Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

3 Bettina MacAulay, Songs of Colour: The Art of Vida Lahey [exhibition catalogue], Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 1989, p.41. Most of the biographical information on Vida Lahey used in this essay is from this text and I would like to acknowledge the exhaustive research completed by Bettina MacAulay, a former Curator of Australian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery, on this artist. 4 Vida Lahey, quoted in MacAulay, p.88. 5 For a full account of this period and this issue see Helen Topliss, Modernism and Feminism: Australian Women Artists, 1900-1940, Craftsman House, Roseville East (NSW), 1996. 6 Some of these works include Teatime 1924 (University Art Museum, The University of Queensland), Drying up C.1930S (private collection), Basking 1925 (private collection) and Sunlit interior 1932 (private collection). 7 Patricia Grassick, 'Interiors in Australian painting in the 1880s', Art and Australia, Autumn 1984, p.347. 8 Leigh Astbury, Sunlight and Shadow: Australian Impressionist Painters 1880-1900, Bay Books, Sydney, 1989, p.17. 9 See Grassick, pp.346-51. 10 See, for instance, Nancy Underhill, 'Vida Lahey', in Heritage: The National Women's Art Book, 500 Works by 500 Australian Women Artists from Colonial Times to 1955, ed. Joan Kerr, Art and Australia, Sydney, 1995, pp.120-21. 11 See press clippings in the artist's file, Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane. 12 MacAulay, p.38. 13 'Art Society's exhibition — private view', Daily Telegraph, Brisbane, 14 October 1912. 14 Anthony Hordern & Sons, 'Universal Providers', Sydney catalogue, 1914, p.643. 15 Vida Lahey quoted by Daphne Mayo in 'Notes — Part II', p.4, artist's file, Queensland Art Gallery. 16 Vida Lahey transcript of taped interview, 26 November 1965, artist's file, Queensland Art Gallery. 17 See Frazer Ward and others, Dirt & Domesticity: Constructions of the Feminine [exhibition catalogue], Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992. 18 Shirley Lahey, letter to Candice Bruce, 21 August 1994, artist's file, Queensland Art Gallery. 19 See Jo Holder, 'Certain little resistances', Object, no.1, 1995, pp.13-19, and Ann Stephen, ' "With one pair of hands and with a single mind": The first Australian exhibition of women's work 1907', Women's Art Register, 1977, pp.73-80. 20 As a result of the campaign for women's enfranchisement, Australian women were given the Federal vote in 1902, and Victorian women gained the right to vote in State elections the year after the 'Women's Work' exhibition, in 1908. 21 Gaby Porter, 'Putting your house in order: Representations of women and domestic life', in The Museum Time-Machine: Putting Cultures on Display, ed. Robert Lumley, Routledge, New York, 1988, pp.102-27. 'THE BOY ARTIST' Lloyd Rees St Brigid's, Red Hill pp.116-119 1 In Lloyd Rees's memoirs The Small Treasures of a Lifetime: Some Early Memories of Australian Art and Artists (Ure Smith, Sydney, 1969, p.44), he refers to the parish priest of St Brigid's as 'Father King' However, the archives within the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane contain no record of a Father King commissioned in Queensland early in the twentieth century. Quite possibly, Rees confused the name with another from one of the many other churches and cathedrals that he drew, both in Australia and in Europe. Father McCarthy was the parish priest of the Red Hill district throughout the time of St Brigid's construction and for many years after. He was known to be exceedingly proud of the church. Fr McCarthy was transferred to Maryborough in 1927 and it is assumed that any existing church records of Rees's commission were taken with him. 2 Robert (Robin) Smith Dods was credited with sparking 'an architectural revolution in Brisbane' (A. E. Brooks, 1920, quoted in D. Watson &J. McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1994, p.51). This resulted from his introduction of the principles of Edwardian classicism and the British Arts and Crafts Movement, together with innovative solutions to the functional problems of building in the Queensland climate — both evident in the design of St Brigid's Church. Dods's other achievements in the public sphere include the Mater Hospital, Lady Lamington Nurses' Home and many churches in and around Brisbane. 3 Such was Rees's desire to inhabit St John's Cathedral that he would regularly feign participation in the nightly Church of England service. 4 Lloyd Rees & Elizabeth Butel, Peaks and Valleys: An Autobiography, Collins, Sydney, 1985, p.60. 5 Rees & Butel, p.61. 6 Rees & Butel, p.95. 7 Art in Australia, vol.1, no.4, 1918, p.37. 8 'St Brigid's, Red Hill. A series of pictures by Lloyd Rees', 1916, from an unidentified newspaper clipping in Lloyd Rees's scrapbooks, reprinted in Jancis Rees & Alan Rees, Lloyd Rees: A Source Book, The Beagle Press, Roseville (NSW), 1995, p.15. 9 Sydney Ure Smith, 'Lloyd Rees', Art in Australia, no.2, 1917, unpag. A SINGULAR PORTRAIT Grace Cossington Smith Portrait of a man pp.120-123 1 The descriptive title, Portrait of a man, has been attributed by the Queensland Art Gallery. 2 Statement by Grace Cossington Smith to Mervyn Horton, 1969, quoted in Daniel Thomas, Grace Cossington Smith, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1973. 3 Grace Cossington Smith to Mervyn Horton, 1969, quoted in Thomas. 4 Dattilo Rubbo, quoted in Bruce James, Grace Cossington Smith, Craftsman House, Roseville (NSW), 1990, p.29. 5 Grace Cossington Smith, letter to Mary Cunningham, 2 July 1916, MS 6749/10, National Library of Australia, Canberra. 6 Grace Cossington Smith, quoted in an interview with Elizabeth Butel, 'The enchanted world of Grace Cossington Smith', National Times, 8-14 February 1985, p.27. 7 The Sock Knitter is reproduced in colour in James, p.31. 8 Grace Cossington Smith, quoted in an interview with Virginia Duigan, 'A portrait of the artist at 90', National Times, 7-13 March 1982, p.34. IN THE CAUSE OF MODERNISM Thea Proctor and Margaret Preston pp.124-127 1 H. E. B., 'Thea Proctor and Margaret Preston at Grosvenor Galleries in Sydney', The Triad, Sydney, vol.11, no.2, 1 December 1925, p.79. 2 Refer especially to Helen Topliss, Modernism and Feminism: Australian Women Artists 1900-1940, Craftsman House, Roseville (NSW), 1996. This is, to date, the most cogent study linking modernism in the interwar period in Australia with female art practitioners. Chapters 7 and 8 are particularly relevant to this essay. 3 Roger Fry, Vision and Design, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1920, p.227. 4 Margaret Preston, 'Wood-blocking as a craft', Art in Australia, series 3, no.34, October-November 1930, p.27. 5 Roger Butler, Sydney by Design: Wood and Linoblock Prints by Sydney Women Artists between the Wars [exhibition catalogue], National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1995, p.10. 6 Roger Butler, 'The prints', in Jan Minchin & Roger Butler, Thea Proctor: The Prints, Resolution Press, Sydney, 1980, p.19. 7 Thea Proctor and Margaret Preston [exhibition catalogue], Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney, 1925. 8 Refer to Roger Butler and others, The Prints of Margaret Preston: A Catalogue Raisonné, Australian National Gallery, Canberra &Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1987. 9 Margaret Preston, Margaret Preston: Recent Paintings, 1929, eds Sydney Ure Smith & Leon Geliert, Art in Australia, Sydney, 1929. IN CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP Christian Waller and Napier Waller pp.128-131 1 Refer to Nicholas Draffin, 'Shared symbols, private and public: Christian and Napier Waller', in The Art of Christian Waller [exhibition catalogue], ed. David Thomas, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo (Vic.), 1992, pp.49-51. 2 Roger Butler, 'Morgan Le Fay, a woman of power: The graphic work of Christian Waller', in Thomas (ed.), p.42. 3 See Nicholas Draffin, Australian Woodcuts and Linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, Sun Books, South Melbourne (Vic.), 1976, p.10. 4 Refer to Nicholas Draffin (comp.), The Art of M. Napier Waller, Sun Books, South Melbourne (Vic.), 1978, for a comprehensive visual coverage of the artist's work. 5 Jill Roe, Beyond Belief: Theosophy in Australia 1879- 1939, New South Wales University Press, Kensington (NSW), 1986, p.316. See also Jenny McFarlane, 'The Theosophical Society and Christian Waller's The Great Breath', Australian Journal of Art, vol.XI, 1993, pp.108-31. 6 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, Theosophical U. R, Pasadena (Calif.), 1952. Madame Blavatsky (1831-91) was a co-founder of the Theosophical Society. PAINTING A SYMPHONY Roland Wakelin The Bridge under construction pp.132-137 1 Ethel Anderson, 'Living art. Mr Roland Wakelin's pictures', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 1928, p.5. 2 These two paintings were exhibited as The Bridge from Ball's Head and The Bridge from Ball's Head, No. 2 at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, in August 1928, cat. nos 4 and 5 respectively. The two paintings vary slightly — the Queensland Art Gallery's version has more human figures, a stronger palette and is signed and dated (probably later). It remained in the artist's estate until 1976. 3 Jessie C. A. Traill, 'The recent progress of the Harbour Bridge', The Recorder, Arts and Crafts Society of Victoria, Melbourne, June 1929. 4 For more documentation on the construction and opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge see Sydney Ure Smith & Leon Geliert, Sydney Bridge Celebrations 1932, Art in Australia Ltd, Sydney, 1932, and Ursula Prunster, The Sydney Harbour Bridge 1932-1982: A Golden Anniversary Celebration, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1982. 5 For further biographical information on Wakelin see: Leslie Walton, The Art of Roland Wakelin, Craftsman House, Seaforth (NSW), 1987; Anne Watson, The art of Roland Wakelin, Master of Arts thesis, University of Sydney, 1975; and Daniel Thomas, Roland Wakelin Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1967. 6 See Jean Campbell, Early Sydney Moderns: John Young and the Macquarie Galleries 1916-1946, Craftsman House, Roseville (NSW), 1988, p.29. 7 Despite its title, the illustrations in Colour were mostly in black and white but were nevertheless a revelation to Wakelin, de Maistre and their circle. Wakelin also later recalled seeing the cubist masterpiece, Marcel Duchamp's Nude descending a staircase no.2 1912, for the first time when it was reproduced in 1913 in one of the Sydney Sunday ENDNOTES 307