Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

A SLAP AT SHODDY COLOR IN ART BOOKS u0ST color reproduc tions in most art books are bad. Nobody seems to mind if the color plates in almost any of the cheaper books published, say, by Inames and Hu :son in London, ore h. thing like the original paint- ings. Old masters, like Titian, are always of course much harder to reproduce than modern paintings. And modern painters using old mas- ter styles, like Dobell and Iklrysciale, suffer just as badly in their books as Titian. We can take bad color for gran- ted when such artists appear In cheap books. But when the books are expensive we should mind. And the new books published by Lansdowne to launch their "Australian Art Library' are not cheap. Two large books at 617.50 are Alan McCul- loch's The Golden Are of Australian Painting: Impressionism and the Heidelberg School. and James Uleeson's Mas- terpieces of Australian Painting. Two smaller monographs at $8.50 are Ants °albafly's Arthur Streeton and Christopher Uhl's Al- bert Tucker. A great many of the paintings from "The Golden Age" are on view right now In the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the colorplates look very different from the orig- inals. A dark green pic- ture by Ptguenit has become electric blue, so has a pink one by Roberts, a green Rob- erts has become red, and so on. The color Is often false, but Just as com- mon a fault Is bad photography out of focus, or with reflect- ed light caught on the picture surface. And, finally the Lans- downe series are dowdy as book design. The col- orplates are tipped -in, hence easily creased. And there are ugly pages overcrowded wan illustrations. IF "In the Making" makes you, when you read Its words, feel like a guilty voyeur, peeping at intimate irrelevance In the lives of contem- porary artists, It Is at least a delight to handle and to look at. Its illustrations show lots of lovely paintings, well-photographed, .e - produced In adequately accurate color, In a Well designed layout. After all it's seldom that the words are worth reading in an art book, What you buy an art book for Is the pic- tures. The more better. And the better the color the better. So, even though the Lansdowne books are not us good as they should be, who could re- sist so many Illustra- tions: Streeton, 33 in color, about 60 black and white: Tucker. 64 In color, 150 In black and white! Who cares if they're overcrowded. Here's a chance really to come to terms with an artist. There's never before been anything to give a full view of Streeton. For Tucker there's been only a short, though excellent article by Robert Hughes. If they're only third-rate artts by the highest standards they are still very Important for us pli and !WI ART with Daniel' Thomas presentation of local heroes, In derail, is what we need If ever we are to evaluate our cultural history pro- perly. The ideal art book Is always a presentation of the complete work of an Individual artist. Art movements or themes are less interesting, and much more difficult to organise. Nevertheless, the ,us. trallan painters who, in the late 19th century, were impelled to Illus- trate nationalistic Aus- tralian themes, did add up to an interesting movement and do make a worthwhile book - though, apart from the sunshine, and their youth, they seemly make a "Golden Age,' nor were they IMPres- sionista, nor was Heidel- berg their most import- ant painting ground. ALAN McCULLOCH'S book Is specially valuable for Its tracing of the interconnections between the artists - who met whom. and when, and where (Syd- ney. Melbourne or Europe). There is a lot of new, and corrected material of this kind. It is also valuable for its reminder that be- sides Roberts, Conder, Streeton and McCubbin the work of Julian Ash- ton. G. P. Nerli, John Mathers, Walter With- ers and David Davies was also Important for the movement, and not necessarily Inferior to the better-known art- iste. These artists on the fringe of the movement have never been so well illustrated. But It doesn't go much into the motivation of the artists, nor explain why the pictures look the way they do. For example there is no ex- ploration of the rather marked effect on their painting from their usual jobs as lithog- raphers. as photograph- ers, or as Illustrators chawlog for wood engravings in mass cir- culation newspapers Not till they all wow to Europe and by leou did their paintings begin to be influenced by paintings, Instead of by prints. Their handling attempted to shake off its meagre, graphic look, they grappled with rich- ness and painterliness, though without neces- sarily getting better. NN Galbally's Stree- ton and Christopher Uhl's Tucker are sound its their Judgments that the early work is best: useful in their empha- sis that Tucker's themes of big -city life are lam artificial for an Aus- tralian artist than out - backers,. However, there's not enough factual data available to go far with Streeton; for example, parallels are drawn with works by Nerll and Roberts which Miss Galbally assumes belong to the 18130s, when I think they're 20 years later. JAMES OLEESON'S picture book, Mas- terpieces of Australian Painting, Is the first to do without If you can't afford all the Lansdowne books. Many of Its plates duplicate those In McCulloch's Golden Age. Two-thirds are contemporary, and these cover the same ground as several other new books, but less fully. Its plan is curious. A straightforicatii. strictly chronological progress through 20(1 l *ars of Australian pain ti n g would II worth having. B, t ou 'rat 10o years is glwri only a handful of VAR es; the early 20th century is missing altogether. To emphasise the late Victorian "Heidelberg School" and our own contemporaries is a very conventional em- phasis, the emphasis of the art market In fact, but not of art history or art criticism. Serious gaps are Sydney Long, Margaret Preston, Wit - liars Frater, Eric Thake, Frank Hinder - and James Gleeson himself a surrealist painter. EXHIBITIONS: Ti Parks (Waters). a very important avant-garde artist, part of our fut- ure. not to be missed. Milton Moon (Mac- quarie), excellent pots. Tim Starrier. Wendy Frost tHoldsworth) con- ventional -clever art students doing Pop Art. "TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W.