Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 3 : Presscuttings, Sept 1959 - Sept 1967

TRUTH, Nov. #'eli"ity males ,. YOU BEAUT EXHIBITION "IT'S got I witchtty f ART 9rub in it!" announced 0 the patron of the 1rta after two minutes clo11 scrutiny of "Journey into the You B11ut Country." "BUT WHAT THE HELL IS 11' AU, ABOUT," m:111.-INl>ED THE LITTLE 01,D LADl'. .This was the winner. Russell Dr.Y£dale had Judged It the winner of the H. c. Richards Memorial Prize. Everyone at the opening of the exhibition or entries wanted to see It. ' l ~- '/ / f It wa• a Journey Into fantasia, Into a eblld's ldnrdom or allekr ftnrerprlnts and lolllpop11 and catherlne w b e et 11 and . . . or a lonr travel Into ..• mind. IL's probably up- a room with an orches- "There's a primitive aide down , . ," tra playtn11 full blast." down the other end you aald th~ musical mem- mu•t have a look at," "In the rhlrti•.•·" ,,,I,/ ber of our group. said my artist friend . Rru.,,11 Dr,-.,d11/e, "I SI · tied bn,rf,il fnr "'"''"'" arr. Color Impacts first, " 1e • It up with 1/r,I rl•• let1r., 011 ,1 ,he then swirling pattern, pink ribbon, and priced then light and contrast. It at 1000 guineas. They "''"'' 11ml 1/1• blood hnv• do that, you know, the "Humph I" the portley pntleman propped be– aide It. "What' • that?" My artist friend atarted to tell. him. rlri,rl. Sur•lr "'" dm1'1 0- p1·lmlt-il"e artists. It's all / 11 rv• to .. •""'' fisl,rins AN EVENT part of the naivete or a a1nln , , • primitive painting. It's Faces moved, and .. 11111111 ... 111111111111110111111111 only R Uttle thing - shifted, and stopped In called 'Dingo.' Do have front of paintings. "Yo" h11ve lt•re one of a look at It. It"• rather th• bes/ exhibition., of quaint." "Who painted It?" some were In a 1tate r11nl•mparar,· arr """ Th of ahock, and thei·e wu h•ld in A.m1rali11," ,nl,l ere was the prlml- bewlldermerit on some. Ru•aell Dry,dnl•. • Ami live. Flat, without per– And 10me showed ex- rlti• compe1l1inn ~n,,td bo- spectll'e. "John Olsen," said my artist friend. cltement. come on• of th• mnjor arr And aure enough, the "I.t:,Jtke wa lklng Into 1v1n11 111 Ille rounrr,- , • :• frame was tied up with --"-----------••• Phtk ribbon, and there wa• legend printed care- "COURIER MAIL" fully on the bottom. 2O t; ·. J61 Brisbane, Q. "A thousand gulueas !or thstl" the patron of the arts was a\\'ed and dllbellevlng. Best-,eve·r: display of national art "What a silly frame to put on It. She's mod– est, Isn't she?" Chatty conversntlon: "I Just can·t see anything In that. What do you make of It? Oh, my dear! LOOK at that. It's like something out of St. Trlnlan'•·" •, Dlt, J11tr1tUDI UNGllt THERE 111 no doubt, the per110nalltles of Drysdale, the judge and Mr. Thomas, the director have attracted, the best entries ever in the H. C. Richards and L. J. Harvey competitions. Eighty-two painting • · The line ls tou11h, the We all wasn't a Much charm Coburn's "Caprlcornl&" la fine. or hla preclae and sharp lineal' abstraction •, W. Rose's "Pestilence or the West" Is one of hla most lively, h b I ,...., f waohY colours chiefly neu , ave een ae ec,eu or tral-but atven vAlue b "Desert Phantasy" by hanging, the warm yellow and th FrRnces Smith has much About one third of these white spaces or the IU'oun chum. Robert Hughes' • ......,d....ilan..wlll come a two paintings, And espeel- add up to make this the awareness that, In R curl- ally "Bull Jn Flowers," most Important show of ous and wondrous wav• Molvlg's "Landscape and Au • !fallan contemporary Australia Is all there arid Waterhole," And Lnycock's gatntlnK ever held In our that this ls a picture' that "Transition to Spring" ~mi?alleiJ· b at entrle could hovs been painted vibrate AS paintings and as come f~om e th~ year•! only here. express,tve Images. Judy Rubin teln Prl e ..:.hlbl And that Drv•dale wRB Cassab s abst,ract la eye- • z ...,. " right. And that It fulfllls fllllng. tloWhn. 1 th the condition, or the con- h Apart from Molvlr, It Is I e e 1reater num- test. ard for m08t or our local bers or lmpreMlve works And thRt It Is 50 stron~ painters to assert them– are In every conceivable that It must triumph ove selves against the best abstract style, the fine Hesaln1's "Red Jncanta- from Interstate, but alnt– conirtbutlons by figurative tlon" (han1tng next to ltl Inga by NeVllle MatPhews, painter •, • uch aa Lloyd which ls • uch a beauttfui Roy Churcher, Andrew Rees, 8&11 Herman 1 Bob PRlntlng, and even over Sibley, John Aland (de• Dlcllel"IOII, Sam Ful brock, Hesstn11's "Yellow Spring .. pendln1 on Molvlg>, Mar– deserve full attention. which feasts the e.ve . 81 ,'d garet Olley, Henry Bell, Dr)'ldale'a task In Judg- where delicate •ubtletles and L. Ounthorpe deaerve lnr 1uch a strong and are counterbalanced by credit. varied competition has vigorous dlrectnu,. lnterestln• been a difficult one. In up I" • awardln11 the prize to 8rl0ft8 The drawings In the John Olsen. he •hawed. There are many beaut!- Harvey Prl.ze are lesa however. the sen,tttvlty ful paintings here: stlmulatfn1 than the one would expect of him. Rtipotec' "Experience In pnlntlngs. GI I Bush," a big-hearted truly There are quit • a few Ven ¥8 U8 personal statement-' Eric worth looking at, but the "The Journey tntn the Smlth·s tender "Evening most Interesting ones are Vnu Beaut Countrv" I• an Glade" laeen recently here by Gleghorn (who won the exhllAratlnR experience. In the Arts ~ouncll Show>, prl1.e 1 • Reetor Olllland, Let u, ,tllrt At 1.he top Len French,.• "Autumn In SAlkauskM <though Soul• of the pAlnttng And r.rff'P the Garden (or his recent n~r-lnsplrtd> , Dickerson, (lo·••n. The most elusll'e show In Sydney, which Guy Orey Bmlth, Llklc, thing• Are hAppcnln~ All trnnsformed the Blaxland LRycock. the WR.Y And It I• hard to Gallery Into a cathedral>. •top tinYWhere until we F rench ls quite on his reach the end of the Jour- own with his medieval ney somewhere In the lert symbollam And formalism. corner. his ~orgcous enamels Rnd But you ma, turn It lenr gold. Hl• compact- round ·anVWRY ·you like ncss lllRkcs I.he DRryl Hlll It stlll will look rtne. step In the s•me room look back and look at the rich- Rlry-lalry, but the ap– ness or It all. proaches d!) not compare. And It does not depend Olefihorn s "O h o s t on seductive means. such Town depend• on an as brllllant colour, or ele- almost •urrocattng richness Rncles of line, or pAlnt of means for Its effect, f!!t the energy I• maln- 1,11lned throuahout. It It Russell Drysdale - one of Australia's most famous artists– ha~ a careful look at Brisbane artist Roy Churcher's painting, Winter, Darling Downs, at the exhibition of entries in the H . C. Richards Memorial Prize at the Queensland Art Gallery.. waa one or the arty long hah·s who'd wan, dered by. Around the room for a long look at Jon Molvl11'a yellow-fired "Landscape and Waterhole"; at Roy Churcher'a darkly brood– Ing "Winter, Darling Downs"; at Andrew Sib– ley's heat-burnt. wind– carved "Outback Family", and back ·to the Olsen to follow the elusive trail to the world of the ··You Beaut Country." A -FLEW UP ~ lttHHtttllttlllltMtltNttttttllll 0 1 hope the tr11.d~e~ t,rke 1hl• opporr11ni1,- to ncq11iro Jnme o/ the.•e JH•intins.•," ,aid Rru!Ce/1 Dry:ttl11le. "And I rnn rel/ ynu, If rh,,– ,lan't make ~ome ~florl ,;, 11roc11re .•onut of lhem. it will b, n -lon11 tim• b•/or, I'll b• b11.-I, horo . , ," There was a pre– sentation of the cheque for 250 guineas to John Olsen, who had flown up from Sydney for the oc– casion. "When I heard I'd won It, I went to our pub.'' said John Olsen. "And everyone came· up and started eongratulatlng rne on wlnnlna the Queensland lottery . • • "I kept tryln1 to tell them L was an arllllt. But· they wouldn't be• lleve me. "But anyway, I'm YerJ glad to have won. And I'll put t h e monet to very good u1111 • • • spend It on all aorta of good thing• like beer . , • and . t • er . .."