Jubilee exhibition of Australian art

F 0 R E ' N 0 R D I would like to a dd in a personal way that, apa r t altogether from the continuing joy which their work has brought to us, many o f us have found our lives enriched by personal Br the Prime Minister o f Australia, the Rt. Hon. R. G. Menzies, (1.H., 'EC ., M.P. association with Australian artists. I t has been my pleasure a t various a nd prolonged periods to enjoy much contact and deep friendship with men like the Iindsays, Harold Herbert, Syd. Ure Smith, Charles Wheeler, Fill Bowles a nd a host o f others. I have found in all of them that utter honesty o f mind, that keen sense o f values, that No'IIlN(; C O U L D B E M O R E F I T T I N G in a n Australian j ub i l e e Year t h a n an enthusiasm for the task, that just pride in the task well done, that easy b u t argumentative Exhibition o f Australian Art. I n this field we have much reason for pride, friendship, which I believe constitute some o f the best things in the national character. Apart from the inclusion of a section devoted to aboriginal bark paintings, I t is a n honour to be associated with this catalogue o f what I am sure will be a most drawings and sculpture, the Exhibition has been designed to show the memorable Exhibition. gradual development o f a r t in our country a nd contains the best examples from the National Calleries o f Australia and a numbe r of important works which have been generously lent by private collectors. / Fo r the bulk o f the nineteenth century our painters were, in a sense, copyists. They / were disposed to paint the Australian landscape as if it h a d been bodily transported from the old world. Th e y tended, not unnaturally, to 'paint every leaf on the tree.' The Lodge, Later in the century the light began to come, both literally and figuratively. Canberra. I n the closing decade o f the century, Roberts, Streeton and Conder introduced into Australia impressionism, and ushered in a magnificent period o f painting, a period dis- tinguished by such masters as McCubbin and Bunny. Th e y concentrated, of course, on reproducing the impact o f light on surfaces. Th e y saw, with flashing eye, that the essence o f the Australian countryside is the light which surrounds a n d covers it. Th e y discovered for themselves and for us t ha t the colours in Australia are not those o f the old world; t ha t our native trees are not green, b u t grey- green; that our fields are not, as a rule, vividly coloured, b u t are a harmony of low tones a nd pastel shades. Above all, they discovered t ha t the golden light o f the Australian sun has a quality o f luminosity about it which gives to the Australian landscape a quality peculiarly its own. F r om the emancipation which these me n gave us from the excessive detail of pure literalism, the latei twentieth century artists moved out into a development o f open-air painting which has given immense pleasure to countless thousands of Australian men and women. I t would be foolish for me to endeavour to act the critic; bu t I must say boldly for myself that I believe t ha t in all forms o f a r t which require boldness o f stroke or wash, a quick grasp o f the essentials, and a n instinctive feeling for composition, first-class work has been done in this country during my own lifetime. We may, I think, modestly claim to have produced portraits, watercolours, etchings, dry points and woodcuts which could properly take their place in any world collection. I t was inevitable t ha t the landscape painters in oils, in their enthusiasm for the work o f the earlier impressionists, should have tended to become somewhat repetitive. This tendency has produced its own reaction in recent years, a reaction which I, myself, occasionally find to be violent and even ugly. But, after all, static a r t is de ad art. I n the long r un we shall find our ways into new modes o f expression and into new methods of recording the beauties o f the world. I t is perhaps permissible to say that in the most difficult art o f sculpture our average o f achievement has not been so high as it has been on canvas or on paper. Yet here again some great work has been done in which future generations will take a just pride. W E I y 2 I . 3 tie iU[CC QUEENSLANI) NATEUNAL ART I GALLEI<y