Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TEEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. The elegant delinquents DONALD FRIEND and John Bell are separated by a generation, yet Bell chose to draw deeply upon the art of his senior until The comparison is to be made between Hell's exhibiL1011 now at Ciune's and Donald Friend as presented in a superb new book. (£4/18/, distributed by Ure Smith), It was suggested this week by Gleeson that Bell's special quality is emotionally adolescent, and that his subjects hover on the brink of delinquency. Ddinquency is exactly the right word. though it's unabashedly beyond the brink in Bell and Friend. And if this special quality (which is an open sexualit)u is adolescent, then good luck to the adolescents, and those, like Friend. who continue to relish it. After all. nudes should be sexy. There is noth- ing more displeasing and more pornographic than those nudes, very common in the Victor- ian period, that pretend to be painted for other reasons; obseut'e strip - pings from literature and history and the Bible were hunted up, personifications of The Spring and so on, were offered as a reason for nakedness. (This distaste only applies to realistic art. I admit that idealised nudes can be non -erotic and quite at home in literary and allegorical art.) Bell and Friend's pic- tures are erotic, but by no means pornographic. IBell's girls have beauti- ful springy bellies (and stumpy legs, like Nor- man Lindsay's girls), Friend's boys have fine- ly muscular thighs. They expose them- selves as If it were the most natural thing to have no clothes on. And this must be why both artists like primi- tive societies. and the tropics. Friend has spent many years in Nigeria. North Queens- land, or Ceylon; Bell too has visited New Guinea where the easy nakedness obviously im- pressed him. Although this new exhibition of Bell's is still only just service- able as painting, it is I think a great improve- ment in the develop- ment of his themes. Previously New Guinea registered as touristic exotica; his own real - life bohemia Interested him less, but was far more successful. Now the two worlds are partly fused. It's not easy to distinguish sydney from New Guinea girls; arty inake-ups from ritual ' mask. He allows him- /self 'ambiguities: "Nude Birds" is of course a picture of nude girls; elsewhere similar girls make offerings to real birds, evidently familiar New Guinea spirits. At Bell's age (born 11136) most artists live In bohemia. I d'n't think he will ever leave !It, and I think Donald .Friend Is just about his his pictures begin to resemble Friend's. businessman's clothes. might be called "King Robert Hughes' text of the Charm School, for the book is a de- there is a case for. light, even it its brit- charm in all painting.: Rant writing is a bit The design of the book,: showing -off. He des- by Edwards and Shaw., eribes Friend today. Is surely the best of any with one snaggle tooth, Australian art book admiring an old photo- ever: it is a pleasure to graph: "God, I was a read and handle. And morsel then." (Today there is a bibliography he is deceptively ele- gant, In a way that accuracy; by me. makes heatne..-; look very vulgar.) LADIES He reminds us that in It may be my mid - the forties we ranked year art exhaustion, but Friend with Dobell and Pam Julian Smith Drysdale; decides that (Darlinghurst) seems to Friend and Godfrey have nothing to add to Miller are Australia's the very crowded field two greatest draughts- of oil painting, while men; that his self- Ninette Dutton (Hungry awareness is a great Horse). perhaps because strength; makes a not she's the only person very convincing case for doing It in Australia. Is Friend as a Mannerist; much more welcome and concludes, justly, with her round dishes and bowls, 1 to 12 guineas, made of copper and decorated with vivid glassy enamels. mostly flowing ab- stracts, a few with snakes or butterflies. Most welcome of all are the large woodcuts by Margaret Breindel (Darlinghurst) at arounti 15 guineas. She was a student in Syd- ney in the 1930s, now lives in America. Sonic of these very woody woodcuts have a Rom- anesque massiveness., and are concerned with the Oberam mergau Passion Play. GENTLEMEN William Peascod (Do- minion) has eight "Landscape Themes," six "Scars," and four Studies; £65 to £150. All are paler, smoother and more delicate in surface than previously. The landscapes are new and near - geometric all have a broad horizontal band above centre. sometimes black on black, sometimes it contracts and looks a bit like Rothko, some- times there are very narrow margins at either side. The scars are more familiar, some are diagonal, all have small scar holes burnt through the canvas to the hardboard backing.: They seem to be almost meteorology now as well as geology. *The week in Art By Daniei Thomas or Trig tibrld of parties you don't 'Aar. .tab ithed nealeaise (teaching, arise:ghtlag. commit- t- eq.,. the *Melo of Oen that he stands as a genuine sensualist. A great deal of new biographical informa- tion Is incorporated, along laith passages from the famous diaries. The 15 colorplates are excellent; the 31 black and white reproductions look, unbelievably, as If they were photographed through glass. They are a little hazy. The choice of illustrations is badly unbalanced in favor of recent work, and the captions contain no dates to reveal this, Still, It's astonishing to see that as far back as the African Mother and Child of 1938, he was just as good as he is to- day. There is a fore- word by John Olsen, scattered with his fav- orite French words. elan. verve. He reminds us that although Friend What's 'on in art Art Gallery of N.S.W.: Spec I al exhibition - British etchings since 1850. Newcastle City Art Gallery: Modern British paintings from Art Gal- lery of N.S.W. Coronation Hall, Bar- den Street. Arncliffe: Rockdale Art Award (open afternoons and evenings except Sunday evenings). David Jones: Matthew Smith, Roderic O'Con- or, paintings. Clunc: John Bell, drawings and paintings. Domin ion: William Peascod and HeinLaZus- ters, paintings. Hungry Horse: Frank Hodgkinson, wate r - colors 1962-83; Ninette Dutton, enamel bowls. Darlinghurat : P a m Julian Smith, aaintings: lireludel Crane, Wollongong : Metropolis 3, mixed painting'. Yon hertouch, N e w - castle: Mixed landscape paintings. Gallery A, Canberra: Charles Bannon, paint- ings OPeNING TUESDAY (Jallery A: Native Painters of Australia. Wales House: Aus- tralian Art Society An-, meal exhibition. OPENING Ian Fairweather retro- spective. Macquarie: Justin O'Brien, paintings. Rudy Komon: Law- rence Daws, paintings. Barry Stern: Mix e d, paintings; Peter .(fareet, paintings; Diana 'Aunt. sjii a ery. n n The Stables. 1'yabh1.4 stmider. Shirley THURSDAY I,ECTUIRE gunmen, A va.i'ari! C. Art Gallery Society, D, Raj k ovi p nto c.to 'tan F a . a 0 by JAn.ea