Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

the monumental windows of the National Library of Australia in Canberra (1965-68) and the huge Robert Blackwood Hall window at Monash University (1968-71 ). For the discussion of these and other monumental commissions of the 1960s see Grishin, Leonard French, pp.35-43. 14 Fernand Léger, Art and the people', in Fernand Léger, Functions of Painting, trans. Alexandra Anderson, The Documents of 20th-century Art series, Viking Press, New York, 1973, p.143. 15 Fernand Léger, 'Mural painting and easel painting', in Léger, pp.163-4. 'COME WITH ME ON THIS JOURNEY' John Olsen Journey into the You Beaut Country no.2 pp.280-285 1 Robert Hughes, Nation, Sydney, October 1961. 2 T. S. Eliot, 'The Dry Salvages', Four Quartets, Faber & Faber, London, 1944, p.36. 3 The other key paintings in the series are: Journey into the You Beaut Country no.l 1961, National Gallery of Victoria; Spring in the You Beaut Country 1961, National Gallery of Australia; Summer in the You Beaut Country 1963, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; and People who live in the You Beaut Country 1962, private collection. 4 See Deborah Hart, John Olsen, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1991, p.47. 5 See Werner Haftmann, The Mind and Work of Paul Klee, Faber & Faber, London, 1954, In an interview with the author, John Olsen recalled that Werner Haftmann's book on Klee 'was like his Bible'. 6 John Olsen, quoted in James Gleeson, Contemporary Australian Paintings: Pacific Loans Exhibition [exhibition catalogue], Orient Line &National Gallery Society of New South Wales, Sydney, 1956, unpag. Olsen's desire to attain a metaphysical dimension was shared by many artists at the time including Robert Klippel, John Passmore and Bill Rose in Sydney and their Melbourne counterparts including John Howley, Leonard French and Ian Sime. 7 Eugen Herrigal, Zen in the Art of Archery, trans. R. F. C. Hull, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1975. See also D. T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, Bollingen Foundation, New York & Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1973; first published in Japan in 1938 with the title Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture. 8 John Olsen, quoted in John Olsen [exhibition catalogue], Terry Clune Gallery, Sydney, 1960. 9 John Olsen, interview with Maudie Palmer, in John Olsen: In Search of the Open Country 1961-1986 [exhibition catalogue], Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne, 1986, p.7. 10 Noted by critic Daniel Thomas in an interview with the author. 11 Colin Lanceley, in an interview with the author. 12 Colin Lanceley, quoted in Colin Lanceley, with an introduction by Robert Hughes and an interview with Colin Lanceley by William Wright, Craftsman House, Seaforth (NSW), 1987, p.8. Hughes notes in his introduction that Olsen was the artist that the Annandale Imitation Realists (Lanceley, Ross Crothall and Mike Brown) most admired among their contemporaries in Sydney at that time. 13 Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, trans. Arthur Mitchell, Random House, New York, 1944. 14 John Olsen, interview with Hazel de Berg, 1964. Transcripts of interviews are held in the National Library of Australia, Canberra. 15 Like many artists in Sydney at the time, Olsen owned a Sepik carving and was inspired by the fantastic, metamorphic nature of the imagery contained within it. 16 It is worth noting in this context that Gary Catalano has written an interesting essay relating Olsen's work of the 1960s to his later development in terms of an intimate connection with the landscape. See Gary Catalano, 'Passionate nearness', in An Intimate Australia: The Landscape and Recent Australian Art, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1985, pp.85-107. 17 Betty Churcher, Understanding Art: The Use of Space, Form and Structure, Rigby, Adelaide, 1973, p.63. 18 John Olsen, Salute to Five Bells: John Olsen's Opera Flouse Journal, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1973, unpag. 19 See Catalano, p.98. 20 John Olsen, interview with the author, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1985, 21 John Olsen, quoted in Gavin Souter, 'Modern Art in Sydney (2)', Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 1962. 22 Virginia Spate, John Olsen, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1963, p.13. 23 The H. C. Richards Memorial Prize for Painting, instituted in 1951, was held in memory of Henry Caselli Richards (1884-1947). The winning artist received 250 guineas. See Catalogue for the H. C. Richards Memorial Prize for Painting and L. J. Harvey Memorial Prize for Drawing, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1961. 24 Entry form and conditions of entry to the H. C. Richards Memorial Prize 1961, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1961 (pamphlet in the Queensland Art Gallery library). 25 See Keith Bradbury & Glenn Cooke, Thorns and Petals: 100 Years of the Royal Queensland Art Society, Royal Queensland Art Society, Brisbane, 1988, p.125. 26 Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Tuesday, 21 November 1961. 27 Courier-Mail, Thursday, 23 November 1961. These comments appeared with a selection of letters entitled 'Readers are divided about the "You Beaut Country'". While the tone was generally negative, one M. Roth noted, 'I congratulate the "Richards Memorial Prize" winner... H. D. Price is trying to ridicule, with some rather meaningless words, the serious works and the reputation of modern artists'. 28 Laurie Thomas, quoted in the Courier-Mail, Wednesday, 29 November 1961. 29 Dr Gertrude Langer, Courier-Mail, Monday, 20 November 1961. 30 Ian Fairweather, quoted in Geoffrey Dutton, The Innovators: The Sydney Alternatives in the Rise of Modern Art, Literature and Ideas, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1986, p.172. 31 Ian Fairweather, quoted in Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, p.15. 32 These debates were largely stimulated by the 'Antipodean Manifesto', 1959, about which much has been written. For more information on the abstract- figurative debates in the 1950s and 1960s in relation to Olsen and his peers, see Chapters 3 and 4 in Hart. 33 John Olsen, interview with the author, 1990. 'PUT IT ANYWHERE!': The Café Balzac mural Colin Lanceley, Mike Brown and Ross Crothall pp.286-289 1 Mike Brown, quoted in Rudy Komon Gallery Presents the Subterranean Imitation Realists (formerly Annandale) [exhibition catalogue], Rudy Komon Gallery, Woollahra (NSW), May-June 1962. 2 Mike Brown, interview with the author, 6 August 1996. 3 Elwyn Lynn, Introduction, in Annandale Imitation Realists [exhibition catalogue], Museum of Modern Art and Design (Australia), Melbourne, 13 February- 1 March 1962. 4 Ross Crothall, letter to Magda Kohn, 19 February 1962, Magda Kohn Papers, Mike Brown Estate. 5 Georges Mora, in an interview with the author, 24 April 1981, recalled the scene: 'In the morning when I came in he was there and continued to work on the mural in the restaurant, you know, for three weeks. And, of course, I saw him all day and all evening ... when he left he still didn't think it was finished. But, I mean, he had to finish it sometime!'. 6 Margaret Plant, Irreverent Sculpture, Monash University Gallery, Clayton (Vic.), 1985, p.43. 7 Mike Brown's Mary-Lou 1962 was destroyed in a bonfire in Carlton, Victoria, probably in the late 1960s by the artist. For a full discussion see Richard Haese, 'She's as fine as fine can be: Mike Brown's Mary-Lou 1961-64', Art and Australia, vol.30, no.1, Spring 1992, pp.80-85. 'YOU CAN'T MAKE CANONICAL PICTURES FROM CATEGORICAL CONFUSION' Ian Burn Re-ordered painting pp.294-299 1 Mel Ramsden, 'Making art from a different place — Art & Language', in Ian Burn: Minimal-Conceptual Work 1965-1970 [exhibition catalogue], Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1992, p.9. 2 See Ian Burn [exhibition catalogue] for essays and illustrations which provide the fullest account of Ian Burn's work in this period. 3 According to Avril Burn, the artist's widow, in a personal communication, October 1997. 4 Reproduced in Ian Burn [exhibition catalogue], pp.55-7, cat. nos 7, 8 and 9 respectively. 5 Mirror-like surfaces of works such as Blue reflex 1966-67 and Grey reflex 1966-67 (both Art Gallery of Western Australia) were acknowledged in catalogue photographs for the AGWA exhibition, which clearly show viewers reflected in the works. See Ian Burn [exhibition catalogue], pp.70-71, cat. nos. 21 and 22 respectively. 6 Ramsden, p.9. 7 The key critical proponents of these rival positions were Bernard Smith (especially in his famous essay 'The Antipodean Manifesto') and Elwyn Lynn. 8 Ian Burn was influenced in this by the American artist Jasper Johns, whose exhibition in London the year before Burn's arrival had made a great impact. See Ramsden, p.9. 9 Ramsden, p.9. 10 Reproduced in Ian Burn [exhibition catalogue], p.76, cat. no. 28. 11 Reproduced in Ian Burn [exhibition catalogue], p.77, cat. no. 31. 12 Ian Burn, quoted in Looking at seeing & reading [exhibition catalogue], Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 1993, unpag. BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965