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

'PNI cou•1n-MAIL T14U•S Al'IIIL 20 IHI Seldom one • piece to call her own B EG, borrow, or steal-but i_f you w~nt to own~ point• · b ur favourite artist DON T marry him. . 1n9 Y yo 81 ·s here !or the open- 1 London ior cxhlhlllons ol Mrs. Ru81!ell Drysdnlolln 1 ~i Mr orysdole's cx- 1 ttls p:11nt1n~s. r la married to a leading hlgllion nt' the Q11ccnsln11~ ~ 1 11 /;:ve '~;~ 11 ~i':l""ei1l~e .Auatrallnn artist. Art Goller)' on l~n~;l', 11 ':i'/n ~p, 1 111gs nnd 111 the oulf She should hove plenty • 1 1'.~ 1 ~,:'J1 1 .?e,~t,~ j~~•s to the I country where my husbnrnd of her husband's famous 5 • gained the 1n.splrat1011, or outback paintings to hong cleaners some of his pnlntln~s. she on the walls ol her Pot~~ At wedding said. Point, Sydney, home. "It's the same dress I Owned lots wore to my daughter's wcddinl{ last Friday-and I ..I hnvc owned lots o! must hnve snt on a snv• Drysdnlcs," Mrs. Drysdale oury l" aaid restanedly whet~ , ';!~e ·Mrs. Dr)·sdnle is sl ill a arrived in Brisbone ) estci• bit brenthiess aflrr n hectic day, fortnlµhl, "But in the early days "First we hnd my son as fast ns I wnR ~iven n T im's 21st blrthda:,• p:trty., picture we had to sell It. Tlwn the following week ..Now I do own three of we hnd Lynnc's \\'ccldillf.!". m husbnnd's pnlnl111gs - "I'm ~oin~ humr• 011 St1t– btit only one Is In il.s urdny while 1),1Y hu~bnnd proper place nt. liume. i;ocs up North, :;he s.u~t. . "The otner two, one ol ~! rs. Drysclnit•, . llll) , hich is my husband's vl\·ndous, and do\\ 11-to: ~test Are in 'Brisbone." earth, .,ays ,;he hr1 seif Is The whereabouts of hrr not "crcntivc." p intlngs which nre being She clescrlbt•s herselr n.s c~nttnunliv borrowed !or n housewilr, but could also exhibitions, wos the lenst clnlm l,hc title or trnveller. of Mrs. Drysdale's worries F.he hns nccompnnled her when Ehe iirrived in Bt·Ls· husband on several trips bane late yesterday, ahroncl, two or them to ART REVIEW Currently showing at the Queensland Art Gal– lery ls an exhibition of paintings and drawings of the last 23 years by one of Australia's greatest painters, Russell Drysdale. Drysdal An assembly of several hundred art lovers paid tribute to this great artist at an opening ceremony by Sir Raphael Cilento. Mr. Drysdale strips arti– ficialities and supertluous distractions from his work concerning himself only with the dominant facts of the subject In hand. Though some paintings deal with the stark reali– ties of outback life and conditions, an awareness of sympathetic treatment ls evident. Arter all, the subjects are pioneers and Mr. Drysdale himself ls ot this sturdy race, as well as being a pioneer In the field ot creative art. This exhibition Is crafts– manship at Its best. A Desert Landscape and Woman Filing Her Nalls are recommended to the earnest student. For the beginner there Is an ex– cellent selection of drnw– lngs, Old Larsen Is a par– ticularly pleasant portrnl t whilst Man ·and Woman may well be Judged a most outs tanding painting by Its very strength of chnr– acter. Mr. Drysdale ls already considered n great painter. The future WIil reveal him to be even greater. The exhibition closes on Mny 28t h , To sum up : F a mily. until :.,ay "8 The Quccnslnnct Art Onllery will be open on Wednesday nigh~, to 9 o'clock until Mav 28, when !Ls present exhibition ol Ihe works ol Russell Drys– dale will close. More than 10,000 people hn,·c visited the gallery since the exhibition opened on April ~2. The nctlng director of the gnller\' (Mr. Robert SmlthJ will give a lrec public lecture on Drysdale a. an artist in the snllery at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17. "TELEGRAPH" lrl1bane, Q. Drysdale exhibits The Satlonal Art (faller,· will lw r lw,,,•d lomorrow .1nd until f,'rlrlay nl~hl \\'hen Sir lt:i11na1•l Cil,•nln will 01u•11 lht• ltussrll nr,·s – d a lt• 1•xhihitio11. Tilt' thn·t·-clay l'lo...- ur<· is rcrp11rrd to re– nrra 11ge I ht• :.::dlt•ry :111rl hnlll! l ilt• ,H) Orv.-,– c.l:t l1• pnl 11 t111;.: , \\'lli~·h. Wit ll a lllllnht·I' or clruwin;:~. wll l c·o111- l ll'l:w llH• r ihlhil JOil. Tiu· pa 111111, :-. ,·or– l' l'IJ I!: 11 1,, 1wrincl lrom I!1:Vi IO I !HjO. ll 1'1 rrom µ rh'ttl t' t·olh·t l Inn!- :111d !°:ila IC' " II 11•,'I':•'~. lt11ssr ll Dr)·::rl.1i,•. ,JC·– t:omp1111i1•d I)~· ~.1 rs. D1 ~-~dal1•. \\ il l arn \',• 111 Bri~IJ.u11• from s,·<1n1•,· lilt• op1;1\lllj! 0 • THI COURIIR-MAIL FIIIDAY APIIIL 21 IHI ART REVIEW by Dr. Gertrude Langer DRYSDALE PIONEER PAINTER OF 1 AGRIM LANDSCAPE · T HE retro1pectiYe Hhibitio11 of Russell Dry1dale'1 work ho • co111e In an ob- . brnioted edition from the much lorger • how in the Sydney Goliery now to the Queen1lond Art Gallery. ll glve.11 in11ight int.o this distinguished artist's development from the beginning• to the present day. Several nortralts, • stml– abstract st.111-llle. and "The Rabbiter and His Family" lihtstrate not so much An "earl\' manner" "s R ~earch Cor a·n lndlvldual 5tyle. PIONEER They •how the nrlelf tnlluences Drysdale under11·ent durtnr hi• stay In Part, and London. ReturninR to Australia at the outbreak of the war, Drysdale becomes fully committed to the changed environment. . From now on he c!'eaLes the typical paintings ,by which he is beat knov,,nl rr– latlnR l,o the Never-Never and its people. He becomes l,he pioneer nl a subject hitherto un- touched by Australian painters or landscape, unlll then, chiefly Interested lo the smilinr v.•oods of noture, In °{t:i~l:to1:'~ 11 of 0 Au~~~ llan palnUnr a• the flr•t tot manv to follow ) whose lmutnaiton waa caurht by that unique forebodtnr !:::'f.~:e o:t~h~t: V:::/; ll•H In an environment hoatlle to man. STARK Drysdale paints In his study. He assembles a vocnbulary of typical forms with which he turntshea the space ol his paintings, His •race is moslll' • :r.~~~ h~ f~\.~~•:~e :~r.:~y delined sculpturRl forms, The rorms are : Hard rocks, creepy root., that clnw lhc ground, barren. spindl)• tre'-s which accen– tuate the insignificance of living matter. the bizarre wreckl\ge after the llre, and all this, ns well as the human rorm whether stand– Ing erect, or stretching, mo,1ng, running - always against something Immobile and 11l001. The yellow brown• 1111 set orr hy hard cold okleo, or the whole palntlnr 1lows In the lurid clare of a world ol fire, Dryadale's Imagination Is lllerary and poetic. ThoL ls, his symbols are r,rstll' conceived ns poetic symbols and only secondly they are intc1rated into composli lons. But he Is somethmg more than a \livld illustrator. His best paintings nrc ,·csted fi~t,r,,c~. Iyricnl-rpagic signl- Rlslng lar abo,·e mere representation, they rrentc n DIRECT AWAR.ENESS OF THE FEELING EVOKED BY THE SUB– JECT, This invol\'CS the use or emolloirnl colour. st1oessing ol esscnlinls (distortion 1, and 1he surrenl assemblnge of symbolic Images. MID-CAREER Dr)'sdal• I• •till mid-career and some hi• latest work shows i. sltll explorlnJ. Recently, he hns changed lus precisely de– lined forms !or n more rrec and !lowing plastic language or which "Mnn and Woman" is one example. The exhibition wlll be op- ~/~~ttin~t~t ,~!11 8~~ ~~)tf~ the public lrom tomorrow until MRy 28. One of Australia'• foremost artl1t1, Ru11ell Dry1dale, will bo at the opening of a rctrospcc– ti¥e loan er.hibition of his own works ner.t Friday. hl~~ 1 ~fmfn,;r1~~ 1 i~itc:~~ ~:~~uf:d ror csoo,ooo. r,-Ji!~e r~!~d~~~~ss t~~~ c~~;~ Ladv Cnscy, Dr, 1lllcl ti.itrs. H ·v Ernll, ~!r, C. F. vincr:Hall, ~11'. Justice 'Nagle. and the U111vcrslty 'or New Englnnd. Sir Rnphncl CIiento will open l11c cxhlblt1011 at 8 p.m, 11t the Qucens!nnd Art Gn\lrrv. Gregory 1 crrncr. It ,i·1II be o\icn to the public the lol owing dn)' ror :-t showing or n,·c weeks.