Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. Mit the wee!: in art Dune i el Thomas A 'suicide' returns with an 'old . . TH E Society of 1. Artists was once the most important annual exhibition in all Australia, not Just New South Wales. Rumored to have com- mitted suicide earlier this has conic to life Us an exhibition at the Lion Depar tment Gallery. Platnenco dancers on opening night, lunch-hour lectures, painting demon- strations, the lot. And new members elected: Crooke. Green, R. Grieve, Ed. Hall, Illenshaw. Hood and War - :en. What is the Society of Artists for? Was it worth rescuing the suicide? Prob- ably the Society would claim that its math pur- pose was to preserve standards of craftsman - shop in art. Its name specifies Artist, meaning professional not amateur; it was formed In 1895 as a breakaway from the Art Society, which included amateurs and art -lovers in general. Superior No doubt the craftsman- ship is much superior to the other local groups, the Royal Art Society and the Contemporary Art Society, where amateurs and be- ginners are encouraged. But the craftsmanship is scarcely dazzling, and there are occasional lapses into commercial art. Nor does it claim to stand for any particular style or attitthie. For proof, one Pop picture by Rein- hard is roped in, ar,d a stszen or ao abstracts, Wong them Cobuni, Mc- . Donald, 'Renshaw, Plate BUT WAS IT WORTH THE RESCUE? 11111111.1111.1111111111111111111111.111.101.11....11. iiii 11,11111.11111111 iiiii 11111110111111311111111111011111111111111111111111111.11111.11111.411111:11 and Gilliland, the two last the Art Gallery of N.S.W., well as craft, is David being the major exhibits, which for one week only, Strachan. His fruit and (Tolentnce extends to between visiting exhibi- flower pieces are an artis- tumbling trad and abstract Hong, has a lot of Its per- tic reward for visiting this together on the walls: it's manent collection on exhibition whose main a difficult exhibition to view). Interest otherwise is In the look at). But in spite of its claims It is, by force of circum- stance, a society in sup- port of a style, namely the post -Impressionism which is the academic style of today. Reservoir This art school style contains the reservoir of techniques currently avail- able for students wishing to learn landscape, figure or still life; and its spirit is something for students to react against. So the Society's main purpose is to remind us what our art teachers' own paintings ore like, for they seldom hold one-man shows. And also to show us work by artists who perhaps paint less as they grow older and who are out of fashion with deal- ers; for example, Adelaide Perry's still life, George Dttncan's bush landscape are moat satisfying pictures within their modest post- impresisonist terms. And there are others like Adrian Feint not previ- ously seen in years. How- ever. the opportunity of checking up does not always give pleasure. Comparison with what these same artists were do- ing 20 or 90 years ago shows they were invariably better. then, (The COM - parfaoh 'ran; thi:inittle 'at Many times I've pointed out how seldom Australian artists improve with age. In the current exhibition Plate and Gilliland amend respect for just this; and the ability to improve must surely be test for distinguishing an artist - painter from a craftaman- painter. The pictures by these two have been previ- ously exhibited, have al- ready won prizes. The only trad painter who is plainly getting bet- ter and better, whose work clearly contains poetry as shallows of local art - history. * JUDITH PINS (Little Gallery) puts abstract surrealist biomorphs in PVA on to a black ground. and looks exactly like the Feverring pupil that she is. Her clever technique and her teacher are all that speaks to us in this first and premature one- man show; there are hints of an ardent spirit that will no doubt find its own expression some day. Prices 20 gns. to 100 gns. ERTS ARETH 11ry0arNESS-RteOrnR-, from Melbourne, has 30 domestic - sized semi -ab- stracts of 90 gns, to 150 ans. He's been to Coober Pedy opalflelds and found spinifex, and white and ochre deserts into which decorative figures are set. The colors are pretty, but the forms flopsy except when he avoids the desert and keeps to traditional still-life forms. * * * JOHN GILBERTS, from Ballarat, has pots at the same gallery. Earthen- ware, all with dark choco- late and cinnamon glazes; some brush decoration, some carving: the forms firmly globular. Unlike most Sydney pots. Good middling quality. Prices, 1 gn. to 14 igna. A mysterious technique FAY BOTTRELL showed tie-dyed woollen fabrics at the University of N.S.W.'s Goldstein Hall. Framed on the walls, titled ambiti- ously ("Invocation," "Umbilicus," "Yet"), this seemed craft of a high order, not art, and instead of titles one would have pre- ferred an explanation of the mysterious technique. The look at the objects surely Is dic- tated entirely by the technique, not by any inner vision. Attrac- tively cplored nebu- lae, abstract, expres- Monist style, they are excellent decorations. * * * DETER RUSHFORTH (David Jones') has produced the best pottery one-man show I've seen In Australia. His glazes are excep- tionally beautiful, the forms mostly simple as usual, though a very few pots have been battered Into poly- agonal shapes instead of preserving their wheel -thrown rotun- dity. This would result from his recent Japan- ese visit; and there are other traces of that experience - some exhibits were actu- ally made there - but his manner is not basically altered in any way; it is subtly enriched. Here is an ideal balance, his own hard-won self - knowledge a n d his new knowledge of a great traditioq. Prices 2 r,ns. to 30 gni. What's on this week FOLLOWING is a list of exhibitions on view around Syd- ney this week. TODAY ONWARDS Art Gallery of N.S.W.: Special exhibition; Gothic Art, 13 -18th centuries. Newcastle City Art Gal- lery: Stuyvesant collection. Contemporary European Printing. Von Bertouch. New- castle: New Guinea Art; Pots by Englund. McCon- nell. TOMORROW ONWARDS Glen': French paintings, tapestries, prints, David Jones: Peter Rushforth. pottery. Education Department Gallery: Society of Ar- tists, annual exhibition. Hungry Horse: Frank Hodgklnson, gouaches from Spain. Rudy Komon: Andrew Sibley, paintings. Barry Stern: Gareth Jones-R( its, paintings; John Oilwert, pottery. Little Gallery: Judith Pins, paintings. OPENING TUESDAY Dominion: European and Australian paintings. Crane, Broker's Road, MI. Pleasant, Wollongong (new address): Hedda En- derle, paintings. OPENING WEDNESDAY Macquarie: Cedric Flower, Sydney views. Civic Centre, Ryde: Ryde Art Award: 10-4, 7.30-9.30. THURSDAY LECTURE Art Gallery Society, 8.15 p.m.: "Ceramics. Sil- ver, Glass", by J. H. Myrtle and Gordon Russell.