Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

irritation no do rot, have the same painth is on the cover, Drysdale' I "Snake Bay at Night.' already twice illustrated in color elsewhere; In "Antipodean Vision" and the 1960 Drysdale Exhibition book. D. J. Finley's Modern Australian Painting (44/9) is one of Lord Beaver - brook's Express Art Books. It has been launched very quietly, but although it is littered with factual errors even to illustrating a painting by Pendlebury In mistake for John Percival, it need not be so ashamed. The 18 large colorplates (Dobell's "011ey" is rather poor), and 37 in black 511.1 white are good money's worth. The word "modern" could have been omitted from the title, for one- third of the book is gone before reaching even Drys- dale, but In both the early section with its fine Che- valier and McCubbiti paintings, and also in the modern section, the choice of illustrations is not hack- neyed. This, of course, is partly due to the inclusion of expatriates whom we tend to forget or overlook at home: Underhill, Louis James, two ghostly Mel- driunites, Colin Colahan and Hayward Veal, even Horace Brodsky who left us 60 years ago. De Maistre has one colorplate. Nolan is the only artist to re- ceive two, and he also has a Gallipoli -ut Dargie an, r^le repre- sent academic ..rtraiture; and there is a s.-isly use- fulness in having a Byram Mansell pseudo -aboriginal subject available for re- ference. For the expert, indeed, all these byways will make I the book a useful addition to his library. Non -experts Should put little faith in "TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. --SUNDAY- TELEGRAPH, AUGUST; 411 .1963 -*-61 The Week in Art by Daniel Thomas BOOKS OW PAINTING IN AUST. TWO sma II bungs in the Australian (or rater world-wide) art boom have come to us from London. Two books, that is, on Australian painting. Both, to thei - mutual the dates, the spelling of names, or the sequence of events, but the character- isation of the various art- ists is good. The author clearly disapproves of Byram Mansell, too. Serious omissions, even scandalous, are Fairwea- ther, Passmore, Olsen and Molvig. These are all well repre- sented In the other book, D. Pringle's Australian Painting Today (31/6) published by Thames and Hudson. But Finley does give a large colorplate to Tucker, whose omission by Pringle is so startling. Hodgkinson, Gleghorn and Plate, too, might have been considered, for they were included in the 1961 Australian exhibition held by Bryan Robertson at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. And nearly everything in this book comes from that ex- hibition. All Pringle's pictures are in consequence at least two years old, and again the title is irritating, for we are not quite shown the painting of today. The next book on Aus- tralian art simply cannot afford to leave out textural painting or assemblage. Or Fred Williams (who is, after all, In KM Bony- thon's 1960 book, the first, and still the best survey of modern Australian art). All 31 plates are in quite reasonable color. all the artists that one might ex- pect to be includ (ex- cept as mentionedde already) are well represented. A special delight is an unfamiliar 1948 Nolan of a convict crossing a drench- ed gold creek. Less ex- pected, but welcome, Inclu- sions are Batson and Mor- row. There are eight drawings or etchings set into the introductory text. PORTRAIT OF MORGAN RUSSELL 11918/ by Modigliani, on loon to the Art Gallery of N.S.W. /t is a most attractive book, printed in Italy, and simply because of the enormous number of copies that an international firm can risk printing, very cheap at the price. Although the illustra- tions are the main thing in this kind of book, what about Pringle's introduc- tion? Naturally, from YO distinguished a journalist, it reads extremely easily, it makes Australian art sound properly exciting, it offers clear explanations for it all, Dates and facts are wise- ly kept to a minimum, and are not often wrong, though Passmore Is brought back to Australia to exert his influence a good 12 years too soon, and Do - bell's teaching career is ex- aggerated. And does Fair- weather paint on bark or driftwood? The scene is set by the landscape (space, light, and drought), the people (Bri- tish. with a strong element of Celtic imagination), and the history (convicts, dark doings with the aborigines, simple-minded Utopian- " Witilii;fos- Wu. a," 19W -11N5 t- early 1 dist! Meta, .ParL tilltpraSsieniA an manic expressionist ten- dencies is not made clear, though the emphasis On the period is jest. Then "Dobell and Drys- dale" have a chapter: then "Nolan and Boyd." follow- ed by "Diaspora." and "Re- naissance in Sydney" in the early 'fifties, led, he Bays, by Passmore and ()l- een. Next, The New Human- ists," pugh, Blackman and Dickerson. the first two of whom he rightly sees as a second -generation develop- ment from Nolan and Boyd, and less interesting{ than the new iihsiitaation ,Except for Frown. 7105 is lumped into a final chapter of "Non -Conform- ists," he finds all Austra- lian art, abstract or other- wise, preoccupied with the environment, disorderly perhaps, and romantic. This book will be read idely, and with pleasure, but the explanations are a thought too easy. For the internationally orien- tated artists (e.g., Whitely, Fairweather) explanations are avoided. And these are just the ones to which he gives im- portance for the present day. Exhibitions Of the new exhibi- tions the most interesting is Melanesian Art at the Hungry Horse. Less varied In its range than .ast year's show at aune's the outstanding objects are the monstrous ceremonial masks from the Sepik, con-, structed of bark over a light wood framework. The finest, in the shape of a pig, costs 225 gns., and the rest of the 150 pieces range In price down to 3 gns. At the Chine Gallery there are two painters. Edith Homes, from Hobart, shows 25 Tasmanian and English landscapes, at sen- sible prices (30-60 guin- eas). Chalkiness intended to sparkle on the water disturbs a number of them, but the best (the more orderly) are distin guished by a late impres- sionist sensitivity on the lines of Vuillard or Bon- nard,