Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

72 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, JUNE 17, 1962 The Week in Art by Daniel. Thoinas THIS l.'Lck Was a good deal Nearly all art exhi- bitions in Sydney are of contemporary Aus- tralian paintings; this week there were none. England supplied the only new allow of paint- ings-abstracts by the lady artist Fraficyn Fuller. Australia's contributions consisted of photographs. ^rote Denmark there was /eon( Jensen sliver. At more a'aried a the dune Gallery the primitive societies of Mel- anesia had the most pow- erful offering of all. And.' at the Macquarie Galleries there were old prints. mostly 18th century, French. Oversees art is brought out often enough by the State Galleries; next Wed- nesday. for instance, the U.S.S.R. Antbassador will. !id less parochial that open a very large exhibi- tion of Russian Graphic Art at the Art Gallery of N.S.W. However, it is almost al- ways contemporary art which comes to us from foreign countries. There is, understandably, little will- ingness to lend older and more valuable works for gruelling, year -long tow's of Australia. ddI 11,11.11. Uhl prints Even though the Mac- quarie Galleries exiubition is an exceedingly light- weight affair it is never- theless a ppleasant remin- der that tlhe past exists, and that there have been alternative values to those 01 the present. There are birds, flowers. fruit, ships. maps and views of cities, but it the cos- tume prints which do most to illuminate a viinished age. Some of them have a nice satirical -seeming ap- proach to the exaggerations of fashion. A surreal bundle of ribbons turns out to be a rear view of an 18th century French- woman. The Whiten plates of the recent past were a sur- prise. From the "Gazette de Bon Ton" of 1913 they are as remote as the 18th century, and higher in quality. They suggest that the minor arta of the early 20th century might d -3 - serve investigation; it was after all a great period of discovery and change in iainting, comparable in mportance with the Ital- ian Renaissance of the early 18th century. The hard coloring on many of the engravings errs suspiciously fresh; but authenticity is a slight consideration with these decorative trifles. In any case there can be no com- plaint with prices front one to 12 guineas. Danish silver Georg Jensen's silver, which finished a one week exhibition at David Jones' yesterday, shows farther evidence of the quality of early twentieth century decorative art. It is not always remem- bered that Jensen himself, who founded the firm In Copenhagen in 1904, died in 1935, The modern de- signs from the firm which bears his name are by Hen- ning Koppel and others, though Jensen's own de- signs arc still available. It Is a strange situation where museum pieces from a past age remain In cur- rent production, for there is no doubt that these are museum pieces of great beauty and refinement. Jensen, and Koppel too, were sculptors as well as a silversmith. This cer- tainly helps explain the formal excellence of the silver. In Jensen's case there is much fruit and flower orna- ment in a late art nou- veau style I the style which replaced the endless re- vivalism of the Victorian period), With Koppel all orna- ment has gone: the forms, end of mull importance, the spaces between them. have sufficient beauty in themselves.nesoys fortunate in lessen a young Danish silversmith, Helge Larsen, working here In the same tradition as Koppel. English silver The virtues of simplicity in design were more evi- dent in England than in most other European eosin- tries during the eighteenth century. This is why English ob- jects of the period are so highly prized today. Over 80 pieces, some of the finest salver in Austen- lin, are on loan to the Art Gallery of N.S.W. for the next month, They range from the Stuart per- iod, through the Georgian, to the Regency. Amcng train is a large -eses-evs.i Sydney street scene, by an unknown photographer of 20 years ago. Chieftain's carved stool from Yatmul. Ir of rococo candlesticks by Paul de Lammie. the most celebrated of all Lon- don silversmiths. More typical of English design, and closer to mid -twentieth century taste, is a Queen Anne teapot whose maker shares some of the preoc- cupations of Henning Hop - Pei. Primftive art Primitive art is another discovery of tile early 20th century. It was Picasso and his circle who, around 1905, first admired West Afri- can objects for aesthetic nut anthropological rea- sons. New Guinea and the Melanesian Islands have an art as interesting as A f rica's. Terry Clune's exhibition of Mr. Stephen Kellner's objects es an outstanding event. Apparently most of them were obtained not from New Guinea, but front various collections al- ready formed within Aus- tralia. In this case they could represent styles which to- day are being modified by European influence. As with the Australian gliorigines, the introduc- tion or new materials.may soon debase the art, for its excellence seems partly dependent on the severely limited means whose use has been perfected over the years. Again, like the aboriel- nes, it Is not essential to know the meaning and Bowl, 1918, by Georg Jensen. What's on? TODAY, 2-4.30. Art Gallery of New South Wales --Tempor- ary exhibitions: Le Gay Brereton Prize for stu- dents' drawing, FINAL DAY Loan collection of English Silver. ALL NEXT WEEK Clune: Primitive Art. Melanesian and :.ustra- Ilan. Farmer's: New South Wales Photographers Macquarie: Old Euro- pean prints. Barry Stern: Francyn Fuller. Hungry Horse. New Gallery, no exhibition yet-hours 11-7. closed Mondays. OPENING WEDNES- DAY Art Gallery of New South Wales: Russia.. Graphic Art. USSR. Ambassador, 3 p.m. Kontos: Jon Molvig. -David Jones: Asher Qantas House: his- tory of Music, by George Piney. TUESDAY LECTURE C.AB Adyar Hall, 8 p.m.: Art in Architec- ture, by Walter Bun- ning. ness which is the unique and marvellous property of the camera. In one or two cases, evi- dently not actual contuses- .sions, there are consciously artistic pictures (one by Clive Kane of chimneys, for instance) made in a purely photographic way. Some American art mu- seums collect such photo- graphs. But far more interesting Is the documentation and the reportage. Nothing is more fascinating than the deadpan shots of HP'. End in the 1870s lent from the Mitchell Library's Honer - man collection. There is a businessmen's conference by Brian Hart, several populated street scenes. some surfing sub- jects by David Moore which could have the same lasting value as the Hotter - man pictures. Hal Miss - Ingham has a hard stare at some curious man-made additions to the landscape - beer -bottle graves at Broome, privies, and signs and slogans; Wendy Clay- ton has managed the dif- ficult business of making very smart children human; and Max Du ain's loving records of colonial city. The rest show a architecture are good to careful straigh,forward I see again. Jug, 1952, by Henning Koppel . . . Georg Jen- sen Exhibition. purpose (magic, ritual, do- mestic) of each artefact. There is much that is sure- ly art for art's sake. Australian photography At Farmer's there is an exhibition of photographs by members of the corn- meicial division of the Professional Photograph- ers' Association of New South Wales. (The other division is portraits, which mostly means weddings.) Two Melbourne men, Wolfgang Sievers and Athol Shmith, have been invited to exhibit, and so has Hal MIssinghant. David Potts is a notable absentee, but otherwise it gives a reasonable picture of the present situation. The inclusion of dankly pornographic pin-ups Ly one photographer is no doubt inevitable 1.1 a big ueen Anne teapot 1716. Art Gallery of N.S.W.