Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

.17 MAY 1964 "TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. The Week* in Art by Daniel Thomas Loss GODFR EY MILLER's death is a sad loss. One of those painter's painters whose work take:, time to reach a wide audience he can be grouped with Fairweather and Passmore irom among Sydney exhibitors. Roger Kenn) from Melbourne. These artists are in no way Australianist. Quality is their most pressing con- cern. not their themes (though the themes are Important and are inclined Co be spiritual rather than everyday, universal rather than national-Lustrallan,. There are always art stu- dents hovering around the Godfrey Miller paintings in the Art Gallery of N.S.W. studying the Ce- zanne lesson of form through color. i In fact Godfrey Miller has had only 12 years to reach any audience. Al- though he was probably in Sydney from the early 1940's. and was teaching drawing at East Sydney Technical College from about 1948. and becoming a legend among students I even then, no painting was seen in public until "Unity In Blue" made a sensational appearance in a mixed show of the Syd- ney Group In 1952 Not mach seen There was only one one-man show, at the Macquarie four years later. there was a small retro- spective In Melbourne in 1959; a few pictures were seen here and there; and of course they were always visible in the Art Gallery of NJ3.W. But not much had been seen. For after all not much had been released by the artist, a perfectionist viho worked years on all his paintings, and who could seldom decide he had finally com- pleted anything. It Is more the pity then that we will not see the large exhibition he was planning to nold this year in July, that is simul- taneously with the big Dobell exhibition, against which he clearly intended to oppose a" alternative set of values. His will was very strong. In othe ways his air of -Wavy shy de- votion to nothing but his own art was deceptive. He had (I think) more IASI- tors thin one realised. And he ;as interested enough in other art four years ago to fly to London virtually for the weekend only, to see the great Picasso exhibition: or tO fly similarly to New Zea- land to collect an ancient L a painter "Hillside" by Fred Williams Chinese pot whi, .1 he had stored there. He was born In New Zealand in August 1893, he was at Gallipoli, he was in London through the twenties and thirties, studying on r'ld off at the Slade School of Art. Be- fore he settled in Sydney he had lived briefly in Melbourne. But sometime, perhaps immediately after Gallipoli, he visited China and Eastern philosophy began to shape his thought very largely. He was much interested in Theosophy. Sim de objects So although the subject matter of his 13^' Ana is nearly always simple still life. or the nude, or land- scape, the content is much. much more. Intense con- templation of any oblect reveals its place in the rhythms of the universe, Its relation to and con- nection with all other objects. Diversity and separateness disappear In a total unity of all things. all in harmony with each other. at one 'with the in- finite. Consequently his Paintings vibrate through- out; within their atrungly realised space the air, earth, trees, bodies, are all part of the same con- tinuum, differing in den- sity, color, and position, but ultimately unified into a universal whole. (There is only one book on his art. Forty Drawings by tiotlfrey Miller introduced by John Henshaw, pub- lished two years ago). For once there Is a new a 1 1 0 fi made, that observation is I plainly demonstrated as the merest beginning of art. After observation t comes creation, the diffi- cult part where the thing I seen is wrestled with and b converted into a pictorial structure with Its own 2 vitality quite independent T of the subject. Only then e is It a work of art, with I an impervious resonance d for those who may never 5 have seen a gum-Ire t landscape. Ocean of trees I have written often enough about Williams, The present exhibition of 14 paintings and sundry drawings Includes one or (w. familiar works going back a few years which sums up both the Sher- brooke Forest vertical series, submerged inside a deep ocean of giant trees, and the You Yang exhibition that can be spoken of in unequivocal terms: not "good" of Ps kind, not "improved," not "promising," not illustrat- ing an Interesting tendency. But good. And of a good kind. I refer of course to Fred Williams' paintings of Australian landscapes at the Komon Gallery. Al- though the inner vision of a Godfrey Miller is one vital way, outward vision, where toe thing seeen remains im- portant to the picture, and Is heightened and concen- trated by the artist's gift of form. After all we do have eyes as well as minds, and the purely visbual experience gives it own profound pleasures. So here we have gum tree landscape (something with which every one of us is familiar) seen fresh- ly and brought to us with a sense of wonder. The exhibition is in- structive, for the water- color or chalk drawings done on the spot are ex- hibited as well as the fin- ished paintings. Now all the drawings have the sub- versive charm of sponta- neity, and freshness, both in the artist's response to the subject, and in the handling of his medium. Yet the final paintings are so different, so much more deeply charged with what must have been felt when the drawing was spotty series, suspended above a distance expanse of open country. nut in some newer works the landform ttseir Is now al- lowed a positive animist presence. "Hillside" is a seemingly deadpan quar- ter-circle profile, with lit- tle trees; but it tumbles. Moreover It tumbles with gaiety and joy; It is like the biblical psalm where the little hills dance and sing. And the three new paintings of "Trees and Rocks" show a tougher landscape that neaves with powerful latent force. These are his major new directions, revealing more clearly the romantic sensi- bility that must always be present behind such ex- treme classicism as the highly controlled verticals series and dots series (think of Mondrian's expressionist beginnings). Further serie'; There is a further center!, nd the exhibition wisely hows a much wider car le han his first Sydney ex- iibition permitted itself in 962-though then we had ne brilliant and mysterl- us figure subject, a ategory which has been impressed this time. This nal series contains large laborately textured areas, 13osely disposed around a very few verticals, like 'Echuca Landscape" (or he Triptych now touring with the exhibition Austra- lan Painting Today), or, etter, textured all over like 'Forest." Curiously, I am lad to find that Williams s not wholly perfect in my yes; I like these less and ess. Their diffuse qualities o seem to contradict the Ingle -minded concentra- ion of his other work. And heir source is at two re- noyes from the visual ex - ',faience. Between them and the subject lies not only a drawing, but an etching, or rather an aqua- tint, which is an etching with texture; none of his superb etchings are shown, but they are very in- timately related to the paintings-as we saw two years ago. It may be then that these last paintings are too inbred. But, still, this exhibition Is a feast, and Williams, now aged 37, confirms his front rank as 2,t1 Australia* painter.