Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, AUGUST S,, 190 TN Canberra last week R. some recent addi- tions to the Common- wealth's National Art Collection were exhi- bited In Bible House. They were bought by the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. a body sions and purchases of which is exactly 50 years old. The Board was formed mainly to give advice on commis- Th portraits and other paintings of historical and national interest. For sons time now it has been buying paintings to furnish Australian embas- Week in Art by Daniel 71lamas sies and legations, and re- cently It has begun to think in terms of a public collection of Australian paintings to be housed in Canberra. The Board is also be- ginning to respond to the numerous ove.'seas re- quests for exhibitions of Australian art, and to think of subsidising Australian art publications. Financial guarantees have been given for im- portant exhibitions ar- ranged by the State gal- leries. The pictures shown last week are the first public evidence of the Board's acquisitions policy for some time, indeed, since emphasis was given to forming a public art col- lection as well as his'orlcal memorials. The National Capital Development Commission Is anxious to build galler- ies for a permanent col- lection and for touring !exhibitions, neither of which surprisingly is avail- able In Canberra at pres- ent. There were 23 paintings on view, Including an un- catalogued Cala brian landscape by Nolan. Inevitably with recent acquisitions, the majority w e re contemporary. Earlier Australian work of importance can hardly be expected today; in this section only a McCubbin landscape of 1913 had much interest. There were also three Lambert drawings, and a cynically bright blue tour- ist view of Magnetic Island (1924) by Streeton. The best buying was un- doubtedly among the older contemporaries, and the two outstanding pic- tures were an aboriginal portrait by Drydale and what could be thes best pic- ture from Nolan's 1950 series of Central Austra- lian landscapes. Donald Friend was well represented by a water- color of tattooed islanders, and one of Joshua Smith's very best pictures. "The Workman," had come from the Schureck sale. h distinstly minor Dobell oil sketch for Dame Mary Gilmore wns also In the Schureck sale. One hopes that this. and Dargle's "Sir Macfarlane Burnet," will (Ind their way not to a National Art Gallery but to a National Portrait Gallery, wht.h is another. of Canberra's needs. Among younger contem- porary artists Sam Full - brook continued the Aus- tralia Exotica line - the outback, the tropics - in which the Board seems to do best. The more vital move- ments of expressionism and abstraction were poorly represented, the former by Gil Jamieson and David Boyd (with the '"Truga- Ishii" illustrated In Kim Bonython's book), the lat- ter with the coffee -bar art of Karlis IVIednIs and Dawn Slme. Nor does the Board show much conviction in these purchases. The catalogue gives brief biographical notes on the artists (but no dates, measurements or media for the pictures), and In these notes Jamie- son and Sime get the evasive comment, "consid- ered to show promise." Why not watt until there is more certainty, and In the meantime buy from contemporary artiste of secure achievement: from Olsen or Molvig? A quick drive round HALF-CASTE WOMAN, by Russell Drysdale- from the Notional Art Collection at Canberra. Canberra discovered two new arrivals at the archi- tectural fancy dress party In ti. Snbassy quarter. The Japanese Embassy is a surprisingly accept- able specimen, both for its quality, awl tot the fact that Japanese influence on Western architecture makes it scent less foreign anyway. The o'ner is a bijou mosque complete with minaret end plastic dome. Stihoueltei. against a gum- tree and n crimson sunset, it quite disarmed criticism. Tate show THE Commonwealth Art Advisory Board is re- sponsible for the large sur- vey exhibition of Austra- lian painting destined for the Tate Gallery in Lon- don. Since its preliminary showing six months ago at the Adelaide F sstival It has been extensivolv re- modelled. The Colonial period has been cut down, and the "link period" (that is early 20th century-Bunny, Lam- bert Meldrum and others) eliminated entirely, The contemporary sec- tion has been enlarged to include Justin crBrien. Jean Bellette. Fred Wil- liams (a very wise choice), Jeff Shart and others. When it reaches London It should be much im- proved, but some of the younger contemporaries will still be absent, and these were especially asked for. The members of the Board are Sir William Ashton. William Dargle, Robert Campbell, Sir Daryl Lindsay. Douglas Dundas and (a recent appoint- ment) Russell Drysdale. Amateurs HORDERN BROTHERS' Housewives Art Com- petition is not much more interesting as art than an exhibition of knitting, or some other hobby would be, though there are an oil by Susan Wright and some watercolors by Claudia Forbes-Woodgate. Nearly all the hundreds of pictures are by ama- teurs, but there is a great deal to reflect upon. Many of the pictures are copies-of the Amite watercolorists, of the re- productions to be bought in furniture shops, or found in the how -to -do -it painting manuals; but none Is a copy of the great works of the past or pres- ent, or of illustrations In proper art books (none has looked at Rubens or Van Gogh or Picasso). Most are ambit (the size of reproductions!), and In- offensive grey in color (good taste? better to call it no -taste). The oils show a little leas timichty. Not timid M'ARGO LEWERS is a '' housewife, too, but not at all timid. Her one-man show at Farmers Is a most intense affair, where even her hanging of the pictures contributes to the specta- tor's involvement. Tiny pictures are jammed up beside large ones, great ex- panses of wall are left empty. One's response is very physical, for her chief con- cern Is the creation of a space within the picture where not only must the eye move over the surface, but the body must almost feel itself violently re- sponding to the distances. Certain romantic art- ists, Delacroix and Turner, have the same effect, and Margo Lewers must be classed as a romantic of a serious kind. Her dark, glowing colon are at one with this atti- tude: her new Interest In textures, expresaive but un- alluring, Ls at times a dis- traction from the firm spatial explorations. S. Ostoja -Rotkowskre slick abstracts at the Mac- quarie are, unlike Mts. Lewers', empty of anything but technique.