Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sycioey, N.S.W. 3 mi-r 19P SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, MAY 3, 1964 4 - The Week in Art by Daniel Thomas THE second triennial scuipture competition organised by Mildura Art Gallery has securely es- tablished itself as Aus tralia's most important event in sculpture. There are three prizes. One of £400 for a large, monumental work scent to Norma Itedpath's 7ft.i bronze, "Dawn Sentinel" lin 1981 she also WI/11 the main award'. Another prize of £100 for a small sculpture went to I Robert Klippens welded, gunk steel construction.; And a purchase prize of £500 went to Vincas' Jomantas' "Guardant," a standing abstract in bronze, tour and a half feel high, whose cata- logued price its fact was HMO. The high cost in terms of the time and labor involved, end espec- ially its terms of the diffi- cult and complicated tech- nique of bronze casting is! one of the problems of; sculpture in Australia. But befBre discussing, the problems one must! praise the Gallery's (thee-, tor, Mr. Ernest van Hat-i turn, for initiating this, well -conceived competition., It is sensible for the' smaller galleries to spe- cialise their patronage in some way; and when the scheme was launched there were many painting prizes' but none for sculpture' except the Wynne-which) people are Inclined to for -I get is for figure sculpture as well as for Australian landscape painting. - But hardly anybody does figure sculpture these days; the prizemoney is too low; and it offers no free transport for such bulky and difficult objects (McGlashan's transport of Mildura very generously donates this free from Adelaide, Sydney and Mel- bourne', It is true that last year Farmers began 11 an annual E2.50 sculpture prise at the Sydney Eas- ter Show, but again this is not really enough money for a national event, though it makes a useful showcase at the local level. Anyway. there simply aren't enough good sculp- tors in Australia to justify a major event more often than Milduru's three- year interval. And the extra time allows it to be organised properly. For example. a catalogue which gives more illustra- tions and more information on Australian sculpture than is available any- , as ell as n- thoughful discussion by Mr. van annum on the changed situation over the pao, three years. And for example marvellously flat- tering open-air display in the riverbank garden of the gallery, once the man- sion home of a Mildura pioneer. The same Med- iterranean climate that Produces all that wine is I dependably dry and sunny. enough even for plasters to be shown outdoors, though plastic coats are kept et the ready, 0, iiiiiii 01 lllll 0 lllllll llllll MI llllllllllllllll . llllllllllll M llll WHAT'S ON TODAY AND NEXT WEEK , .. son.blt.91 Centrryporory Arno ,an hens, found..., wow.. aw, " h'"" "1 AIL r1aX1 Walk Terry Clan.: Domed F, -.nu. st...iptures, Maly Lee.Broorn. ream,. n Rudy 14.anson: Judy Casa., abstract landscapes. r P.gurat.ye Austral.. pronto's. s.n. 1900. Challettons: E Creatortrn - 195414 Dartd Jones; 'Austral.. Art Mocy, annual eh.balan, Von Ilertauch, Newcastle: Torn Glaghorn, trawl Metches. Crane. worIGnoeng: Sewn Potter,. Santa's, 85 E...taboth St Pad0,1,06.: Zoltan Fen, ,Ilustralocrs. Da, 1,5. OPENING MONDAY Walk GIlery, Hornsby: Ttlu Re Har ra.ntiAos and Or.m. OPINING WEDNESDAY Barry Stern: Shed& McDonald. Mas.....e. John RIO,. F4/Inet. Shaw. awn. nos. Hungry Horse: New Gt.10,..1 Pr.n. tore ...rt. Y INCAS JOMANTAS . . ."guardont." Once the prizewinnets than any others in the . judged by Mr. van Hat -r tory of Australian scu turn. William Hannan all titre - Mackennal and Hal Missinghamt are list Rayner Hoff are the only ed one cannot name an candidates from the past other half -dozen sculptore--does suggest that scuip- of real significance in turd night Just be getting Australia. Since the first( off the ground. Mildura show GeraIli Wa , have our sculptors ,have died and Clement been so few, and most of y Lewers and Julius Kane Meadmore has left for, them so provincial? In the first place painting has dominated the plastic arts, for several hundred years anyway; and so in a small art community -One -would naturally expect fewer sculptors than painters. The Email community and all too busy wIllt would have been no ban - architectural commissions (neap if by chance one (more numerous in Sjd- great sculptor had emerg- ney than elsewhere) to- ed amongst us, for art Produce exhibition pieces only grows by breeding on John Dowle was a rare art. But none did emerge provider of good academic- here; though at present Portraiture; Daphne Mayo, we can hope that Redpath was not present - if she and Klippel will remain still works. Inge King and tang: enough for the ex - Owen Broughton could be ample of their quality to admired for the clarity of spread. their formal ideas when some competitions clearly had no ideas at all (let alone original or intelli- gent ones) beyond the technical manipulation of their materials. Nee York, Stephen Walker and Lenton Parr were in the exhibition. but three other well -respected artists were not: Margel Hinder, Lyn- don Dadswell and 'tom Bass, all from Sydney. best. no Mexican. African or Egyptian. Nor, until Mildura, was there much Imaginative encourage- ment of sculpture, al- though of course, there were the architectural commissions. But these demand too many com- promises with air art.st' s integrity, and tt ad to in- duce a kind of commercial art. Worse, the energy and time-sometimes over a year-taken to execute some of these commissions means an enormous waste, when the artists' purely mechanical tasici prevent them getting on with !reds creative ones. The old-fashioned sys- tem of apprentices and as-' slstants to carry out the t mechanical tasks seems called for. This time -waste I factor is why Norma Bed- pans has her casting done In Italy [there ere no art' foundries in Australia), and it explains why so little carving or bronze casting is done at present, and why almost everyone uses the more rapid direct welding techniques. And if there's little time to think about their own artistic problems, how much less is there to mix with their fellows. to argue about form and content, about ljfe and death and all that. The genius work-' Mg in isolation is an un- likely myth; and one won- ders whether our sculptors do in fact stay too much buried in their outer suburban bush allotments. Too many have nothing to offer but technique, that is they are only commer- cial artists; others lack even that. One would welcome a greater awareness of mean- ing and purpose, more ef- fort. more passion in the rather soggy world of Aus- tralian sculpture. The Mil- dura exhibition's great int- portance is to focus atten- tion on the problems, and thereby to create this awareness. I shall report on various unrevieeed Sydney ex- hibitions next week. Of those that will still be open I recommend the mixed show at the Dominion for its Phillip Poxes, Streeton, early Frank Hinder. Friend, Blackman and three Pass - mores. And at Barry Stern's Brian McKay a iaintings arc well worth nspecting before they are dispersed. Good works of art can breed artists too: but the art museums own little that could serve for in spiration a few Gothic carvings in Melbourne,' e, however, a Epsteinri)uted ianndson NieloocirueRntdiitsy-. sculptors; number of pGeor Hal- romising new good range of impres- ge dens n, Max Lyle, Bob sionist sculptures in Parr, and their preselien eBrielsvbeltinoseis in S)dny Aboriginal and the fact that the is Branctigi (this century's tilers are so much het'