Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Above Bertram Mackennal Daphne 1897 Bronze on bronze base 50x15x15cm Purchased 1974 Queensland Art Gallery in Melbourne over his Triumph o f Truth maquette. As described in one review: The figure is upright, with pinions raised and meeting above the head, while the arms are squarely posed so as to allow the hands to hold a mirror on her breast. The expression of the face is frank, fearless and earnest, and the pose carries out the same idea, heightened perhaps by an indefinable suggestion of sternness, even defiance 14 Clearly this work had a great deal of personal significance for Mackennal.15 The mirror she holds is an ancient symbol of truth — reflecting reality; the small winged figure at her feet, crouching in shame, is presumably 'falsehood'; whilst the faces around the base may be symbolic masks, representing disguise and deception. This treatment of the base as an extension of the image and its meaning is influenced by Renaissance masters such as Donatello. Indeed the allegorical personification of 'truth' is seen frequently in Renaissance art, often linked with 'time' and the theme of 'Truth revealed by Time'. Stylistically, however, she is absolutely up-to-date. In the years 1892-94, following his return to Europe, Mackennal had come to know at first hand the work of Alfred Gilbert's followers, the English symbolists of the New Sculpture movement, and fin de siècle French art nouveau style. Truth would have seemed very modem indeed in Australia. Both Mackennal and Loureiro were highly respected in their later careers. Both became establishment figures in their native lands. Mackennal was the first 'colonial' to be elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, in 1909, a full Royal Academician in 1922 and the first Australian artist to be knighted, in 1921. Numerous commissions from royalty were followed by commissions for statues and memorials in many Australian cities — although he never returned to Australia to live. Loureiro turned increasingly to impressionist landscape painting in the 1890s, teaching his pupils 'to paint the shadows violet' and making them feel very modern in doing so.16One of his major figure paintings, The vision o f St Stanislaus, won him a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 and was purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria, but he returned to Portugal not long afterwards. Although largely forgotten in Australia for many years, he was knighted in the Order of Santiago for his services to Portuguese art in 1932. Like most graduates of European academies in the later nineteenth century, Mackennal and Loureiro were eclectic and proud of it. They saw themselves and their work as 'Australian' from time to time, but their ambitions, their artistic language and identities were essentially international. Jane Clark is a Director of Paintings, Sotheby's Australia. Facing page Bertram Mackennal Australia/England 1863-1931 Truth 1894 Bronze 62 X 19.5 X 17.5cm Purchased 1989 from the estate of Lady Trout with a special allocation from the Queensland Government Queensland Art Gallery 62 BROUGHT TO LIGHT. Australian Art 1850-1965