Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Rex Battarbee Australia 1893-1973 Central Australian landscape 1936 Watercolour on wove paper 33.8x55cm Purchased 1988 Queensland Art Gallery influence and culturally disparate rather than interrelated in its forms. The writings of T. G. H. Strehlow are similarly ambivalent, in places accounting for the dynamics of Aranda cultural traditions in terms of the continuing presence of ceremonial designs and motifs in contemporary watercolours. On other occasions he shared the more rigid anthropological concern for an inevitable loss of Indigenous traditions in the wake of the newwatercolour movement.17The willingness of artists such as Namatjira to use freely available techniques and media was only later understood in terms of the development of hybridised forms of cultural expression which linked past to the works produced by Namatjira in roughly the same period, such as Red Bluff c.1938 (QAG). The awkwardness of the signature in the latter painting and the relatively matter-of-fact response to the subject suggest a late 1930s date. Despite the faded appearance of Red Bluff, a number of idiosyncrasies come to the fore. The choppy vertical strokes articulated in the foreground areas are prominent — though more noticeable in Central Australian Gorge c.1940 (QAG) and other related works where they are emphasised across the surface to delineate reflections in the pool of water. In paintings such as Western MacDonnells and Mt Hermannsburg c.1940 (QAG), these strokes are more strikingly articulated as present. This view acknowledges the changing circumstances of Aranda social life in the 1930s and 1940s, and is cmcial to an understanding of the art of Namatjira and the Hermannsburg School. In this respect, imitation takes on the more positive connotation of wresting back control over how the land could be represented, while repetition can be read as a sign of the continuance and development of Aranda design traditions within a new context.18 Rex Battarbee's Central Australian landscape 1936 (QAG) was produced in the same year as his inaugural two-month painting excursion with Albert Namatjira. It offers a useful point of comparison with dashes and stripes, freely dispersed across the range and plains — achieving an effect' closer to the expressive style of the Pareroultja brothers, which was praised by sections of the art community in the 1950s for its perceived relationship with ceremonial markings. Red Bluff is, however, primarily notable for the sense of intimacy created between the artist and the subject — highlighting Namatjira's animation of rock-face and foliage. The particularity of viewpoint is also apparent.19Whereas Battarbee selects the grand panorama in works such as Central Australian landscape, effectively maintaining a palpable distance between viewer and subject, Namatjira's painting seems to take the viewer inside the picture. A sense of enclosure is achieved, though not through conventional western formulas for creating recession — a difference that recalls the Courier-Mail criticism that Namatjira placed nothing 'to lead the eye "into" his subject'. A contemporary description by T. G. H. Strehlow gives a clear indication of Battarbee's purpose: 'In his paintings, Battarbee seeks to set forth the fine, grand, and beautiful scenes of this landscape with all the technical skill at his disposal, and to interpret their appeal to other people'.20 Battarbee was equally clear about the reasons why, as a painter, he was attracted to Central Australia. Variety, contrast, reflections, subtlety, colour, atmospheric effects and light are identified as the qualities that endeared themselves to the artist. Battarbee was particularly drawn to scenes including water — its reflective qualities set against imposing backdrops, and the preponderance of life and colour springing forth after the rains. With Namatjira as his guide, Battarbee explored the gorges and river courses surrounding Hermannsburg, seeking out sites of interest. On one such trip with Namatjira, Battarbee proclaimed: To our amazement we found a magnificent gorge of many colours, and in the bed of the creek were beautiful pools of water, gem-like in quality, reflecting the high red walls; and ghost gums clinging to the rock faces. The pools were set among rocks of pastel pinks, green, purples and yellows, truly a colourist's paradise, of which one could not grow weary .21 The abundance of gorges and dry river beds cutting through rock escarpments provided pleasant places to camp and work and, particularly after rain, brought the country 'to life', offering the sorts of strong contrasts and rich colours outlined by Battarbee. He would later boldly proclaim that his own paintings had revealed to his pupil the 'beauty and colour' of the landscape 'for the first time'.22 Nevertheless, the influence on Namatjira of Battarbee's way of looking cannot be discounted. Like Battarbee, Namatjira roamed the countryside seeking out subjects that would lend themselves to paint.23 172 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965