Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. AT -T-0,1 .241-)9 2 9 AU 61906 Buddhist sculptures from Thailand ore at David Jones again. This Is the third time Mr. -Haines has collec- ted such an exhibition from Bangkok, and it Is much the best of the three. That is, there are more objects of high quality, and they are spread more widely over the whole 1200 years of Thai art. By now we should all be relatively at home with these objects about Ntvwhloch, we knew liotdhing should be are 35)inui forv:1tef the enterprise, since these are not the left- overs from the world's art market like so much that comes to us from abroad; they are the best Mr. Haines could find, from new excava- tions currently in pro- gress In Thailand. I still like the earliest, Indian -influenced Dvar- avatj style best, it is the most animated; the fig- ures have an earthy In- dividuality-one lollops plumply as Mae West, others have tome of the realism of Pre-Colum- bian art. These are made of terracotta stucco. I Later periods are I more Idealised and more refined. Sometimes it Is a tense, stringy refine- ment, like the pre - Khmer torso of Siva in reddish stone, or the chic bronzes of the later Sukothal and Ayudhya periods. These seem the i most essentially That in characte The Khmer, Lopburl, and Chieng Sen styles 1 of the middle period, 10th to 14th century, are idealised into a solid monumentality. best In the massiveness of carved stone, though the torpid Chieng Sen I figures, which seem to express an admiration ror e.igIg'i t rmnffettit beauty,over w are appropriate to their hollow bronze - often patinated to wonderful suffused greens. One hundred and fifty objects, 2 to 32 inches in height, prices 4 guineas to 2200 guineas. KYOTU GROUP At the Crana Gallery, Wollongong, Is what ap- pears to be an excep- tionally interesting ex- hibition of en dgraphy by three artist, working in Kyoto, two of them Japanese, the third, Henri Radeloff, formerly of Wollongong. The ex- hibition notice shows an enormous brush like a witch's broomstick, with which to leap at your sheets of paper. WILD POTS Helen Mason (Mad- , din's) is a New Zen- , land potter who visits , Japan, and whose spon- taneous approach to ' clay is not so different from that of the calli- graphers to their ink splashes. She will roughly knock a few slabs of clay Into a floppy pyramid vase, or knead another into a crinkled bowl; pour on some glaze; and toss uto the fire. The nethod of course im- ales some wastage, but he survivors from I nese practised acci- citnts have a disarm - h ,gly civilised wildness. Prices only 1 to 11 arineas. FLUKE Soy Fluke's paintings (Macquarie) used to have a very explicit Japanese influence, though they sometimes got mechanical with the use of roller and ruler. Now he keeps mostly to the brush, and rills the picture densely with flower symbols. 10 to 120 guineas. WATERCOLORS The Watercolor Insti- tute's annual exhibition (Education Department Gallery, Bridge Street) Is, for the first time, a predominantly modern show. Here too there is some valuable nourish- ment from the East in Robert Grieve's excel- lent Japanese Theme and perhaps in Henry Salkauskas. The latter is thc one who demon- strates most forcibly that watercolor need not be confined to intimate scale of minor state- ments. He could hold his own against any oil or any sculpture with this monumental corn-, position where a column' of three black blobs, drops slowly, in purple. veil, from velvet black , to dazzling white. But there Is a Euro- . pean tradition of spon- , taneity and freshness, as well as the Eastern. Europe Is more a tra- dition of drawing than of painting, of the pen more than the brush. Here there is a first' rate example, in Car-' in on Smith's Scottish; Highlands, where the, watercolor is washed over the drawing as the t garnl. ish, not an essen- ia Roy Hutchlaon's The' Pond is, however, a' fine brush drawing, in' a purely European tra- 1 dition period from I Claude Lorraine. It's a pity his Wino, a corn- i menial looking illustra- t Hon, is hung nearby to t start one worrying, whether the lovely pond, might be slick. Ertid Cambridge and , Uldia Abolins also work, In the central tradition of European watercolor drawing. If there is a , new tradition of Euro- pean watercolor then Gilliland, and Spark's Carpet represent it. Others who make ex- cellent watercolor ver- sions of European oil painting styles are Laverty, Gleghor n. Backers , Joyce Allen (who develops remark- ably) and Lorna Nimmo. 110 works. 15 to 250 guineas. HAEFLIGER Paid Haeffiger (Dar- linghurst) is as far from eii.s 647 East and West 'The week AA / t Ely Daniel Thomas the Eastern tradition as you can get. The 15 paintings date from 1956-57, that is immedi- ately before he left Syd- ney to settle In Majorca. Must are figure corneas - Nona whirls are about iothing except classical ,French picture making -that is about a ration - d arrangement of solid forms in space, with Cesanne as the principal source though the color is sharper, Fig- ures at a Table Is a perfect specimen, logical structure, relaxed and sensuous paint handling. John Olsen's work of 1955 must have been very similar but less confident. Although I hadn't come to Sydney at the time I don't think anyone was painting such good French pic- tures in Sydney as these of Haefllger's. There are also a few abstracts, not hard- edge which is a recent American style, but the old geometric abstrac- tion of late period Kandinsky in Paris or of some Klee. And it's interesting to see that the abstractions are meant to be less Imper- sonal than the figure compositions. Two of them are Scenes from Childhood, which must have been a childhood In a spotless toy -town Switzerland in a house full of Paul Klee pic- tures. Prices: 150 gm!. for the majority which are 3 by 4 feet, the others leas or more according to size. DUNLOP Brian Dunlop (Barry Stem) sends recent paintings and drawings front Italy. He's greatly Improved since he left Sydney. The paintings include space-jerking, clean Interiors like Jus- tin °Brien's, and a series using a simple image of nudes climbing the prow of a beached boat. What's on in art Art Gallery of N.S.W.: Crane, Wollongong: Special exhibitions, Gensyo group, Japanese Chinese Ceramics. calligraphy. Darihighurst: Paul Haeiliger, paintings OPENING 1956-57. WEDNESDAY David Jones: Thai and Farmers: SY d n e Y Khmer sculpture. Printmakers' Annual Education Depart- ExhIbtion, merit Gallery: Water Macquarie: Elaine Color Institute, Annual Heaton, paintings. Exhibition. Walters: Richard lar-1 Dominion: Art in ter. Architecture. Little Gallery: Ruth Stern: Wolfgang Deg- Faerber, paintings, 11th- enhardt, paintings and °graphs. drawings. u Clone: International Komon: Leon a rd prinadts. ' French, the Samos Aldins: Helen Mae- miniatures. on, New Zealand pot- OPENING THURSDAY ter. Canberra Gallery A: Gallery A: Charles Francis Lymburner, Reddington, paintings. paintings. Hungry Horse: Eight OPENING SATURDAY Painters. The Stables, Pymble: Von Bertonch, New- Eissietta, drawings and castle: Ray Crooke. monotypes. - - - - - - ..............,,,,,,,,,,,,,...,..a.......................^.~.^.............