Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

The other world of art aives its views the fringe of the art world one occasionally encounters another world of architects, designers land interior decorators. Ti architects some- times persuade their clients to commission a sculpture or a mural, or to buy a tapestry (but seldom a paint- ' ing). ' Sometimes they ask ' artists to design un- suitable things, that should be left to a de- signer, such as lamps or doorknobs. Very oc- casionally they collect works of art them- selves. The designers - there are hardly any in Australia - sometimes feel they can whip up a painting or sculpture as well as any artist, and occasionally at- tempt it. A lot of the worst sculptures and murals in Australia are by designers. The interior decora- tors often buy paint- ings for their clients' offices or have to build aninterior around paintings in a client's house. It's often f e 1 t. perhaps unjustly, that they first look for something to go with the cushions, rather than a painting that's good in its own right. There are lots of books on Australian ^A and artists, but never one on this re- lated world. So it's very interesting to see the new book "Austra- lian Style", by Babette Hayes and April Her- sey (Paul Hamlyn. price $5.951. It looks like a lot of "House and Garden" features put into hard covers. Artists' names are usually spelt wrong. A few captions have wandered from their correct illustra- tions. But it's still 'ascinat- ing. First, to see just what art gets into the houses that architects and decorators are in- volved with. Second, to see what the approved interiors actually look like. And third, to learn something about the designers and de- corators themselves. The architects are not an unexpected choice: Harry Seidler, Ken Woolley, Neville , Gruzman and Robin : Boyd. Of these, Gruzman is the least published al- ready; he has a streamlined flnesse with glass, chrome and mir- ror, lighter than Seid- ler's tough Bauhaus. He is at an opposite pole from the rough - textured. homespun warmth of Woolley and Boyd which is, if any- thing, the real "Aus- tralian" style, (I'd have liked a chapter on Peter Muller added to this earthy, woodsy group; his houses are influential, and Austra-- Ilan regional). Gruzman, on the other hand, has elec- trical wiring, exposed like rainbow spaghetti in a glass columnn, and an all -glass bathroom. Very sleek Indeed, and therefore very un- Australian. The designers are Gordon Andrews (who does everything), John Anders.son (furniture) and Florence Broad- hurst (wallpaper). Designviable in Australia;is ve r our production costs are too high, oUr manufac- turing skills too low. So we develop a different kind of hero: the im- porter - who - raises - m -against -all. tkirttite t'it,,,at whiforhureh. the Scandinavian spe- cialist, is properly given a chapter. Marion Best, who is in as an interior decorator, is also a pioneer importer of modern furniture clas- sics, and Merlin Cun- liffe of the 'Thesaurus shops in Melbourne de- served the full treat- ment. The book is almost all Sydney, Only Robin Boyd, architect, and, Reg Riddell, interior decorator, are Mel- bourne, It's ironic that Rid- dell is the only really reactionary decorator included. Not only does he do "Georgian" in- teriors, his houses also contain conservative paintings; Sydney's Leslie Walford and Neville Marsh at least have big, m oder n Nolan, Fairweather and Laycock paintings with their old style furni- ture. Yet it is Melbourne that seems to have gone ART with ) Daniel Thomas furthest beyond good Scandinavian taste, into flamboyant Italian plas- tics, which is the strong- est trend in contem- porary taste. Melbourne's Thesau- rus shops are, I think. more up to date than anything In Sydney. As for the interiors themselves, in this book they look as if they've been made to be photo- graphed. Not to be lived in, and not to hang paintings in. They're all full of red. (This may be in- accurate color -printing, s or just an editor choice of punchy illus- trations). My own experience of interiors is that yellow. beige, honey, brown and so on are more an Aus- tralian style of color than red. The furniture looks too good to be true. Eames, Breuer, Le Cor- busier, Thonet, Col- ombo, Saarinen are everywhere, They are a modern interior decor- ator's and architect's ideal. All the greatest modern classics. I suspect it's less a book of record than a missionary attempt to train you In modern furniture, sweetening the pill by including a few fake Georgian in; tenors of a kind which is, I think, still very prevalent. As a propaganda book for great modem furniture, I'm all for it. And the paintings? Mostly small. If big, they're by Whiteley, Blackman or Nolan, un- less it's a frankly dec- orative, low-priced, large abstract, textural by Jones-Robert or Rin- tout, hard-edge by un- identifiable artists. Hard-edge is quite common as lithographs and silkscreens, and is treated not too differ- ently from the Mari- mekko printed fabrics which appear on many walls. Paintings by Pro Hart and Ray Crooke are everywhere. Archi- tects: Gruzman's own house has Kitehing sculptures, Eric Smith paintings; Seidler's an original Albers, and various tapestries: Ken Woolley's has nothing. Exhibitions Col Levey (Mac- quarie): A large num- ber of excellent pots. Some porcelain, with peach bloom and cela- don glazes, is unusual from local kilns. Stone- ware bowls and plates and teapots pre fine, useful objects. And the familiar cut - sided, coarse, gritty - bodied vases have grown ex- travagantly taller, wav- ier and more useless. Hal Missingham, pre- paring for retirement, has cleared his shelves of prints and drawings collected over a lifetime, and exhibits them at the Helen McEwen gal- lery. They start in Eng- land in the 'thirties. Such collections are largely formed by gifts from artist friends, and can't help being a very personal record. Gretchen Albrecht (Holdsworth), a young Auckland painter shows quite large decora- tive interiors and still- lifes at New Zealand prices, $150 to $250, am- azing value. Matisse of course is what you think of for the subjects, the areas. But the forms often float in a Rothko sort of border, so it's Matisse floating off in- to outer space. William Spencer (Holdsworth), a one- time Ashton school pro- duct, shows small brown watercolor drawings of outback towns, outback waterholes and trees. Not as good as Drysdale, but much, much better than Pro Hart. $30 to $60. "TELEGRAPH" 0 AUG 19/U Sydney, N.S.W.