Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

nal "TELEGRAPH" 27 OCT 1963 Sydney, N.S.W. SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, OCTOBER 27,' 1963 61 The Week in Art by Daniel. Thomas PERMANENT REVOLUTION The Contemporary Art Society is twenty-five years old this year. The birthday is now being cele- brated at Farmers Blaxland Gallery by the annual exhibition, with its £500 Taffs Prize and loans from India, Holland, France and England for added interest. THE Society was formed in Melbourne, not Sydney. in Melbourne, it has split several times, died en occasions, and at present is not very lively. Here it has held regular exhibitions since 1940, re- gular monthly lectures of dependable quality, and has published for its mem- bers a regular monthly broadsheet which Is easily the most efficient infor- mation service for artists in the whole of Australia. In short, a very efficient machine indeed; perhaps due as much to the for- tunate presence here of a few hard working indivi- duals. Elwyn Lynn for example, as to any deep difference between Mel- bourne and Sydney. It was formed in oppo- sition to the Australian Academy of Art (short- lived us it happened), and its role has been that of permanent opposition to any protectionist, fossilis- ing tendencies. This tradition of the new is the only kind of tradition that will not fos- silise. No particular style is in- sisted upon, nor even any arbitrary degree of "pro- fessionalism." It was the safe profes- sional modernist painters who objected to Sidney Nolan's inclusion in the very first CAS show-his first public appearance - in 1939. Laymen, not artist mem- bers, had insisted on his inclusion and the first split in the Melbourne CAS soon followed. Considering the present eminence of Nolan. this Is an object lesson In the built-in prejudice in favor of their own kind of work to be found even among professedly modern paint- ers; arid in the value of the open-minded layman. It demonstrated the chief value of the CAB' a forum for the unfamiliar, a place where unfamiliar art forms can gradually exert the pressure of their merit, if any. One might ask whether there is still any need for a permanently avant - garde position. Dr. Bern- ard Smith in his opening spt tch thought not. The avant-garde had won, it was accepted everywhere, the youngest painters were easily given one-man shows by the numerous dealers that have sprung forth recently. It is true that the ab- sence from the present ex- hibition of many members fully in sympathy with the Society's aims is some confirmation of this view. Lanceley, Watkins, Hess - Mg, Plate, Olsen, for ex- ample, were all busily in- volved with current one- man shows elsewhere. The award of the Taffs Prize (Judge: Kym Bony - then) to Margo Lewers, a founder -member of the Society, might also have Indicated some stagnation if her painting had not steadily gained a quality of assured risk over the years. But Dr. Smith's are dan- gerous words. Nourishment by the local environment is taken for granted and hardly needs his rallying call' indeed, too much local abstraction without tears is made palatable by local landscape injections. And, the internationally oriented artists do not al- ways choose the newest for their jumping .1f/ point, When Australians chose abstract expressionism it may have already been 10 years old; if they choose surrealism this is a his- torical style of 90 years ago; constructionism Is older. There is little difference between going back to these styles and going back to Rubens or Poussin. The point is that all are vital. BOAC's Bacon One sign of local stag- nation and inbreeding was the tiresome fussiness of many CAS exhibits by comparison with the three contemporary British pic- tures lent by BOAC% Local spectators, more- over, scarcely seemed able to enjoy their admirably succinct quality; they seem to prefer those that puff and proclaim the work put into them-a Victorian standard of judgment. Patrick Heron's throb- bing "Blues under green" Is a clear, simple statement of the Joy of color; the meaning of Hockney's "I Saw In Louisiana a Live Oak Drowning" escapes me as yet, but its marvellously aristocratic nonchalence is unmistakable, and one welcomes tile sight of our first real live specimen of Pop Art. t'rancis -Bacon's "Man in Blue, 1954" may not be as excitingly agonised as his newest work looks in the magazines, but it also has the virtues of economy. The face, moreover, Is a brilliantly painted am- biguity. Decomposing flesh perhaps; maybe the close- up blur before a kiss; or a drugged hallucination. The Dutch pictures are pleasant, the Indian as provincial as some of our own, the French little bet- ter, which is astonishing from a country usually sol good at cultural propa- ganda. Watkins Dick Watkins' exhibition at Barry Stern's Is a most refreshing affair. Ten large paintings, 45-85 gui- neas, mostly beautifully colored vertical bands that swell forward or expand sideways on their white ground; some of the bands are applied planks. Not all are competely successful, but one wel- comes an abstraction that really is abstract, that seeks full logical conclu- sions instead of landscape - and-figure compromises. It is amusing to discover the indignation it is caus- ing: "Only design; only ex- ercises." Victor Pasmore and Mondrian, the exemplars, must have had the same objections, which only re- mind one that a cosy, sometimes messy roman- ticism has been firmly en- trenched in Sydney for more than 20 years. Delacroix versus In- gres, Rubens versus Pous- sin, romantic versus clas- sical - the picture as a display of the artist's emo- tions versus the picture as a timeless construction independent of Its maker. Watkins' classical ap- proach is unfamiliar In Sydney. and its consequent reception is another timely contradiction of Dr. Smith's contention that anything goes these days Other shows WARREN BRANDON, slipped into the Hungry Horse at very short no- tice, is an A,nerican work- ng in San .riencisco. The 12 paintln.s at '15 to 190 guineas ere highly profes- sional in the worst sense, calendar art landscapes dressed up In slick ab- stract expressionist ges- tures. PERLE MESSING at Rudy Komon's is Leonard Hessing's mother, and a knowing primitive. Some- times one suspects that Austrian village folk -art might lie behind it - pro- vincial baroque figures en- countering Gothic survival mIlleflore landscapes. One or two very com- plex piled up village cam- positions are as modern In approach as her son, and as sensitive in color, e.g. The Oolem No. 2. NOEL COLINIIIAN at the Macquarie until to- morrow midday has strong drawings, very pleasant pastels, especially of nudes, and 15 oil paintings that assert the loveable- ness of beer-siakers and the dignity of prostitutea in a style that surprising- ly reveals its homage to Delacroix and Titian. This Melbourne realist can articulate a figure com- position as well as any- body, but paint -handling and color in the oil paint- ings seem unnecessarily coarse. EUROPEAN ART; No one should miss seeing the modern European paintings on Tuesday and Wednes- day before they are dis- persed by auction at. Geoff K. Gray's. Excellent, of their kind they offer many lessons not least being clarity of state- ment, technical skill, and some thoughts about mod- esty of size.