Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

o era "TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. Historic home up for sale WOBARTVILLE, on extremely beautiful colonial mansion " overlooking the fertile river flats of the Hawkesbury at Richmond, needs a new It is probably the oldest major country - house surviving in Aus- tralia - the few houses that are earlier are mostly cottages. It is almost certainly the oldest still to have a very beautiful landscape setting, and still to u. unspoilt structurally. The verandah columns have been replaced with Victorian cast iron sup- ports; the soft, red brick 1,1a been painted but only on the south front, Otherwise it is intact. Oreenway is some- times mentioned as architect, though there is no evidence apart from similarity of style and of material with his known work. The date is about 1828. If there's not a queue ' at the National Trust Office tomorrow (It has full details of the prop- erty) there should be. It's going cheap. Other- wise it might become a gravel -pit. Remember that we 'have always been cul- 'turally a British colony, that British painting and sculpture have never rated very highly on the international level while on the other hand British architec- ture and landscape de- sign of the 18th century is the envy of the world. . And Hobartville is just about the best colonial .example of that Georg- , fan country -house tra- , dition (Camden Park is ;of course the best, but , It is later in date, and more purely Regency in ,style). Original prints The Sydney Print- makers, special favor- ites of mine, suffered the loss of some vital sentences last week. Their annual and most attractive exhibition at Farmers showed their usual high standards, especially from Backen, Rates, Tom Green, Kubbos, Salkauskas, Keky, Rooney a n d David Rose (back from Europe). First litho - .graphs by Lanceley and Klippel show how well the non-specialist print- maker can be led into these techniques. And most encouraging is the inclusion of students' work from the Work- shop Arts Centre and the National Art School; the first time there's ever been enough of interest for such a showing. One-man shows Japanese Woo dcuts Inaugurate the new Dowling Gallery, 354a Dowling Street, Pad- dington. Kabuki scenes and actors - pin-ups of their day in fact - of the mid 19th century, at 8 to 12 guineas. This gallery will specialise in original prints. Edith Holmes (Little Gallery) is easily my favorite Tasmanian painter. Well known In Hobart and Melbourne, where she exhibited a lot In the 1930s and got on well with Rupert Bunny she now enjoys wintering in Kings Cross. The paintings, however, are nearly all ' quiet Hobart landscapes, ' softly gay. Their Ian- ) ruagert is similarlate period, that is French, decorative, hovering be- tween . l na* re salon ism ... owner. The we in A r , By Daniel Thomas and post-Impressionism usually excellent in col- or, always aware of de- sign and sometimes very adventurous in pattern- ing. A real artist, with not a trace of slicknest Price 16 to 60 guineas. Wolfgang Degenhardt (Stem) is German and has lived in Newcastle some time. His oils have wretched surfaces and no attempt at color; his pen drawings can be rather good, though see- ing them for the first time in quantity shows up a tendency to an ex- cessively caries tura! manner. He relishes sad and soulful subjects, tired children, funerals, old age. Prices 20 to 70 guineas. gry Horse) takes time off from painting to show 95 beautifully dis- played pieces of jewel- lery in silver, with occa- sional stones, minerals, pearls and other metals, gold or brass. Some re- late interestingly to his new circle -motif paint- ings and of these some neck pendants are his best; others are perhaps too free and arbitrary in their shapes for any kind of jewellery except a brooch. Prices 15 to 60 guineas. Robin Hum! The annual Robin Hood art competition, for a mental health charity, is run by an energetic committee which often ex.racts entries from unfamiliar interstate artists. Geoff Haines, a well- spoken -of young artist In Perth, is seen for the What's Art Gallery of N.S.W.: Special exhibition: Chinese Ceramics (last day), Commonwealth Sav- ings Bank, Martin Place: Robin Hood Art Prize. Drummoyne Town Hall: Drummoyne Art Prize. Little Gallery: Edith Holmes. paintings. Dominion: "Art in Architecture." Darlinghurst: Paul Haefliger, paintings. Wafters: Richard Larter, paintings. Dowling: Japanese woodcuts. Hungry Home: Eman- uel Raft, jewellery, Romon: Len French, small paintings. The Stables, Pymble: Bissiettn, monotypes and drawings. Crane, Wollongong: Guy Warren, paintings. Von Derloach, New- castle: Ray Crooke, paintings - - - first time in Sydney: a. near -abstract landscape,. near -textural, too, in its. thick impost° which be- gins to resemble a rather lovely, pale. opalescent bog, Hand- ling and color are sensi- tive; structure still per -4 haps a bit flimsy. Also from Perth, 4 Robert Juniper, not seen here for a long time; pale like Ifigeh3,inbkdr 1n full control of himself and dry like scratched plas- ter, not moistly glisten- ing. Two more texturals: Asher Mu, from Mel- bourne and long unseen in Sydney, with coiled termite-burrow patterns looking inc redibly luxurious. And our own Elwyn Lynn to make the others look like decorators, that is either too pat- terned, or too slight in meaning, or worst of all, too indifferent to set- ting the entire canvas into pictorial life as well as the image in its centre, Lynn laconically cuts an off -vertical in-' cision through his paste.' buttons it down with two gold disks, and pro- ' duces not only geometry whose tensions keep the picture alive, but also 4 an ambiguous image of I pleasure and pain-seed4 ploughed in fertile ground, or post -surgical 4 tumor scar, The prize-winner was 4 Guy Warren, whose "Tiger in My Garden"( hos all the proper( virtues of firm structure,4 gentle handling, singing 4 though muted color ,4 Rplus the sunniest, good( umor in its mood. 4 The watercolor section was won by Era Kub-4 boa, the chief comti, Won being from Henry(e Salkauskas and Guy; Warren. There is psychiatric patients': work and there is a' section for prisoners' which has never been' gayer-that is three or' four of them are dis- tinctly cheerful includ-' Ins the winner, Milly of . C.B. of Fre-i mantle, another winner,. has a surprising fluency amongst his turgid' neighbors. on in art OPENING MONDAY Mosman Town Hall: Mosman Art Prize. OPENING WEDNES- DAY Macquarie: Robert Curtis, paintings. Stern: Arch Guth- bertson, paintings; Eric Chester, pottery. Clune: Phillppino sculpture. Education Depart- ment: Royal Art Society of N.S.W., Annual Ex- hibition. OPENING THURSDAY Gallery A: Watercol- ors and Drawings by 25 artists. Bank:down, Capitol Hall: Bankatown Art Society, OPENING FRIDAY Von Bertauch, New- castle: James Oleeson. OPENING SATURDAY Darlinghurst: "The Private Collection," loan exhibition from 25 lead- ing collections. Satur- day, Sunday only 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission charge. . _ ,