Catalogue of French and British Contemporary Art

F O R E W O R D THE Trustees o f the Queensland National A r t Gallery have pleasure in presenting this Exhibition o f French and British Contemporary A r t designed to give the people o f this State an opportunity of direct contact with the work o f those masters whose a r t is influencing the artistic expression o f our time. I t may be t ha t in viewing this exhibition you feel t ha t you are not in agreement with the artists. They claim t ha t they have created f o r our generation a new method o f expression in art. They have taken new paths and developed new methods and, in the opinion of many people, they have succeeded in liberating deep impulses hitherto unexpressed. I t is claimed t ha t they have given a r t new meanings and mankind a wider language for its soul. Perhaps i t is a little too early f o r us to reach a decision on these points, bu t generations to ccme will no doubt form sound judgments. The pictures here gathered are truly representative o f these masters and of men in France and Great Britain who are developing their language. Some o f the pictures are o f great beauty; others are a t least sincere attempts to paint significant things. The artist in all his work must always be exploring and striving, and in Australia we have many artists o f fine taste and sincerity whose vision will be widened by this experience. To you who view this exhibition I say t ha t these pictures will not easily yield their message. Some knowledge is needed in this partnership offered by the painter; according to the degree o f under- standing which the observer brings, so will his pleasure and profit 'be increased. Many believers in the ennobling influence o f a r t and many friends c f Australia assisted in making this collection. W e t hank them all. J. J. STABLE, Vice-Chairman of the Trustees of th? Queensland National Art Gallery. REPRODUCTIONS OF OThER WORKS BY THESE ARTISTS AND THEIR CO I E I PORAR I E S ARE ON V I T AT THE ART LIBRARY, JUVENILE EPIDYMEINT BUREAU, GEORGE S T h E E , BRISBANE. B i o g r a p h i c a l a n d c r i t i c a l b o o k s on C o n t e m p o r a r y P a i n t i n g a r e a l s o a v a i l a b l e there. se, to jches. kand and ir and e be- asises such onger not a talian iedral randt n be pture s. ye to i ' i ' v v w i l y i t crianged. Remember how the Greeks gave a human body to every aspect o f nature, and imagined nymphs to express rivers and dryads to express woods Only a f t e r Christianity dominated the civilised world was i t possible to feel the humanity o f a river, of a sky, o f a light, wi t hou t having to attribute a human body to them. Th a t is to say, man is no longer isolated from surrounding nature, rather he is immersed in nature, becoming a whole wi t h nature. Its f orm has to be no longer closed bu t open. Human form appears as a reflection o f the universe on a human body, instead o f being an object abstract from the universe. Compare a human form of Cezanne and a human f orm o f Raphael; you will understand what a participation with the universe is in a Cezanne figure, wha t an isola- tion from the universe is in 'o Raphael figure. O f course the partici pation with the universe is not an invention o f Cezanne's, you find it in Rembrandt or in Giorgione, or even in Romanesque sculpture. What i t is necessary to state is that, since the death o f Ingres, not one good painting has been painted wi t hou t realising the fusion o f humanity and nature, and t ha t such a fusion found its apex in Impressionist painting.