Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Above Danila Vassilieff Yankee Caesar 1951 Lilydale marble, pink, honey, grey 45x21.8x33.2 cm Private collection Facing page Danila Vassilieff Harry and Ike c.1952 Oil on composition board 35.8 X 50.6cm Purchased 1984 Queensland Art Gallery the often humorous coincidence of 'flaw' and feature. Dancing girl is one of a sequence of figures, often dancers or musicians, which move into space in an organic dialogue with the material, with an uninterrupted flow of bumps and hollows that gives a sense of wholeness to the surface. This dialogue with the material distinguishes the musicians from their frontalised ancestors in folk art, such as the painted carving Musicians. The kinship is nevertheless apparent in the lively silhouette, crooked arms, dancing legs and simple block base. The pure form and movement of Dancing girl contrasts with more vigorous, assertive and satirical figures and specific characters, such as Yankee Caesar 1951 (private collection). Compared to his semi-abstract movement of planes in space in the 'musical' figures, Vassilieff's alternative direction indicates that Moore's principles of composition have now been assimilated into the lively characters and types of folk art. These singular figures are the departure point for the artist's doubling back into painting for a more colourful rendering of his theme of anti- imperialism. Harry and Ike was probably painted at Stonygrad towards the end of the Korean War (1950-53) at a time when sculpture was Vassilieff's principal means of expression. It relates to the satirical carving Yankee Caesar in which the pink limestone is so polished as to make the bullying figure appear slippery as well. Partly as a relief from the noise and physical effort of carving, Vassilieff also painted watercolours in a similar style, for example the 'Peter and the Wolf' series. Harry and Ike was probably shown first as 'Presidential elections' in April 1954 at Tye's Gallery, Melbourne, with the recently revived Contemporary Art Society, of which Vassilieff had been elected Artist Vice-President. Vassilieff sometimes changed the titles of his works and invited viewers to do the same, as evident in a footnote to his 1951 catalogue of his solo exhibition, also at Tye's Gallery. In any event, the two figures in the painting clearly refer to the United States Presidents, outgoing Democrat, HarryTruman, who was responsible for the Truman Doctrine — the principle that the United States of America should give support to those nations threatened by Communist aggression or attempted domination — and the incoming Republican, General Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower. Harry Truman, on the left, is depicted ironically in a white yoke and yellow shirt, heart on his sleeve and hand on his chest, gazing with bloodshot protruding eyes at 'Ike', the hero of the day. On the right, Eisenhower, or 'Ike', leers cross-eyed at the viewer, wearing his military regalia of red cloak and blue jacket laden with decorative crosses and campaign medals. Heavy white impasto is smeared down both faces, while a machine gun and line of troops are visible, in exaggerated perspective, on the horizon under a heavy sky. The uneven line of this horizon echoes the weakness of the figures and brings to mind Vassilieff's preference for asymmetrical, rhythmic compositions. At the same time, the direct brushing of the pigment gives the work an untutored look, as if the emotion of painting the deliberately crude and simplified forms was primary. Adding to the immediacy of effect are the lips — roughly gashed and smudged for Harry, and carefully outlined and curled in a rather feminine manner for Ike. The colours recall the brilliant hues of Russian folk art, with a special eye to their real heraldic associations — the red, white and blue of the American flag. Whereas this painting carries memories of Vassilieff's own experience of the military, it resembles folk art in its sardonic attitude towards militarism and the pomposity of leaders in general. Such an attitude was expressed in carvings like One-eyed General 1947 (Albury Art Gallery) and Election speaker 1947 (National Gallery of Victoria). The transition from Dancing girl to Harry and Ike allows the viewer to see two sides of Vassilieff's art — the universal earth- related figure-in-movement on the one hand and, on the other, an emotional response to the contemporary scene, here topical American politics. While these two aspects certainly reflect their media of stone and pigment, they also represent the twin poles of Vassilieff's iconic yet individualistic art. Felicity St John Moore is an art historian and curator in Melbourne. 232 B R O U G H T T O LIG H T: Australian Art 1850-1965