

At the heart of every great work of art lies an area of darkness that defies analysis. Theorists try, but something of the greatest works always elude the pursuer … It is not whether you have understood exactly what the artist had in mind, but whether or not it has stirred your imagination into a creative act. James Gleeson, 1993

Portrait of James Gleeson by James Gleeson (1915–2008) was one of Australia’s most profound and personal insight into both Gleeson and the Jacqueline Mitelman, 1997 Courtesy of National Library of important artists and art writers. For more than 60 years, artists interviewed. Australia, Canberra he has painted works that question, demand and engage. For a period in the 1960s and 1970s, Gleeson took a James Gleeson Inspired by the Surrealist movement, Gleeson started break from painting and made a major contribution through The attitude of lightning towards a lady-mountain 1939 painting in the late 1930s while in his early twenties. He his lucid and insightful texts. These include Masterpieces oil on canvas revolutionised and transformed Australian painting through of Australian painting (1969) as well as monographs on 79.0 x 63.3 cm National Gallery of Australia, his original and dynamic works. He was always interested (1969) and (1983). His writing Canberra in paint, commenting that ‘seeing the originals of great was sensitive and intelligent. He always gave something of Purchased with the assistance of James Agapitos, OAM, and Ray paintings in Europe, I fell in love with paint. I discovered a himself and his experience of a wide range of art to make Wilson, OAM, 2007 new interest in style and technique’.1 His powerful images the relationship between the reader and the artist a more are always visceral, sometimes terrifying and bizarre. They personal one. reach the emotions directly, creating a strange magical Gleeson was a great benefactor of the arts, generously world that stirs the imagination. For over six decades he giving his work to major public collections, including the continued his extraordinary journey in paint. National Gallery of Australia. Through the Gleeson O’Keefe Gleeson had a significant place in the development of Foundation, he promoted major acquisitions of Australian the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in being one of art for public collections. Works by Gleeson were donated to those responsible for forming the Australian art collection the National Gallery of Australia in September 2007 as part in its earliest days. From 1975 to 1979, he was the Gallery’s of one of the largest collections of Australian Surrealism ever Visiting Curator of Australian Art and, from 1976 to 1982, collected—the Agapitos/Wilson collection. Among the many a member of the Gallery’s first Council. His knowledge, Gleeson works now in the national collection is The attitude enthusiasm and dedication ensured many fine acquisitions. of lightning towards a lady-mountain 1939, a key painting in He emphasised the value of creating significant the history of Australian art as it is one of the first Surrealist collections of art on paper pointing to the Gallery’s works undertaken in Australia. Like so many of his paintings, responsibility towards public education and the drawings and over the years, this seminal painting encouragement of research in the visual arts, as well as reveals Gleeson’s audacious, imaginative and technical the role that the works on paper collection would have powers, which will resonate with local and international in ‘broadening and deepening our understanding of visitors for many years to come. Australian art in the years to come.2 Under Gleeson’s A true gentleman, a generous and compassionate guidance, the Gallery acquired many artists’ sketchbooks. person, his recent death at the age of 92 will be a He was also responsible for seminal exhibitions on the significant loss to the Australian art world. collection, such as Aspects of Australian art, 1900–1940 Anne Gray and Deborah Hart in 1978. Australian Art Gleeson interviewed a range of Australian artists in notes the 1970s and this oral history archive has been digitised 1. James Gleeson, in John Hetherington, Australian painters: forty profiles, FW Cheshire Publishing, Melbourne, 1963, p 144. as an invaluable asset to the Gallery’s Research Library. 2. Gleeson, ‘Australian sketchbooks: William Dobell’, Art and Australia, Many of these interviews can be heard online and offer a Australian National Gallery special issue, vol 14, no 4, 1977, pp 324 & 327.

38 national gallery of australia James Gleeson: an extraordinary journey

artonview summer 2008–09 39 1 2 3

4 5

6 7 8

40 national gallery of australia

9 10 faces in view

1–3. Bee Gunn and Barry Cundy; Nicky Gallagher, Luseanne Tuita, Siua Lafitani and Yvonne Howarth; Lyn Morey, Jane Wild and Margaret Wild at the opening of Gods, ghosts and men.

4. Children participating in the South Pacific dance workshop led by dancer, teacher and choreographer Shiara Astle from Phoenix Performing Arts.

5. Life model drawing 11 workshop inspired by ’s works of art.

6. Crispin Howarth, Curator, Pacific Arts, giving his insightful talk on the works of art in Gods, ghosts and men.

7. Robyn and John Milthorpe at the special members’ opening for Gods, ghosts and men.

8. Mark Henshaw, Curator, International, Prints and Drawings, discussing the works of Eduardo Paolozzi’s portfolio Bunk! 1972.

9. Peter Fay, co-curator of Without borders, with Gallery member Elizabeth Storrs, artist Slim Barrie and Maryanne Voyazis.

10/ Visitors participating in the 11. special event Big draw at the Gallery in October.

12. Amber Al-otaibi, Siobhan and Natalie Turtle and Olga Pinzon at the members’ Glitterati party, celebrating the conclusion of Richard Larter: a retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia.

13. Robert Allison, Marj Wilson and 12 Elizabeth Allison at the QANTAS Twenty-fifth anniversary lecture Inside/Outside: perspectives on collections, presented by Dr Michael Brand, Director, The J Paul Getty Museum, and former senior the curator of Asian art at National Gallery of Australia.

14. Canberra Youth Orchestra, conducted by Dominic Harvey.

artonview summer 2008–09 41

13 14 Edgar Degas France 1834–1917 The dance class c. 1873 oil on canvas 47.6 x 62.2 cm The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC William A Clark Collection, 1926

Creating energy. Inspiring greatness. 908/15 CCA

ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841. Edgar Degas France 1834–1917 The dance class c. 1873 oil on canvas 47.6 x 62.2 cm The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC William A Clark Collection, 1926

The National Gallery of Australia is an Australian Government Agency

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

Creating energy. Inspiring greatness. 908/15 CCA

ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841. Edgar Degas The racecourse. Amateur jockeys close to a carriage 1876–87 (detail) Musée d’Orsay, Paris Gift of the Comte Isaac de Camondo, 1911 © RMN / Hervé Lewandowski Ikhn]Lihglhklh_ma^ GZmbhgZe@Zee^krh_:nlmkZebZ Zg]=^`Zl3fZlm^kh_?k^g\aZkm

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New from the National Gallery of Australia COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

Edited by Ron Radford, Director, National Gallery of Australia, this engaging and beautifully illustrated introduction to the national collection of art features over 235 works by 170 artists, as well as many unknown makers. The book is divided into the key collection areas – Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island art, 19th century Australian art, 20th century Australian art, Pacific arts, Asian art and European and American art – and is a valuable art reference for specialists, general readers and students alike. 272 pages  250 x 175 mm  pb with flaps  over 235 illustrations in full colour ISBN 9780642541697  RRP ONLY $24.95  members price $22.45

to become a member contact the Members Office  free call 1800 020 068  [email protected]

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Menzies Art Brands are the leading Australian owned Art Auctioneers. ARTHUR BOYD Landscape with Baler c1948-49 Entries invited for consignment or guarantee for our upcoming Sydney SOLD DM June 2007 $240,000 including buyer’s premium auctions in December 2008 and March 2009. The 2008 Australian Art Market Movements Handbook compiled by Dr. Roger Dedman is now avaliable as a hard bound book for $66.

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GALLERY OF MODERN ART, BRISBANE

15 NOVEMBER 2008 – 22 FEBRUARY 2009

Tony Albert at the Paddington Antique Centre, Brisbane, September 2008

THE FIRST EXHIBITION IN A NEW TRIENNIAL SERIES NEW WORK BY OVER 60 EMERGING, MID-CAREER AND SENIOR ARTISTS WWW.QAG.QLD.GOV.AU/OPTIMISM

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The Brassey of Canberra National Gallery of Australia Package $199.00 twin/double. per room, per night. Includes Heritage room, full buffet breakfast for 2 adults, free parking, daily newspaper, two tickets to the Degas exhibition and tickets to Old Parliament House.

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This exhibition features key personalities and battles, and draws on the Memorial’s unique collections. See medals awarded to General Monash and Lord Birdwood, an 18-pounder fi eld gun, and an exposed portion of a British Mark IV tank.

On display until 11 February 2009 The Brassey of Canberra Open daily 10 am – 5 pm Free entry National Gallery of Australia Package $199.00 twin/double. per room, per night. Includes Heritage room, full buffet breakfast for 2 adults, free parking, daily newspaper, two tickets to the Degas exhibition and tickets to Old Parliament House.

Belmore Gardens and Macquarie Street, Barton ACT 2600 Telephone: 02 6273 3766 Facsimile: 02 6273 2791 Toll Free Telephone: Email: [email protected] http: //www.brassey.net.au Canberran Owned and Operated One of the world’s great museums artonviewwww.awm.gov.au summer 2008–09 51

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52 national gallery of australia