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

•> ' J A PRIii COMPITITOR HAI A IA Y••• Is "modern art" only a fashion? THE only way to understand completely "Journoy Into the 'You leout' Country No. 2," the winnln1 picture In the H. C. Richards Memorial competition, is to hove the artist (Jahn Olsen, of Sydney) explain to the •public his ln • plrotion • and alms. However, he would be , ..••••••••••••' •••••••••••••f quite entitled to sny, "I : • By BETTY QUELHVRST: use paint ns a means of : • . , expression and not words." , /11/u Qu.thur,1, n11 cxlilbitor /11 1hn Hlrhnrd, com• : Therefore ,peopJe viewii,g ' ''"''"""·' I• ~rt ,,.,,,,c.,. al S.'mrnrvUle Hou,e, an , the picture .should try to : ,l,/i,11 ll,/ucatw11 l1•,:1u,.,, a,ul w,1r111er u/ ,Ix arl pr'- ' Karch for 1111 understanding , n11d oc/1olnnhl1u, : of the artist's work rather •••••••••••••• ...... • •• • .,,.., • • ......,.,.,.., •••••- .. than to nttempt criticism <modernsl 1111 contributed. (or less ll. Howe\'er, It haa without knowledse. The "lllumlnullons" now some statement allout Aus- Aa a practising pnlnter on dlsplny in a city store trnlln, however differently <my work nlso hns been show escellcnt esnmplcs or expressed-a uaslc tl'uth or P. 1 ~~~:y 0 fr~~s;~ 1 :.{,, ~I~~ accepted mnsteri>lcccs. cs~g~f· abstract art has too :r ~~~~~tr~) 0 '.i re;~~rc: Ambig~1ous much sameness abOut It, too like to' point out the dim- 11 lltUe theme, though orten cultles of saying something "Journey Into 'You Beaut' rnough pleasant In colour, new about an obvious theme Country No. 2," like many shape, and textures. ·or one that has been used "modern" paintings, Is nm• Abstracts can be too many times before bthlgunogusdllafnedrennttctaonsdlfslcorne1e,1-t personal for comprehen• Problems confro1it1n1 both ,in slon. A few will be tie t "realist" and " "modem" people. Perhaps this ls a tor their unique qualify, painters are mu<11 the same. means or sustalnlt11: lntcl'cst, most discarded tor follow- Many people may paint rolcsk lptnaltttt 1 y 11 pge boy! 0 nb?,•w•Jg 1 1 1 na 1 e,! lnr the leader and con• but few are utlsts, and h trlbutlnr nothlnJ. few arUab even have the Australian, things seen ablUly to make a worth- along a road In a Journey • l'!_hlle contribution to art In 11 dusty, brown land- .., ir-raL goannas, snake skins, bird Rembrandt, Goya, Veins• tracks, plants, owls, grnss guez (realists>, Plcaaso, trees. aboriginal heads, Braque, Ceu.nne, Van Oogh snn:it II allll Would be difficult to decide whether the head In the picture 11 a aelf-portralt or the arU • t on ht, journey or a • warman he saw on tbe way! Guesswork This could keep you guess. Ing the rest or your life I One schoolgirl looking at the picture thought the face was a very typical Aus– tralian face ("a horse-race," she said I). Is It & Rntlre on the happy.go -lucky Austrnllnn and his land of strange pat– terns, or la It the experience of a typical Australian after a drinking bout, when eve¥~:1~i.1:..1r~~·t1i;~t ;~? rtvtnr the painter a =~::~te': mn,'=·~~ 1~; ~c{~:. 11 f~• his "Australian Gothic," Dobell, Drysdale, Stl'eelon, Namatjlra have nil painted Australia Jn an In– dividual style. At least. the T~!n~rJe:.s !~~li!~r.:1 among Critics oflcn !Ind more In plctu1·es than nrtlsts Intend Not new Abstraction and selection are not new In art. A rc&llst fg~r~~t b~,:~~s byandma:i~~ colour and tone are selected abstract shapes a11d when the whole painting Is a.s– sembled It can benr a derl• vaUve likeness to accustomed objects. fteallst painters (and there ue many degrees between ;~~~r~:: p:/:tr~;co,:Jld~':~k this basic abstract design• Ing quality, selection, and rn'~~l~r am~:C~· ~~tet::! ture, are often accus~d· of "l'cpeatlng nature as through a window." It la m9re the mark of the amateur, The "realist's" work Is ob– jective, baaed on observation. selection, abstraction. Can be art The '4modem'11" work la •ubJectlve, b,..ed on emo– tions, but both should it:;: .:r::ti:, f:U.,"".~~ Painting should have the power tci communicate with– out words. The best painters have had a f,rcat reell11ff ror ~in~.\'.'~ 1 ,\1ca':°c~ 10 ~u~Jk5Js 1 ~ years after their deaths. Is "modern art" only a fuh• ion? "TRUSTEES TAKEN FOR A RIDE ?" TO TIIE EDITOR JHE controv1r1y in your column, over Mr. Ol1en'1 "Jour- ney Into the 'You laeut' Country Mo. .2" ho • bHn moat 1timulotin9, but no on1 10 for 111m1 te hove C0ffl• fflented on • 1ln1ulor ai,ect of the enthu1lo11t1 shown for the plctu,e by the • YOnt 0 1orde such, for 1101t1ple, •• your own ort critic. Enthusiast., for contem- re\fr:: p~:~itlns'm";1~-~l~d~J trndltlonnllsts to put nwny such childish things as re– presentation of the object ri 1 ~~1~t. t:,\l~n~bgJe ~l1f~t conveying of nny compre– hensible "mes.sage." A painting Is supposed, we are told, to stand on plc– torlnl reet RS 1111 arrange• ment or slgnJrlcant form nnd colour and the painting 11~\~~~~n C~\)Ye/;!flb~~~~~glb~~ unfashfonable, Indeed 1\5 faintly disreputable In the :r~~~;Cll:;;u~l~),dl:~• ~~l~r~~; field . Now Mr. Olsen has viol– ated these cherished coll• tcmpornry principles Rlld nil of them. HI• picture ls not nt nil difficult to Inter– pret. The only question ls whether It Is worth lntel'– prct.111g. It. :onslsts or a string of ~ultc obvious symbols, the sum or which Is Intended to repreoent Mr. O18en's witty Rnd ll'onlcnl view of the Australian scene. . One rcndlly deciphers, poorly drawn though they are, the Melllourne Cup, the cockatoo, the loud-mouthed 'irert," .!~~al box~~~b~l~~: crudely executed though It ts, Is plain enough. Undergraduate ? But Is this wit nnd Irony, or Is It bol,terous under– graduate humour? Above all. Is It a good painting ? This pastiche, Sir, 13 rt~~tni:n.::~~~- :~ro:r~~l~ Oil the back of a truck In the Commcm. procession than on the walls or an art gallery ? Hnvc the trustees of the Queensland Art Gallery, In ~olllg for Mr. Olsen's You Benut Joul'IJcy perhaps been tnken for thnt well-known rlde?-"lntriJued," Rrl • hane. .... ,,.. .. uBULLE'flN-O--- Sydnevr M,S.W, Too Many, Too Soon Kidutrds Prilc, H11nc~· Prize. Queens- land Na1iu11al Ga ll~ry . T IIE c,cnt ,,f the ) car al the Uri,bane Gulkry ,, the annual :rnanl ul the H. C. Ru:hard, Prize anJ the L. J. Harvey l'riLe. The for mer i, fur .1 " urk of art in an\ medium and 80 work~ were hung in this ,ct'liun : lhe la11cr is for a Jr:111ing in any medium and here 5tl entrie, 1,ere hung. !llr Russell Drysda le was judge. The works in c<1lur were pn:Uuminantl y ah~tl'al,.'t, lhc rest "n:prl.!– ~cntatiunal," nu\, a "kkcd ,,·on.I and a tl!rm of r,·proat...·h. The bc~t pictun: 111 the sho,\ wa~ George Lawrcm:c·s ··lJry Season. Upper Hunter": ii is preci,cl y whal the l:d·,cl ,a,, ii is. It i, heautifull v d ra,, 11 .mu ro111j,oscd. in three dirnc1t– ~iuns, \\ ith deep fcl'ling for the suhjc'-=t and intellel·tual l.'Oll\ i\..·tion. II is a nohl~ picture. Nnl 10 1ha1 I liked Sali He, · man·s ··s)dnc.:) Barmaid." a •dy. rl1gui .... h. happy. rul~-pol ~ ylHlllg ,, oman . aggrc.: ....- sivcly thrl'c • d1111l·n:-.il11lal :111d dcarl) mamni:dian : , hl' glows wi1 h a rid, life in grand '-·,,lur. The prize uf C5ll went to ~l r John Olsen\ "Journey inlo !he You Beaut C'uuntrv No. ~- " It i, dead tlat and insufferably dull, the cnntcnl consisting of a disparate collection of aboriginal symbols borrowed frolll ca ve and bark paintings so that it is. in csscnl.'c, a ~upy of a mass of unrelated objc-cts, like a bower-bird"s home. things prelly but useless. The rest of this section was a weary desert of Jllcdiocrity. Only two raisnl a tlkkcr llf n:"iponsc in me. Jw.J r c·a~ ....ah\ " ;\l1ragc." S\\irling vnrtil:c, l,f rich rnlor. anJ William Rose's " l'e,ti – lcn\..·c ,,f the \Vi:~1:· a ·Hrili.ing juh, grac:c– ful. delicate anJ careful. II is ., "fais.. :cau·· 11f skndcr shaq, spears l)l si l,w) light. ,, great relief from all the slapdash. I think lfo,e's picture easil1· the best of lhe ahslra,Js. The drawing ,ci:linn wa.;, so puor I Wa"i ~urpri,cd an award was made : u~ it was, Tum Glcghurn's ..Outline of Nightfall" 1, a, the onl y possible choice. T hi, show. like the rccenl Svdney Contemporary exhibition al Hardy ·Bros. ha:i. aroused nuu:h n unmcnt. disc:u~sion and dissenl. a healthy thing, but !he sad rart of ii all is that at the upcnini Mr Drysdale ,aiJ that if the (.iallery did 1101 buy the ~tuff he could not come 1<1 llri,hane ag.,in. The (.iallery clirec1or, l\l r Laurie Tlwmas, said publicly that~ if a critic d,d not en1hu,e al 11nce about this abstract vogue he liked what he did like for the \\rnng reasons: in elkct, his criticism i, ill-f11undecl and valuclc». I can sec no virtue in lhrcuts and bigotry. In every generaliun !here is likcl) lo be a new art vogue and of its practili1.rncrs live arc luck) tu survive : I am waiting for tho,e li ve right ,ww in this new and as ) cl slapdash school The critic must be allowed make a cool appraisal and far I have seen one artist of this new group tu be worthy of my notice : I analysed his wurk carefully some months ago. For me the horrifying confurmily of alleged rebels, right down to the very last gimmick, totall y repudiates thell' language of revolt and out of the vast acreage of this slavish uninspired imita• tion I have seen just this one. and perhaps two more. men of promise. What I love above all is style. an in<li• vidual voice, however crude in some ways. an intelligence devoted to solving the problems of the \'ariel) and tragedy of lhc human cundit ion. And. afler that, skill in c111nmunicatiun which so m:,ny abstracts lack : so many of them arc jejune and juvenile and tembl) mim~tic. I cannot believe 1ha1 all the abstracts Just TlO\\' arc genuine.·. there arc just tuo many of them cropring up all 100 suddenly. UIIIG r ~ DEC 1961 Art-and the public purse ALTHOUGH very much Interested, I ha,·e refrained from entering the oon– tro,,erNy on the RlchRrdN Exhibition of picture•. But when It comes to plun– de1ing the public purse to purchase these unintelligible, meaningless monstrosities. then I think It Is time that some deflnllc action WM tak, , to call a hall.. T .1\5 cult or 111:i:l111rss Im." bren unequivocally con • rtcinncd by such men e.::. SIr Gerairl Kelly, William Rus– sell Flint, and A. J, Mun- nlngs, those glRnts or English nrt, also by our own Norman Lindsay - probRbly the most talented artist In the world of culture th•t Australia has r,•er produced <he hR.S lnbclled It "An cme• tic In paint"J, Thr.rc Is no <1oubl, in their minds, as well a.s In the minds of nP per cent of the ordinary people, that It.a ult.1• m•tc drstlnal.ion Is Oblivion. As the Oovcrnmcnt. pro– \'lde,., the money for the pnr• chase of pictures for the Gallery, some RpproRch should br mndc to It by " smnll committee Rppolntcd by people who still know when their Ir es arc being 11ullert h \' the an crit,Jcs and mcrcha,it.s. - I,••T. Middle• ton. Roscby A,•enua. ClaJ· tlehl.