Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2021 Love, sex and death: The constant companions of art Seeker of Souls: Charles Douglas Richardson and Margaret Baskerville Denise Mimmocchi 28 and 29 April 2021 Lecture summary: Charles Douglas Richardson (1853-1932) and Margaret Baskerville (1861-1930) first crossed paths as art students in Melbourne in the 1870s. By the time they married in 1914 Baskerville was 53 and Richardson 61. Each had established artistic careers, predominately as sculptors and had developed a close working relationship. Baskerville was celebrated as the most prolific female sculptor of her time and Richardson as the author of one of the most varied, and unusual oeuvres of Australian artists of his generation. Baskerville and Richardson created works that do not fit ‘neatly’ into the narratives of art histories of this era. In particular, Richardson produced works of strange subjects, at times marked by the doctrines of the late-century Spiritualist movement. This lecture examines the art of Melbourne’s ‘Federation era’ through the lens of Richardson and Baskerville practices, to suggest how the ‘deviations’ of their work from more familiar narratives can broaden our appreciation of this much studied and mythologised era of our art history. Slide list 1. Charles Douglas Richardson The Passing of Arthur 1885, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council, Melbourne 2. Margaret Baskerville The Lady of the Lilies 1919, plaster, Bayside City Council 3. Richardson Wind 1889, wax, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 4. Richardson (Figure drawings) c1880, charcoal and pencil, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 5. Bertram Mackennal Charles Douglas Richardson, 1883, plaster, private collection 6. G F Watts Hope 1886, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery London 7. G F Watts Love and Death c1885-7, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery London 8. John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851- 2, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery London 9. Herbert Draper, The Lament of Icarus 1898, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery London 10 Richardson The Kiss of Death 1890, whereabouts unknown 11. Richardson Acrasia or The Enchanted Bower 1889, oil on canvas, Art Gallery of South Australia 12. Richardson, Fleur de Lys, 1890, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria 13. Arthur Streeton The Spirit of the Drought 1896, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Australia 14. Charles Conder, Mirage,c.1889, watercolour, National Gallery of Australia 15. Photograph of Bertram Mackennal’s Circe 1893 16. Charles Conder Hot Wind, oil on board, 1889, National Gallery of Australia 17. Arthur Streeton A Bush Idyll,1896, oil on wood panel, Art Gallery of New South Wales 18. Tom Roberts Adagio c1893, oil on paperboard, Art Gallery of New South Wales 19. Bernard Hall The Quest, c1905, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria Proudly sponsored by: 20. Alice Muskett, A Lost Halo, 1897, pastel, National Gallery of Australia 21. Bertram Mackennal The Earth and the Elements, 1907, marble, Tate Gallery on loan to AGNSW 22. James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, 1877, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 23. Girolamo Nerli The Sitting 1889, oil on canvas, Queensland Art Gallery 24. Richardson Untitled (The Aesthetic Landscape) 1889, oil on canvas, Private collection 25. Richardson Pathway of Ignorance, 1904, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council 26. Richardson The Undeveloped Soul, 1901, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council 27. Richardson Casting the Spell, 1896, oil on canvas, Art Gallery of Western Australia 28. Richardson The Hillside, Bacchus Marsh, 1899, oil on canvas, Geelong Art Gallery 29. Richardson The Cloud, 1900, Patinated plaster, Bayside City Council, Melbourne 30. Auguste Rodin The Gates of Hell, 1880, Musée Rodin, Paris 31. Richardson Memories, 1895, Patinated plaster, Bayside City Council 32. Richardson Gold Jubilee Memorial c1901-06, Ballarat 33. Richardson The Last of the Flock, an Incident in Australia, 1882, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Australia 34. Margaret Baskerville Winter Pastures, 1910, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council 35. Baskerville Sir Thomas Bent Memorial, 1911-13, bronze, Brighton Melbourne 36. Baskerville Lady of the Lilies, 1901, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council 37. Bertram Mackennal The Dancer, 1904, bronze, Art Gallery of New South Wales 38. Margaret Baskerville, The Sea Urchin, 1904, bronze, whereabouts unknown 39. Baskerville, The Athlete, c1904?, bronze, whereabouts unknown 40. Baskerville, Portrait bust (Miss Dick), plaster, whereabouts unknown 41. Baskerville, Love’s Enfolding Wings, plaster, whereabouts unknown 42. Baskerville, Her Pet; Reg; The Dawn of the Mind; Tired Out; The Wishing Cap all plaster and whereabouts unknown 43. Baskerville, Two Children in the Country, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council 44. Baskerville War Memorials Maryborough and Alexandria, Victoria 45. Margaret Baskerville, Edith Cavell Memorial, 1921, Bronze, St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne 46. Margaret Baskerville, Edith Cavell Memorial, 1924-26, St Kilda Road, Melbourne 47. Charles Douglas Richardson, The End of Summer, 1917, oil on canvas, Bayside City Council Reference: E A Vidler, Margaret Baskerville: Sculptor, E A Vidler, Melbourne, 1929 Denise Mimmocchi Australian Symbolism: The Art of Dreams, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2013 Juliette Peers Charles Douglas Richardson University of Melbourne, 1985 Juliette Peers ‘Religious Images of the Heidelberg School’ Art and Australia, Vol 26, no. 3, 1989, pp. 431- 437 Margaret A Rose Victorian Artists: Margaret Baskerville and Charles Douglas Richardson Margaret Rose, Melbourne,1988 For access to all past lecture notes visit: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/events/love-sex-and-death-2021/ .