Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. Private collectors THE private col- lector is the one kir.d of art , patron that artists probably regard with some fondness. Public collections don't inspire much fondness, nor do business collec- tions, and least of all the patrons who endow ' art prizes. It is the degree of personal commitment of active belief in the im- portance of art that is admired. Competitions are the most passive of all, since offering money for artists to scramble for, at the decision of an- other person again, the Judge, is hardly a mat- ter of difficult personal choice. While business collections can be un- fairly regarded as Just another image of up-to- dateness in the firm. But they, and the pprizes are excellent publicit for the fact that ar exists. At their bes they can educate tit public. So of course ca the public collections which also fulfil the task of remembering the unfashionable, and of keeping nearly every- body remembered after their death. These are all good and useful functions, and the fact that the artist shows no special grati- tude doesn't make them less useful. To expect gretitude for charity or (or usefulness is ex- tremely innocent. Nevertheless there comes a time when yet another art prize does little extra good, and when I was speaking to the young businessmen of the Junior Chamber of Commerce last week, I suggested that since Australian art was well enough supplied with publicity and encour- agement at present, their best patronage would be to buy it for themselves. Or, second best, for their office. -.-:ekend the Art Geller r..clety has ar- ran an exhibition at the arlinghurst Galler- ies In honor of the pri- vate collector. Apart from the pleasure of some outstanding works of art it is intended to reveal something of the state of art collecting in Sydney now, for each loan is typical of the collection from which it Is borrowed. DREARY There are men who have been collecting for nearly 60 years. or for only two; those who be- gan in childhood or late In life, some who are rich, and many who are not. Similar loan exhiti'- Lions to raise money for charity have often been held in Sydney. I've seen very few of them. but Judging by their catalogues they were rather drearily con- formists in the past. branch out What's on in art Art Gallery of N.S,W.: Permanent collection, Australian. European to Aboriginal art. Education Depart- ment Gallery: Royal Art Society of N.S.W. An- nual Exhibition. Darlinghurst: Loan Exhibition from Private Collections )Today only 10 a.m.-6 p.m.). Macquarie: Robert Curtis, paintings. Stern: Arch Cuthbert - son paintings. Gallery colors and drawings by 25 artists. Hungry Horse: Eman- uel Raft, Jewellery. Chine: Hispano- Philippine relit 1 oils figures. Mosman Town Hall: Moeanan art prise. Workshop Arts Centre, Willoughby: Jo Eigart. memorial tion. h. New- t They would have con - t talned nothing much e but oil paintings, sel- n dom sculptures, draw- ings, or prints; nothing much but Australian painting; and those Australian paintings though often good would have been all rather similar-nothing wildly advanced nothing off- beat and old; mostly Sydney charm school in fact. Today the private col- lectors seem to have discovered the infinite varieft of art. And al- thea Australian paint g rightly domin- ates the exhibition tour enthusiastic support o our own art is partly responsible for its pres- ent flourishing condi- tion) it varies In time and technique from Martens' watercolor and Conder's oil to Lance- ley's assemblage and Kiippel's sculpture; and in size from a few inches to seven feet. And it includes Mel- bourne painting, by Boyd or French as well as Sydney painting by Miller or Passmore. This reflects the in- creasing sophistication of the local art market, which now regularly has interstate and some- times overseas art, But it's surprising also to find that some col- lecting is quite indepen- dent of the local mar- ket. Businessmen might The week in rt By Daniel Thomas castle: James Gleeson, paintings. Cranes , Wollongong: Brian Shindy. paintings. OPENING TUESDAY narlinghurst: Mar- garet 011ey, paintings. Dominion: The Julian Ashton School 1895- 1965. David Jones: Antique and Modern Furniture. Little Gallery: Beryl Foster. OPENING WEDNESDAY Komon: Gordon Shepherdson, paintings. Watters: Henry Bell, paintings. Farmers: Antique Chairs. Studio 183: Walter Williams, woodcuts. TUESDAY LECTURE Contemporary A r t Society: Adyar re Hiaall, "u" byy Mares uaz- card. buy on their trips to Europe. Or foreign art can be collected by mail. Otte man gets 18th cen- tury drawings this way, another gets the most advanced European and American paintings to Dubuffet, Eautrier, Ray- mond Parker. They do this because what they like simply isn't available here; or, more interestingly, be- cause Australian art had become too expen- sive for them. Not all the foreign work is being collected abroad. Like so many countries we have be.ne- Med by Hitler's abom- inable treatment of the Jew% and I would guess that the Kokosehka portrait, acquired here (from Its sitter), reach- ed Australia because. of Hitler. And it's the col- lectors of Continental origin who have best succeeded in finding such things. They also search and find oriental and medieval art in Sydney. And the splen- did Art'nur Boyd of 1944 was bought in Sydney years ago by such a col- lector when the Austra- lians wouldn't touch him. We certainly don't want a return to the 1880s and 1890e, when excellent Austra Ilan painting couldn't sell, when bulk imports of academic and commer- cial European painting dominated the art mar- ket. But the increasing interest in the art of the whole world is a healthy development. The ultimate ambl- tion of every collector should be to own a masterpiece or two. It may well be that the Passmore and the Kllppel will turn out to be masterpieces. Meanwhile the draw- ing by Ingres wh' recently entered t sountry, and the etch- ing by Picasso, are masterpieces even if they're not oil paintings and even if they're not specially valuable by the yardstick of mere' money. Primitive art and oriental art only get token representation. The decorative arts- porcelain, silver, furni- ture, etc. - are the province of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, not the Art Gallery ofl N.S.W and in any case have often been borrowed in the past, EXHIBITIONS Gallery A: Jrty drawings and ater- colors, a delight. Aus- tralia's best in these fields. Passmore, 011111and, Thake, etc. Clime: Eighty-four baroque figures of saints from the Philippines. Lovely bits of old wood. Cheap at 6 to 45 guineas. Macquarie: Robert Curtis paintings; streamery abstracts which trap light and color in dense clusters. Landscape references in most. "Still Life 1" is good. 24 to 250 guineas. Stern: Arch Cuth- bertson, Some good pen drawings. Various kinds of paintings, the best kind linear and brushy. 20 to 150 guineas. Royal Art Society of N.S,W.: Annual exhibi- the Education Department Gallery of Sydney's oldest and most conser vative group. Landscapes, flow- ers and Garrett Kings- ley's studio nudes. Erik Langker, Alfred Cook, J. R. Jackson, Henke, and Albert Rydge stand out amongst the gener- ally low-spirited, airless art, Like all societies, it ranges from inept to brashly commercial but the extremes seem pruned this year.