Gestural Abstraction in Australian Art 1947 – 1963: Repositioning the Work of Albert Tucker Volume Two Carol Ann Gilchrist A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art History School of Humanities Faculty of Arts University of Adelaide South Australia October 2015 ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter One Fig. 1.1 Mark Rothko, Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea, 1944 Chapter Two Fig. 2.1 Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43 Fig. 2.2 Mark Rothko, Archaic Idol, 1945 Fig. 2.3 Jean Fautrier, Swirls, 1958 Fig. 2.4 Jean Fautrier, Swirls, 1958, detail Chapter Three Fig. 3.1 Mark Tobey, Edge of August, 1953 Chapter Four Fig. 4.1 Cubism and Abstract Art, Museum of Modern Art, 1936 Fig. 4.2 Grace Crowley, Painting, 1951 Fig. 4.3 Victor Vasarely, Yllam, 1949-52 Fig. 4.4 Roberto Matta, The Spherical Roof Around our Tribe (Revolvers), 1952 Fig. 4.5 Jackson Pollock, Shimmering Substance, 1946 Fig. 4.6 Willem de Kooning, Woman 1, 1950-52 Fig. 4.7 Asger Jorn, Ballet immobile, 1957 Fig. 4.8 Bradley Walker Tomlin, Number 9: In Praise of Gertrude Stein 1950 Fig. 4.9 Peter Upward, June celebration 1960 Fig. 4.10 Carl Plate, Up, outwards, 1962 Fig. 4.11 Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting 1957 Fig. 4.12 Mark Rothko, No. 5/No. 24 , 1948 Fig. 4.13 Jean Dubuffet, Le Chasseur (‘The Hunter’), 1949 2 Chapter Five Fig. 5.1 Wols, Composition Jaune, 1947 Fig. 5.2 Francis Bacon, Study for Portrait of Van Gogh VI, 1957 Fig. 5.3 Jackson Pollock, Gothic, 1944 Chapter Six Fig. 6.1 Karel Appel, Amsterdam, 1951 Fig. 6.2 CoBrA painters Constant, Appel and Jorn, Gallery van Lier, 1951 Fig. 6.3 Cover of Reflex group exhibition catalogue Fig. 6.4 Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille and Erik Nyholm, CoBrA modification of a work by Richard Mortensen, 1949 Fig. 6.5 Karel Appel, Twee, 1953 Fig. 6.6 Karel Appel, Ontmoeting (Encounter), 1951 Fig. 6.7 Constant (Constant A. Nieuwenhuys), After Us, Liberty, 1949 Fig. 6.8 Albert Tucker, Paris Night, 1948 Fig. 6.9 Albert Tucker, Macro [sic] of Place Pigalle, 1949 Fig. 6.10 Jean Dubuffet, The Man with a Rose, 1949 Fig. 6.11 Albert Tucker, Man with Flower, 1950 Fig. 6.12 Albert Tucker, Girl, 1950 Fig. 6.13 Albert Tucker, Female, 1950 Fig. 6.14 Albert Tucker, Female, 1950 Fig. 6.15 Albert Tucker, The old Eve, 1951 Fig. 6.16 Albert Tucker, Night beasts, 1951 Fig. 6.17 Paul Klee, Demonic Puppets, 1929 Fig. 6.18 Joan Miró, Women and Bird in the Moonlight (Femmes, oiseau au clair de lune), 1949 Fig. 6.19 Constant, Mating of Moons, 1949 3 Fig. 6.20 Karel Appel, Little Moon Me, 1946 Fig. 6.21 Corneille, Entrelacement de Fleurs, 1948 Fig. 6.22 Constant, Barricade, 1949 Fig. 6.23 Constant, Personnage-de-nuit, 1949 Fig. 6.24 Karel Appel, l'homme, 1953 Fig. 6.25 Constant, Vogels, 1948 Fig. 6.26 Constant, Scorched Earth, 1951 Fig. 6.27 Albert Tucker, Head, 1948 Fig. 6.28 Albert Tucker, Sunday Reed and John Perceval, 1943 Fig. 6.29 Albert Tucker, Mask, 1943 Fig. 6.30 Graham Sutherland, The Crucifixion, 1947 Fig. 6.31 Graham Sutherland, Thorn Head, 1947 Fig. 6.32 Graham Sutherland, Thorn Tree, 1945 Fig. 6.33 Albert Tucker, Christ Head, 1954 Fig. 6.34 Albert Tucker, O Absalom, 1953-4 Fig. 6.35 Francis Bacon, A study for a figure at the base of a crucifixion, 1943-44 Fig. 6.36 Jean Dubuffet, Woman Sitting Next to the Blinds, 1943 Fig. 6.37 Georges Rouault, Face of Christ, 1938 Fig. 6.38 Georges Rouault, Pierrette, 1939 Fig. 6.39 Jean Dubuffet, Corps de Dame - Château d'Étoupe, 1950 Fig. 6.40 Albert Tucker, Thames, 1957 Fig. 6.41 Jackson Pollock, Pasiphae, 1944 Fig. 6.42 Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, Attese 58 T 2 (Spatial Concept, Expectation 58 T 2), 1958 Fig. 6.43 Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 1951, detail 4 Fig. 6.44 Henry Moore, Two Piece Reclining Figure No.2, 1960 Fig. 6.45 Albert Tucker, Wounded Man, 1958 Fig. 6.46 Albert Tucker, The Bogong High Plains, 1956-57 Fig. 6.47 Graham Sutherland, Head III, 1953 Fig. 6.48 Albert Tucker, Seated faun, 1956 Fig. 6.49 F.N. Souza, Head, 1958 Fig. 6.50 Albert Tucker, Cratered Head, 1958 Fig. 6.51 Albert Tucker, Lunar Landscape,1957 Fig. 6.52 Antoni Tàpies, Painting, 1957 Fig. 6.53 Merlyn Evans, The Chess Players, 1940 Fig. 6.54 Albert Tucker, Australian Gothic, 1958 Fig. 6.55 Albert Tucker, Antipodean head II , 1959 Fig. 6.56 Albert Tucker, Explorers: Burke and Wills, 1960 Fig. 6.57 Albert Tucker, Marilyn Monroe looking for her father, 1956 Fig. 6.58 Albert Tucker, Female totem, 1957 Fig. 6.59 Jean Dubuffet, Paesaggio con tre alberi, (landscape with three trees),1959 Fig. 6.60 Albert Tucker, Bushfire Landscape, 1960 Fig. 6.61 Albert Tucker, Wren in Scrub, 1963 Fig. 6.62 Albert Tucker, Ascension, 1962 Fig. 6.63 Albert Tucker, The Futile City, 1940 Fig. 6.64 Mark Rothko, Entrance to Subway, 1938 Fig. 6.65 Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1939 Fig. 6.66 Pablo Picasso, Massacre en Corée, 1951 Fig. 6.67 Albert Tucker, The Giftbearers, 1955 . 5 Fig. 6.68 Albert Tucker, Encounter, c. 1956-57 Chapter Seven Fig. 7.1 Paul Klee, Runner at the Goal, 1921 Fig. 7.2 Max Beckmann, Rugby Players, 1929 Fig. 7.3 Giacometti, Head of a Man on a Rod, 1947 Fig. 7.4 Jean Dubuffet, Personnage Hilaire (Portrait de Francis Ponge), 1947 Fig. 7.5 Jackson Pollock, Going West, 1934-35 Fig. 7.6 Jackson Pollock, Bird, 1941 Fig. 7.7 Albert Tucker, Judas, 1955 Fig. 7.8 Joy Hester, Fun Fair, 1946 Fig. 7.9 Albert Tucker, Antipodean Head, 1959 Chapter Eight Fig. 8.1 Albert Tucker, Sunbathers, 1944 Fig. 8.2 Jean Dubuffet, Large Black Landscape /Grand Paysage noir, 1946. Fig. 8.3 Albert Tucker, Primeval 1, 1962. 6 Contents Volume Two Appendices List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Appendix A: Illustrations ……………………………………………………………………… 8 Appendix B: List of Exhibitions ……………………………………………………………….. 38 Appendix C: Terms Used in this Thesis …………………….………………………………. 42 7 Appendix A: Illustrations Fig. 1.1 Mark Rothko, Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea, 1944, Oil on canvas, (191.4 x 215.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York, image: the author. Fig. 2.1 Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43, Oil on canvas, (127 x 127 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fig. 2.2 Mark Rothko, Archaic Idol, 1945, Ink and gouache on paper, (55.6 x 76.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection; Copyright: © 2014 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Fig. 2.3 Jean Fautrier, Swirls, 1958, Oil and tempera on paper on canvas, (81 x 130.5 cm). Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Image: the author. Fig. 2.4 Jean Fautrier, Swirls, 1958, Oil and tempera on paper on canvas, (81 x 130.5 cm). Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Detail, side view, in frame. Image: the author. Fig. 3.1 Mark Tobey, Edge of August, 1953, Casein on composition board, (121.9 x 71.1 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. 9 Fig. 4.1 Cubism and Abstract Art, Museum of Modern Art, 1936. 10 Fig. 4.2 Grace Crowley, Painting, 1951, oil on composition board, (58.4 x 70.6 cm). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Fig. 4.3 Victor Vasarely, Yllam, 1949-52, oil on canvas, (130.3 x 97.2 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Copyright:© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Fig. 4.4 Roberto Matta, The Spherical Roof Around our Tribe (Revolvers), 1952, tempera on canvas, (199.7 x 294.5 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Copyright:© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. 11 Fig. 4.5 Jackson Pollock, Shimmering Substance, 1946, oil on canvas, (76.3 x 61.6 in.). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: the author. Fig. 4.6 Willem de Kooning, Woman 1, 1950-52, oil on canvas, (192.7 x 147.3 cm.). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: the author. Fig. 4.7 Asger Jorn, Ballet immobile, 1957, oil on canvas, (162 x 130 cm.). Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Image: the author. 12 Fig. 4.8 Bradley Walker Tomlin, Number 9: In Praise of Gertrude Stein,1950, oil on canvas, (124.5 x 259.8 cm.). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: the author. Fig. 4.9 Peter Upward, June celebration 1960, synthetic polymer paint on composition board; three panels, (213.5 x 411.5 cm). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Fig. 4.10 Carl Plate, Up, outwards, 1962, Synthetic polymer paint on hardboard, (122 x 92 cm.). Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Image: the author. 13 Fig. 4.11 Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting, 1957, oil on canvas, (274.3 x 101.5 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: the author. Fig. 4.12 Mark Rothko, No. 5/No. 24 , 1948, oil on canvas, (86.1 x 127.6 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: the author. 4.13 Jean Dubuffet, Le Chasseur (‘The Hunter’), 1949, Oil on canvas with jute, (88.8 x 116.4 cm.). Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Image: the author. 14 Fig. 5.1 Wols, Composition Jaune, 1947, oil on canvas, (73 x 92 cm). Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Image: the author. Fig. 5.2 Francis Bacon, Study for Portrait of Van Gogh VI, 1957, oil and sand on canvas, (198 x 142 cm).