Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

has called them-have brought gumtree painting into Notified disrepute over the last' 40 years. This limited field of painting is now given new life by Williams it his exhibition at the Rudy Kornon Gallery. He shows one figure subject, "My Godson," a touchingly awkward bundle of baby brandished aloft. All the rest of his pic- tures are of trees. Like the Godson they are rather touching. They are mostly sap- lings, young slender trees crowded together in up- right, tentative dignity. His titles specify no par- ticular region, and, in fact, his subjects are taken from places as far apart as Mittagong, Echuea, or, nearer his Melbourne home, Sherbrooke Forest, in the Dandenonge. These are by no means mere nortralts of trees. Nor is the gumtree sub- ject matter very relevant. They could be any trees. And u .hough each picture Is firmly based on a par- ticular visual experience, their .)ntent is more gene- ral than particular. It is perhaps the miracle of growth, or the mysteries of nature itself. Love of nature, in this rather botanical sense, is nne reason why I called him an old-fashioned art- ist; another is his depend- ence on an external sub- ject. His use of the ancient tempera medium might also be considered old- fashioned, though its clear translucencies aro ethyl - el SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SEPTEMBER 2, 1962 Week in Art by Daniel Thomas FRED WILLIAMS is an old-fashioned painter, and almost exclusively painter of gum trees. The worn-out fol- ously very appropriate for lowers of Sir Hans the even, submerged light Heysen - the Heysen- of great forests.The exhibition shows fates as Robert Hughes that his working methods old-fashioned . too , there is no frantic grab at external nature in one rapid sitting as in 19th -century impression- ism; no rapid plunge into inner experience as in con- ternpory abstract, expres- alonWn. Williams show* the watercolor sketches, done in the open for each of the ten major paintings on view. For most of them there are also small etchings to be seen at the Komon Gallery. Each statement is there- fore clarified and perfected through many stages. Although this is. I think, his first one-man sbow In Sydney we have seen his work he previously in the Rubinstein Scholarship, the Wynne Prize and else- where. The new pictures, besides their deeper feeling, are generally more airy, and lighter in tone, while the trees have been reduced to the simplest play of verti- cals against an impression of undergrowth. His development is slow and steady; it Inspires confidence. Now in his mid thirties he could be one rt Aus- tralia's important paint- ers. Edwin Tanner THE small invasion by Melbourne painters (Roger Kemp last week, now Fred Williams) is re- inforced by Edwin Tan- ner at the Macau rie Gal- leries. He Is more of a thinker than a painter. What's on: TODAY AND NEXT WEEK Art Gallery of N.S.W. Special Exhibitions: Helena Rubinstein Travelling Art Scholarship (Final Day); Drawings by R. W. Lambert. ALL NEXT WEEK Eamon: Fred Williams, paintings. Macquarie: Edwin Tanner. Dominion: Folk art paintings and sculptures from Formosa. Clime: 5th Anniversary Show. OPENING WEDNESDAY David Jones: Transfleld Art Prize Modern Figure subject. Barry Stern: John Bell, paintings. WEDNESDAY LUNCH-TIME LECTURE 'Architecture for Living," by Russell Jack. Lecture r in, Public Library, 1.10 p.m. ales House: Illawarra Society of Artists. Simple ready-made shapes indicating human figures or faces are placed in rows on backgrounds of trowelled paint. Many of the elements are applied cut-outs of board, others are mechanisms em- bedded in holes and cov- ered with glass, or in one case placed behind three tall, properly hinged doors. Tanner was once an en- gineer. It may be that he in- tends to say something about the mechanisation of society, about loss of In- dividuality, for his titles Include "Assorted Soule in Storage," "In My Father's House there are Many De- partments", "Advisory Board" and "Preserved Puritans". But might not an engin- eer become fond of ma- chines? For me the response to the pictures incorporating golliwog - faced electricity meters and suchlike was ono of affectionate laugh- ter. These were toys, or ra- ther pets. The innards of an alarm clock moreover were reveal- ed as being very beautiful. If the effect is more whimsical than menacing, then the paintings are per- haps too big for whet they have to communicate. And It Tanner dispensed with paint altogether we might find a most gifted and poetic junk sculptor in our midst. Formosans THE Dominion Gallery Is ` showing paintings and carvings by t he primitive Takasago aborigines who live in special reserves in inaccessible mountains of Central Formosa. Done In vegetable dyes on thin bark cloth, the colors are tan and gold, and the hunting scenes and figures of women are drawn in simple outline with great refinement. These are very sophisti- cated primitives. Nothing c.mild be more decorative by 'he cocktail bar. They are not small, and priced at 15 guineas they are amazingly cheap. Sali Herman SINCE I myself wrote the new book on Sall Her- man (35/) I will say no more than that his gaiety of spirit made the commis- sion a genuine pleasure. HOUSE ON THE HILL, plate 23 from a new book on Sob Herman. tl It was written last year, but there have been no serious second thoughts; the main emphasis is on his Sydney street scenes. There sr.- 38 illustrations, eight of which are in color, short biographical intro- duction, and lists of exhi- bitions and paintings. The book follows Noel Macainsh's on Clifton Pugh in the series of monographs on contemporary Austra- lian painters, edited by Dr. Bernard Smith for Georg- ian House. The next will be on John Olsen, "FALLEN TREE," one of the paintings in the one-man show 11 Fred Williams at the Rudy Komon Gallery.