QAG-2015-21

LURE of THE SUN : Charles Blackman in Queensland LURE of THE SUN: Charles Blackman in Queensland page 39. page 38. The Blue Alice 1956–57 The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ pictures were painted in Melbourne between 1955 and 1957, and completed in Brisbane in 1957. The first of the ‘Alice’ series, The Blue Alice was one of five paintings sold at the original 1957 exhibition, ‘Paintings from Alice in Wonderland’. 21 It likely retains its original frame, made and designed by Martin Smith, then one of Melbourne’s leading framers. 22 Blackman describes changing his medium around 1952 to incorporate homemade paints: ‘all the Schoolgirl paintings were done with home-made paint’. 23 In an interview, he stated ‘the distinctive thing about the Alice pictures is that the paints were all virtually handmade . . . It was a mixture of all sorts of things . . . I can guarantee its lifespan’. 24 Research tells us that Blackman learned to make oil paint and to incorporate egg tempera into his homemade oil paints from Arthur Boyd; Boyd’s technique of mixing egg and oil paint was likely derived from German artist Max Doerner. 25 Interestingly, Blackman’s energetic painting of the ‘Alice’ series using homemade paints may have influenced Arthur Boyd’s initial ‘Brides’ series 1957–58, which are also catalogued as tempera and oil paint on composition board. 26 In addition to making his own oil paints, Blackman could also have bought alkyd resin and driers from local manufacturers and added pigment and solvent to make his own alkyd paints. Around 1952, he notes using strong tinting colours sourced from Imperial Chemical Industries to mix into his paints, as suggested by artist Len French. 27 Blackman preferred to use intense colours in his work — ‘very heavy and raw, either absolutely icy blue or blood red’. 28 These strong colours were found in the new synthetic ranges — ‘you can use the coal-tar colours and not have to touch anything else, which is virtually what I’ve done all my life’. 29 While it has not been possible to confirm a distinction between commercial and homemade paints in the samples analysed, or whether protein medium, such as egg tempera, has been used, other important findings have been revealed through conservation analysis. The Blue Alice is painted on composition board, and its paint surface is in very good condition. The paint layers are thick and impasto pentimenti can be seen under the top paint layers. In addition, the paint surface incorporates very matt and glossy areas, indicating that a variety of paints were used. Furthermore, X-rays reveal that The Blue Alice started out life as a painting from the ‘Schoolgirl’ series, with evidence of a different face from the one we see now — previously Alice faced the viewer. The position of the eyes and mouth haven’t changed, however, Blackman has cut a side profile, added flowers to camouflage this change and closed the eye that remains in the profile view. Alice’s painted-out eye is just apparent beneath the film of paint. X-ray images also reveal that Alice once wore a schoolgirl’s hat, which remains visible in raking light. The rabbit is completely invisible and the flower design extends across the canvas as a backdrop, indicating that the pole and then a rabbit were added later. 30 Analysis reveals that the rabbit is painted in a medium-rich alkyd paint containing only titanium white pigment with no evidence of fillers. The rabbit’s glossy yellow–white paint is in contrast to the very white matt paint used for some of the underlying flower petals. The paint of the flower petals has also been characterised as alkyd, with titanium white pigment, china clay and barium sulphate. Therefore, two very different products or paint combinations have been used for adjacent whites in this work. Analysis of the almost-black paint in the chair leg reveals that this alkyd paint is coloured with the strongly tinted Prussian blue, with no fillers. All paint samples analysed contained alkyd medium, except for the white and red impasto areas. A sample from the white impasto of Alice’s skirt was found to be oil paint with lead and zinc white pigment, characteristic of an artist’s oil paint. These areas of lead white paint can be seen clearly under X-ray as white highlights. The medium of the red impasto requires further analysis to be definitively characterised. An X-ray composite of The Blue Alice 1956–57 / Photograph: Anne Carter and Mandy Smith The Blue Alice 1956–57 / This image reveals a detail of white matt and cracked alkyd paint in the flower petals / Photograph: Anne Carter A detail of Alice’s lips from The Blue Alice 1956–57 / Photograph: Anne Carter