Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Facing page Christian Waller Australia 1894-1954 The lunar pitris (from 'The great breath' series) 1932 Linocut on paper 31.2x13.3cm Purchased 1994. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Christian Waller The shepherd of dreams (from 'The great breath' series) 1932 Linocut on paper 31.8x13.5cm Purchased 1994. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Above Christian Waller printing The great breath' series in her home studio. The Herald, Melbourne, 22 April 1932. Photograph courtesy La Trobe Research Section, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne by his predecessors, he used the softer, more pliable medium of linoleum which by 1930 would come into its own through the advocacy of Claude Flight in England. There is reason to believe that Napier adopted linocut printing while convalescing in England during the First World War (his right arm was amputated and he was perhaps proving to himself that he could master the technique, despite this handicap). The colour linocuts emerged around 1925 and display a new experimentation away from the stark, uncompromising simplification of his black and white work. A key block printed dark with up to eleven colours superimposed to build up a tonally subdued composition was further enriched by the textured 'wet' quality of the ink. The man in black, a portrait of the artist himself, is an idealised interpretation, showing both arms. The gentleman who stands centre-stage is a confident, cultivated 30-year-old. Behind him is part of Waller's mural project Peace after Victory for the Melbourne Public Library, which extols peace and prosperity in an idyllic Golden Age. Installed in 1928, this work marked a period of extraordinary activity in Napier's mural practice. The linocut also provides an insight into the Wallers' home in Ivanhoe, Melbourne, built and decorated to their specifications. The house displayed the influence of the later English Arts and Crafts architectural tradition. The interior in which Napier situates himself has flat, clean-cut modernist lines, which shows an appreciation of Japanese aesthetics. The bucolic imagery of the mural finds its place as a decorative panel above the cornice. There is a further, fundamental reference to Japan in The man in black — the composition, with its shallow space and black-outlined forms, is reminiscent of the Ukiyo-e woodblock print tradition. Produced in an edition of fifty, this relief print is widely reproduced and stands as one of Napier Waller's major achievements in graphic art.4 Christian Yandell's name is given as illustrator to some twelve books published from 1915 to 1926, where her designs were PRINTING s OOKS BY HAND printed letterpress from lineblocks. Typical was the 1921 Melbourne publication The Renegades: A Tale in Verse by E. J. Rupert Atkinson with six illustrations by the artist. The Renegades plates attracted critical attention for their original conception and flexible, sure draughtsmanship. These designs, with their bold use of black and white and sinuous lines, were in a languorous art nouveau style reminiscent of English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. During the 1920s, Napier introduced Christian to linocut printing and, like her husband, she experimented with colour, as with the print Morgan Le Fay 1927 where she equates herself with the fairy enchantress of Arthurian legend. It was, however, during the period 1931-32 that Christian Waller produced her most significant graphic works. She had become increasingly involved in the theosophy movement and her imagery explicitly rejected the visible material world, relocating truth in subjective experience: '... for theosophists, the arts were primarily a vehicle for spiritual illumination. The function of art was not to represent the world as it is, but to penetrate beyond appearances to show spiritual realities'.5 Theosophy had a particularly strong following in Melbourne and was linked with the development of Modernism and aspects of abstraction. Generally considered her finest printed book, The Great Breath, with its series of seven linocut designs, was published by the Golden Arrow Press, Melbourne, in 1932. The theme is spiritual rebirth and closely follows the theories of Madame Blavatsky in her book The Secret Doctrine 6 Seeking to reveal the underlying links between all religions throughout history, Christian Waller drew upon a wide range of sources for her imagery. 'The great breath' series was inspired by Christianity, astrology, numerology and the occult Golden Dawn movement, by ancient Egyptian art, classical Greek art and literature and overwhelmingly has the style of Art Deco. The linocuts were printed by the artist in solid black on white translucent paper and then tipped onto cream pages. Christian was also responsible for the design of the book's title page, colophon and contents page and designed the emerald green folder which bore the theosophical symbol (a dot within a circle) in gold. Although a hundred and fifty copies of the book were proposed, thirty were actually put together. The two plates at the Queensland Art Gallery are the second (The lunar pitris ) and fifth (The shepherd o f dreams) in sequence from the series. The 'Fathers' featured in The lunar pitris, with their angular, processional presence, each carry the ankh, the ancient Egyptian symbol of life. The six-pointed star of the theosophists sends rays to The shepherd o f dreams, which the artist equated with the Christ principle. The book was a personal triumph for Christian Waller, with critics praising her clarity of vision and execution rather than the esoteric content of the linocuts. Although it was a visual manifestation of theosophical principles, in time she would tend towards a simpler redemptive view of religion, focusing upon a single, glorious figure. Thus 'the shepherd of dreams' became the Christ of the stained glass windows and mosaic designs in the 1930s and 1940s. Working in self-imposed exile, Christian Waller was inexorably guided in the latter years by a dedication to God and to her work. Anne Kirker is Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Queensland Art Gallery. 130 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965