Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

17 OCT 1981 l Intimism writ large T HE en- trancing show of Edouard Vuil· lard's paintings, drawings and pas– tels at Stadia Graphics have few of the works shown at Polamo Galleries in Au• gust and Septem– ber; most<>f those sold, including the large Le Salon des Hessel which went to the Queensland Art Gallery. To be paradoll.lcal It ahoWed lntlmlam on the pand scale, for VuUJanl loved oor• nen, tete-a-tetes, prl• vale ,rouplnp In. mlddle-clua aur• roundlnp. He liked the air of secrecy and· privacy, exclaiming at an· exhibition of his Ytork, "It la dreadful, reftallnl all these lfcreta.'' · Bat, or course. he muffled the ~rets In blun-ed edges and muted color. Gustave Jeffroy, an early and perceptive critic, IIY· tna that hla paintings reminded him ol the obverse ol a tapestry and added that Vull– Jard and Bonnard had the ,tft of nuance. This la evident enou1h In u dlraa au.r rkuz lam~•. also shown In Melbourne, with the sumptuous dPIICICY of broken c~lor. faded golden ll11ht lallln11 In str1n11e putches between the two dlnen, who are en– closed by lrtendly walls, animated by ex– quisitely and tactfully placed green strokes and by the cool lamp IIRllt. Hta bottles, lam s, :ill[filf ~~I;:::~: ~------- ahape holds bands of . ""WV", I, Yf\lN. doudl of dark, opalea• cent ,rey, a little flowers and pianos have nothln1 to do with aymbollam but they have peychololl• cal overtones; he aoulht the maatc or the ordinary, Paul Sta• mac, In 1- AYinl of him. "he hu a marvel• OU1 understandln1 of the timbre of thlnp". There la, Indeed, a cu– rtoua quietness In all his work: the paatela, lllle So111 boil awe /auuuu. 11host of an annc air In front of woods of day-dream aoftneas) are aad; In the drawings Jlfe II rather seen throulh cobweba of dellcate lines that both define ancldlallltse, There la a contented lntnllpectlon; people are not complacent but certainly !Ind no an– autah In the recesses of their thou1hta, C C C WHAT· about rell• ,toua painting'/ It may be an,ulahed, redemp– tive, lull ol hellish damnation or heavenly bliss, crowded with· symbols, narrat1n1 with pedestrian Il– lustrations or contain• tn1 few references to Identifiable rellstous symbols or creeds. The last style used In David Volst's Mrdlta• tlon won the 1981 Blake Prize by a vote of three to two, the minority 1tron1ly supporttn1 Ray Reardon'a V14 M11stlca, an array of stllf llgures enmeshed by Christian symbols both lamtllar and somewhat esoteric. It wa.~ 11rocesstonal. em– phatic and cc1 tatnly In a lon1 tradition but a little po..~slonless (I · know lots of religious paintings are temper• ate rituals) and brittle and a llttle sta1ey, as lor example, In a dll• ferent way Alan Old• field's skllllully com• threatenln1 but coun- l tered by bands of cool, lllvery ,rey, like calm on the waters after the aionn. It milht be lfl\led , that It needs to be more than the break· ln1 of 1'le Sntntll SHI, depicted by Rod · Mllpte with floaUn1 forma In quite lovely ruueta and sharp peens with a new and welcome loolenln1 of his work. There la a certain ldnlhlp In the emer,ence of 1hapes with Dick Watkins' very reaolute swirl of . 1troke1 and ge1ture1 about the genesis of a crou. Prankly the Blake hu come to be about a fine patntln1 or struc– ture with some rell– stoua uaoclatlons or connotations; so one milht like lmanta 'nl• ler'a Cllurcll, a fairly ordinary landscape, Colin Olford'a .ROH of Collage, In allver, Sold and paaaaps tom from the Bible, and Huon Pine constructions by Joseph Holder who hu two finely made out-of• kilter cases with noon mlrrortn1 the celling where a sculptured Adam la created by a ICUlptured God. John Cobum pays tribute to mysticism and Rothko; Mille Kitching, In a tall aculpture with rockets, to that outer space on the threshhold ol heaven; Rod McMa• hon to the notion that Christ on the cross resembled the thlevts on theirs; Eric Smith to an Adam who looks. In his purple and red spottiness as aflllcted u Job . It Is not a profoundly moving show by any means, but It Is full of mild suri:rtses and un– dtstress1n1 provoca– tions.