QAG-2015-21

LURE of THE SUN : Charles Blackman in Queensland LURE of THE SUN: Charles Blackman in Queensland page 27. page 26. ENDNOTES 1 Thomas Shapcott, Focus on Charles Blackman , University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 1967, p.16. 2 Miya Studio was formed as a breakaway group from the Royal Queensland Art Society’s Younger Artists’ Group. They were closely aligned with the Barjai literary and arts quarterly magazine, sharing many key members. 3 Barbara Blackman, Glass After Glass: Autobiographical Reflections , Viking, Ringwood, Vic., 1997, p.122. 4 Queensland’s artistic life was permanently changed in October 1936 when the Carnegie Art Reference Library was opened with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. At the time, Blackman visited Barrie Reid who was custodian of the Library. 5 Laurie Thomas, The Most Noble Art of Them All: The Selected Writings of Laurie Thomas , University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 1976, p.171. 6 Felicity St John Moore, Charles Blackman: Schoolgirls and Angels: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Charles Blackman [exhibition catalogue], National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, p.5; Nolan’s Queensland outback works from 1948 were viewed by Blackman at the David Jones Art Gallery in Sydney in 1949. 7 Examples of Nolan’s St Kilda works were held by the Reeds at their home in Heide. 8 Margaret Simons, ‘Curiouser and curiouser: Blackman in Wonderland’, Age Melbourne, 28 May 1983. 9 William Hatherell, The Third Metropolis: Imagining Brisbane through Art and Literature 1940–1970 , University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 2007, p.128. 10 Barbara Blackman, p.230. 11 Moore, p.17. 12 ‘The first time I heard “Alice in Wonderland” was on a record. The reason I heard it on record is that Barbara was a non-sighted person and we got the disc from the talking book library for the blind. I think that was important, because it meant that I never saw any illustrations. I came to the book completely fresh’; quoted in Simons, Age . 13 Moore, p.19. 14 Moore, p.19. 15 Judith Wright, in Charles Blackman: Alice in Wonderland: David Jones’ Art Gallery October 14–26, 1968 [exhibition catalogue], David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney, 1968, unpaginated. 16 Moore, p.20. 17 The Helena Rubinstein Travelling Art Scholarship was established in 1957 by the cosmetics founder. Blackman received £1000 to travel to Europe. 18 In 1978, Barbara ‘resigned’ in writing from their marriage, giving two weeks’ notice to take effect on their 27th wedding anniversary; see Moore, p.26. 19 Barbara Blackman, p.230. 20 Barbara Blackman, p.110. 21 Shapcott, p.15. 22 Interview with Meredith McKinney [transcript], National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, http://www.portrait.gov.au/stories/the-family, viewed 25 May 2015. 23 Hatherell, p.135. 24 Betty Churcher, Molvig: The Lost Antipodean , Penguin Books, Ringwood, Vic., 1984, p.92. 25 Churcher, p.92. 26 Thomas, p.171. 27 Moore, p.6. 28 Churcher, p.69. Molvig painted a second portrait of Blackman, which won the Archibald Prize in 1966. Worked from memory and drawings, it captures a fleeting moment as they both head down a Brisbane tree-lined street towards the pub. Molvig glanced back at his friend and captured him with hunched shoulders against the yellow light and the orange–pink foliage of a flowering tree; see Churcher, p.117. 29 Hatherell, p.118. 30 Thomas, p.3. 31 James Birrell, A Life in Architecture: Beyond the Ugliness , University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 2013, p.30. 32 Birrell, p.30. 33 Birrell, p.30. 34 Charles Blackman, Rainforest [text by Al Alvarez], Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1988, p.4. 35 Pamela Bell served for seven years on the first Council of the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, and for four years on the Board of the Queensland Art Gallery. She published articles in Hemisphere: Asian‑Australian Viewpoints and Ideas and Art in Australia , and was art critic for the Australian newspaper. 36 George Henry Johnston was a journalist and author, best known for his autobiographical novel My Brother Jack 1964. Hailed as a landmark Australian novel, it has been a favourite with generations of Australian readers. 37 Pamela Bell, letter to Deputy Director, Queensland Art Gallery, 28 January 1987, QAGOMA Research Library. 38 Charles Blackman, p.6. 39 Michael Fox, in Michael Fox and Walter Granek, Charles Blackman: Works on Paper 1950–1990 , Joel Fine Art, Brisbane, 2007, unpaginated. 40 ‘Canecutters Dream’ is a series of paintings relating the dream of an Italian migrant canecutter in Queensland, who falls asleep in the canefields and dreams that an angel accompanies him back to Italy. The paintings depict the works of the great Renaissance painters, such as Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Titian and Tintoretto. 41 Moore, p.18. 42 The Christensen Fund is an international cultural organisation which purchases and exhibits collections of art. It was established in 1957 by Allen D Christensen, the former president of Utah Mining and Construction Company, and his wife Carmen M Christensen. 43 Korsakoff’s syndrome is a form of dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease and alcoholism. Symptoms include amnesia, attention deficit disorder and failing vision. In 1994, Blackman suffered a stroke and continues to require permanent care. 44 Interview with Charles Blackman, London, 22 September 1965, Oral History Collection, National Library of Australia, Canberra. Blackman had a long-established problem with alcohol, and his drinking during the Buderim years worsened, resulting in the sale of the property and his separation from Genevieve in 1985. The following year, Blackman travelled with Alvarez, via Cairns, to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland. He then embarked on the ‘Rainforest’ series, commissioned by the Christensen Fund, 42 a major series of drawings and paintings and a book published in 1988. The Buderim sketchbook, titled ‘Civilization versus Eden’ and held in the collection of the QAGOMA Research Library, offers an example of Blackman’s working process in the creation of a series inspired by poetic and musical references. In particular, he makes a direct connection to the rainforest as a cathedral and Claude Debussy’s La cathédrale engloutie ( The Sunken Cathedral ) 1910, with a beautiful, lyrical ink drawing of a cathedral washed in a sea of blues. The last significant Queensland-inspired works are those of the ‘Rainforest’ series. In 1989, Blackman married his third wife, Victoria Bower, and in 1990 their son Axiom was born. Blackman bought a house at Clifton Beach near Cairns, however, by 1993, Bower had ended the marriage. Although Blackman continued creative collaborations with other artists, musicians and dancers on privately commissioned projects — always open to new means of expression — his health deteriorated as a result of Korsakoff’s syndrome. 43 One of the most important artists of his generation, Charles Blackman gained immeasurably from the time he spent in Queensland, from his first trip to Brisbane in 1948 to his time in Buderim in the 1980s. His visits consolidated his artistic vision through the influence of fellow artists and creative associations with friends. Blackman himself elaborated on the lure of the sun in an interview conducted in London in 1965: I think that Queensland probably had the best influence on me as a person, its sunshine and its lightness and its colour and its friendly spirit probably helped me to flower as a personality in some way. 44 PREVIOUS PAGES: ‘The engulfed cathedral’ ( from Buderim Mt Sketchbook: Civilization versus Eden ) (detail) 1984 / Pen, ink and watercolour / 30 x 42cm / Gift of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2013. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library Self-portrait 1952 Oil on composition board / 91.5 x 60.8cm / Gift of Barbara Blackman 1985 Portrait of Barbara 1951 Oil on composition board / 90 x 61cm / Gift of Barbara Blackman 1985 Collection: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra