Speaker 1: Part one of the second Number of Art in Australia,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
Speaker 1: please a visit LibriVox dot org. Edited by Sidney or Smith,
Speaker 1: Bertram Stephens and C. Lloyd Jones. Published by Anguson Robertson Limited,
Speaker 1: eighty nine Castlereagh Street, Sydney, nineteen seventeen. One thousand, two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty copies of this edition have been printed forward.
Speaker 1: The cordial reception of the First Number of Art in
Speaker 1: Australia by the press on the public justifies as in
Speaker 1: the belief that a publication of this kind was wanted.
Speaker 1: It seems to have been generally recognized that art and
Speaker 1: the artists in Australia will benefit by the circulation of
Speaker 1: a journal devoted to Australian work and reproducing it well.
Speaker 1: Our first was printed in difficult circumstances during the coal strike. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: the quality of the publication received high praise from artists
Speaker 1: and others competent to judge, and we are encouraged to
Speaker 1: go on. We were also very pleased to receive a
Speaker 1: letter from mister Howard Hinton of Sydney, stating that the
Speaker 1: article in Art in Australia on the Hilda exhibition had
Speaker 1: induced him to present to the New South Wales National
Speaker 1: Gallery a collection of twelve watercolors by J. J. Hilda.
Speaker 1: Not only is each of these a charming example of
Speaker 1: Hilda's art, but the panel represents the whole course of
Speaker 1: his development from nineteen hundred and seven to nineteen sixteen.
Speaker 1: This was not the first of mister Hinton's gifts to
Speaker 1: the New South Wales Gallery, which has not hitherto benefited
Speaker 1: much by private donations. One friendly critic suggested that we
Speaker 1: should have included the older and better known Australian artists
Speaker 1: before young men. Where is life Ambert? What about Ford Patterson, McCubbin,
Speaker 1: with us Davis, Phillips, Fox and the rest Our idea, however,
Speaker 1: was not to make this a chronological record of Australian art,
Speaker 1: nor to begin with all the stars of first magnitude,
Speaker 1: but to represent the earlier and younger artists concurrently. In
Speaker 1: time we hope to cover the whole field of artistic
Speaker 1: efforts in Australia that is worth attention. We might mention
Speaker 1: that without the support of our advertisers, we could not
Speaker 1: publish at all. While the cost of production is at
Speaker 1: the present high rate. It is hardly necessary to say
Speaker 1: that we do not represent any school or society and
Speaker 1: are concerned only with the work done by anyone in
Speaker 1: Australia that is of sufficient artistic merit. We shall be
Speaker 1: glad to consider short articles on subjects of interest to
Speaker 1: local artists or art lovers. All communications should be addressed
Speaker 1: to the editors Art in Australia twenty before Bond Street, Sydney,
Speaker 1: end of Part one, Part two of the second number
Speaker 1: of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This LibriVox recording is
Speaker 1: in the public domain. Some recollections of Charles Conder by
Speaker 1: Julian Ashton, illustrated by the Farm Richmond, New South Wales,
Speaker 1: oil Painting in the possession of Julian Ashton, Esquire, Sydney.
Speaker 1: Charles Conda came to Sydney in eighteen eighty five at
Speaker 1: the age of seventeen. He was sent out by his
Speaker 1: people in London to learn under an uncle, a trigonometrical
Speaker 1: surveyor in the Land's Department, the method of dividing the
Speaker 1: surface of New South Wales into rods, pools and perches,
Speaker 1: but a more alluring vocation. The quest of beauty filled
Speaker 1: his mind and stirred his senses, and in the following
Speaker 1: year he left his uncle's survey camp for good and
Speaker 1: came back to Sydney. Of medium height, rather heavy build,
Speaker 1: with a polite, even deferential manner. He had curious moods
Speaker 1: of abstraction, which marked him even in those early days
Speaker 1: as a dreamer of dreams. Upon the subject of painting,
Speaker 1: his interest never flagged, and his curiosity as to modes
Speaker 1: of procedure was indefatigable. He secured a small position upon
Speaker 1: the Illustrated Sydney News at a salary which sufficed his
Speaker 1: sturdy bohemianism. He was very careless as to what materials
Speaker 1: he used. Most of his work was done upon cigar
Speaker 1: boxes or any piece of cardboard coated with sighs. He
Speaker 1: had an extraordinary sense of color and tone, but his
Speaker 1: appreciation of form was most primitive. When I first visited
Speaker 1: his studio, he was living in William Street, Darlinghurst, where
Speaker 1: he enjoyed a care tell us existence, eating when he
Speaker 1: felt like it and working at all hours. As the
Speaker 1: mood took him dressed anyhow, with wisps of long hair
Speaker 1: hanging over his forehead and a cigarette forever drooping from
Speaker 1: the corner of his mouth. Charles Condor looked to the
Speaker 1: embodiment of one of the heroes of his favorite reading
Speaker 1: at that time, Mergise la vie de beauem Amid the
Speaker 1: disorder of his room, there was one hallowed corner within
Speaker 1: which were hanging from a nail, a stylish frock coat,
Speaker 1: vest and trousers, a top hat, gloves and a cane
Speaker 1: kept them in countenance. When he walked abroad clothed in
Speaker 1: these garments, he looked the man of fashion, doing the
Speaker 1: block and smiling on the fair. Condor loved pretty ladies
Speaker 1: in beautiful dresses, and afternoon tea with these attractions was
Speaker 1: for him a high feast, a sort of sacred colt.
Speaker 1: A few of us Fulward Mahoney, Mins Hopkins, and phil
Speaker 1: May had a weekly meeting for the purpose of drawing
Speaker 1: and talking over Australian arts and its future. When Min's,
Speaker 1: who shared Condor's rooms during his stay in New South Wales,
Speaker 1: brought him along to this symposium, he quickly made friends,
Speaker 1: for he was of a simple and affectionate nature. As
Speaker 1: he was the youngest amongst us, he looked up to
Speaker 1: us with humility, which is a form of flattery very
Speaker 1: difficult to withstand. So it was that Charles Conder began
Speaker 1: to bring his little nine by fives to our weekly meetings,
Speaker 1: and very charming many of them were. I remember that
Speaker 1: about that time Fulward took a craze for pallette knife painting.
Speaker 1: Of course Conder must try it, and it is curious
Speaker 1: to see in Sir Baldwin Spencer's excellent collection of Australian
Speaker 1: Pictures a small conda which was painted in that fashion.
Speaker 1: For our weekly meeting. We all used to lecture him
Speaker 1: more or less seriously upon the necessity of more methodical study,
Speaker 1: but Condo hated method of any sort. And the only
Speaker 1: occasion upon which I ever knew him to apply himself
Speaker 1: seriously to the study of nature was when he stayed
Speaker 1: with me at an old inn just beyond Richmond Bridge
Speaker 1: for four or five weeks in the spring of eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight. I had persuaded him to join me to
Speaker 1: see the spring blossoms around Windsor and Richmond, and we
Speaker 1: settled upon this somewhat disreputable old house of call as
Speaker 1: our headquarters. Here Condor set himself seriously to tackle the
Speaker 1: problems of form, color and lights. For a month, a
Speaker 1: little procession started from the inn each morning, a girl
Speaker 1: leading a calf, and conder with his canvas and painting
Speaker 1: materials following the calf, which has so inconspicuous a place
Speaker 1: in the reproduction of his picture which illustrates these recollections,
Speaker 1: was a source of much irritation to Condor. When he
Speaker 1: had nearly painted it standing up, it would lie down
Speaker 1: when he had coaxed it up. Its head would be
Speaker 1: where its tail had hung. But the rest of the
Speaker 1: subject was not so intractable and gradually, for Condor was
Speaker 1: a very slow worker. The beautiful hills and sky, the
Speaker 1: lovely tones of the blossom, the painstaking drawing of the
Speaker 1: gnarled old fruit trees, and the warm and beautiful color
Speaker 1: of the foreground made up the only truly Australian picture
Speaker 1: I have known Condor to paint. We came back to
Speaker 1: Sydney together for a few months. He was often in
Speaker 1: our midst and at the end of that year eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight, he went over to Melbourne. After having lived
Speaker 1: in New South Wales for three years. In eighteen ninety
Speaker 1: he left Melbourne for Europe, and in nineteen hundred and nine,
Speaker 1: this greatly gifted colorist and designer, with his dreams of
Speaker 1: romance Saint Fete Gallants, passed beyond our view. Since then
Speaker 1: much has been written about Charles Conder in judicious admirers,
Speaker 1: in their desais desire to do honor to a very
Speaker 1: original artist, have published, with beautiful examples of his manner,
Speaker 1: some invitation cards, illustrations and lithographs, which injure his claim
Speaker 1: to fame. It is inexplicable that Condor the colorist could
Speaker 1: ever have been induced to attempt anything requiring draftsmanship, which
Speaker 1: is the very foundation upon which illustration or lithography must
Speaker 1: always rest. For color, harmony and a fanciful, if somewhat
Speaker 1: artificial sense of design. His taste was unerring, but his
Speaker 1: vague and capricious dreams had nothing in common with the
Speaker 1: severity and calculated beauty of form required in the work.
Speaker 1: He attempted to extol his genius for the fine things
Speaker 1: it gave us, as well to claim for that genius
Speaker 1: our admiration for qualities it never possessed, only injures it.
Speaker 1: This is but one way in which Conda has suffered
Speaker 1: in the hands of his friends. It is quite a
Speaker 1: common statement that he greatly indebted to Streeton for his
Speaker 1: artistic outlook. In truth, it was quite the other way. Condor,
Speaker 1: who only met Streeton towards the end of eighteen eighty eight,
Speaker 1: had at once a very powerful and easily recognizable effect
Speaker 1: upon the realistic treatment which marked the early work of Streeton. Realism.
Speaker 1: At no time had any charm for Charles Condor color
Speaker 1: and decorative effects with the goals he strove to attain.
Speaker 1: It was from Condor that Streeton learned the value of
Speaker 1: decorative landscape, and through his influence he began to lay
Speaker 1: more stress upon selection and design. I do not doubt
Speaker 1: but that Arthur Streeton would be amongst the first to
Speaker 1: acknowledge his debt to this gifted friend of his early manhood.
Speaker 1: Poor Condor, his early death deprived the world of art
Speaker 1: of many beautiful examples of his fantastic and original genius.
Speaker 1: But it is pleasant to think that his five years
Speaker 1: sojourn in Australia laid the foundation for those color poems,
Speaker 1: those charming medalis of pearly blossom and azure skies upon
Speaker 1: which his claim to a place amongst the immortals must
Speaker 1: be based. End of Part two, Part three of the
Speaker 1: second Number of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. W Hardy Wilson by
Speaker 1: John Lane Mullins, illustrated by Gray Staines, Prospect Hill, New
Speaker 1: South Wales and Newington, Parramatta, New South Wales. Pencil drawings
Speaker 1: for a projected book of drawings of Georgian architecture in
Speaker 1: New South Wales. William Hardy Wilson was born in Sydney,
Speaker 1: and in his early years gave indications of that benign
Speaker 1: influence which art exerts upon her voteries. By profession, he
Speaker 1: is an architect, and nature implanted in his soul power
Speaker 1: to discern form, and imparted to him the gift of
Speaker 1: appreciation of colour. He possesses a clear perception of the
Speaker 1: loveliest hues of the Australian atmosphere, and enjoys not only
Speaker 1: the visual power to discover them, but the manual dexterity
Speaker 1: to present them to our admiring gaze through the medium
Speaker 1: of pencil. The artist and architect are happily blended in
Speaker 1: a strong personality, and the problem for himself and his
Speaker 1: friends is to determine which predominates. Like Whittington, he went
Speaker 1: to London, and during a seven years course of study
Speaker 1: in that great centre, as well as by frequent visits
Speaker 1: to the continent and to the galleries of Europe, he
Speaker 1: made himself familiar with much of the notable work of
Speaker 1: great artists and architects. He profited in full measure by
Speaker 1: intimate converse with ripe intellects and the finest examples of
Speaker 1: ancient and modern art. Then he returned to his native
Speaker 1: city with a professional equipment that makes for mastery in
Speaker 1: the calling of architects upon which he entered. He has
Speaker 1: devoted particular attention to buildings of the Georgian type erected
Speaker 1: under Governor Lochlan Macquarie between the years eighteen ten and
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one. Before the arrival of that governor, there
Speaker 1: was literally no structure of any magnitude in the city
Speaker 1: of Sydney. His reign was a period of great architectural
Speaker 1: activity in this young country. These perishing remnants of majestic
Speaker 1: thought furnished the earliest evidence of its age. They possess
Speaker 1: much inherent beauty of form, which the subsequent tones of
Speaker 1: age and rich Any harshness of outline is subdued by
Speaker 1: the same mellowing agency or the glory of their comparative
Speaker 1: antiquity and the softening effects of time. Are reproduced with skill,
Speaker 1: fidelity and imagination by Hardy Wilson. His technique is admirable.
Speaker 1: There are no tricks in his treatment. Its simplicity is convincing.
Speaker 1: Every stroke is vibrant. All the impressive qualities the noble
Speaker 1: lines of the architecture are exhibited in his work. It
Speaker 1: is full of vitality. His correctness of vision and his
Speaker 1: dexterous management of the pencil enable him to draw things
Speaker 1: as he sees them. There is a complete absence of
Speaker 1: affectation or overelaboration. The whole effect is original, inexhaustibly agreeable.
Speaker 1: There are no finer examples of brick drawing in Australia.
Speaker 1: Note in the drawings reproduced, the weird light of the
Speaker 1: sun expressed by the conspicuous shadows across the steps. Examine
Speaker 1: the masses of foliage, their fullness, their interlacing, their transparency.
Speaker 1: Yet all is blended into a cloudlike harmony of shade.
Speaker 1: End of Part three, Part four of the second Number
Speaker 1: of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This livery of Voctor
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Arthur Streeton's Place in
Speaker 1: Australian Art by Lionel Lindsay, illustrated by Sydney Harbor and
Speaker 1: Kent Harvest, in the possession of Baldwin Spencer, Melbourne. Upon
Speaker 1: the beautiful landscape of Australia. Their rests neither the romance
Speaker 1: nor the burden of tradition. Our earliest painters brought their
Speaker 1: old world ways of thought and handling to its consideration,
Speaker 1: and even Louis Bouverlau, who came nearest to an Australian
Speaker 1: way of sight in his pool at Coleraine, is not
Speaker 1: free from the prevailing conventions of his day. The discoverer
Speaker 1: the first look into the heart of our landscape, as
Speaker 1: with the eyes of a child, and reveal its essential mystery,
Speaker 1: its truth, and its beauty, was Arthur Streeton. Consider for
Speaker 1: a moment what Australian landscape was before the advent of Streeton.
Speaker 1: The pioneer painters, though they had striven hard to render
Speaker 1: the forms of our landscape and the character of our
Speaker 1: trees were heavily handicapped by a working formula, while their
Speaker 1: vision had been already cast in a home country mold.
Speaker 1: In many cases they regretted their transposition, as all men
Speaker 1: regret the commonplaces of tradition once they are displaced. Visually,
Speaker 1: they were foreigners. The light flickered no longer upon deciduous foliage,
Speaker 1: so that the drawing master methods of fielding and harding
Speaker 1: availed them nothing. Aerial perspective was a new difficulty in
Speaker 1: the face of clear and delicate horizons, the flat masses
Speaker 1: of gum leaves, with their metallic luster and elusive grists,
Speaker 1: their sheen and shimmer of bronze with blue reflections. How
Speaker 1: could eyes accustomed to the rich, distinctive greens of England
Speaker 1: hope to render their difficult nuances. The problem could only
Speaker 1: be solved by a native born artist possessing the necessary genius,
Speaker 1: whose vision had never been disturbed by the schools of
Speaker 1: the old world. All artists pass through a period of initiation.
Speaker 1: They fasten upon the masters of their choice and paraphrase
Speaker 1: their divinity. Streeton's earliest predilection. I have been unable to
Speaker 1: discover but that he found himself at an astonishingly early
Speaker 1: age is evidenced by some of his earliest oils, painted
Speaker 1: upon the cedar of cigar boxes, in which his characteristics
Speaker 1: are easily discernible. Belle reeve his birthplace in Victoria may
Speaker 1: still preserve his earliest efforts, but it was not until
Speaker 1: he became a lithographer at Trudle's in Melbourne, having started
Speaker 1: life in a wine and space sir its store, afterwards
Speaker 1: serving in a soft goods establishment, that his career was
Speaker 1: really determined. Here he worked for several years painting landscape
Speaker 1: in his hours of freedom, and working at night with
Speaker 1: McCubbin and Longstaff in the life classes of the National Gallery.
Speaker 1: All art needs, at intervals the stimulus of shock, something
Speaker 1: coming from without that disturbs the convention of the hour
Speaker 1: and liberates the trammeled spirit upon a new path. This
Speaker 1: quickening came to Streeton and Condor when Tom Roberts returned
Speaker 1: from Paris, bringing the glad tidings of a new technique
Speaker 1: broken color, the tints mixed to no even consistency, but
Speaker 1: laid in its place finally with the square brush, the
Speaker 1: fresh gospel of Impressionism, with light as the god of
Speaker 1: the machine, and all the complaisant orthodoxes swept to the
Speaker 1: limbo of the forgotten. The dauntless three settled in an
Speaker 1: old house at Eagle Mount, near Heidelberg, and for three
Speaker 1: years worked out their salvation in that beautiful, undulating country
Speaker 1: through which the yarrow wanders quietly in the security of
Speaker 1: her woody banks. Their labors and discoveries in landscape created
Speaker 1: a revolution in Australian art. When they held their Impressionist
Speaker 1: exhibition of eighteen ninety two. That year is Our eighteen thirty,
Speaker 1: the fetters of convention were irreparably broken, and the first
Speaker 1: note of nationalism struck in Australian art. Reactionaries objected, but
Speaker 1: their objections were vain and doomed to extinction. For the
Speaker 1: revolutionaries had light and truth for their battle cry, and these,
Speaker 1: in all great causes, must ultimately prevail. Streeton's lovely pastoral
Speaker 1: still glides the stream and shall for ever glide, which
Speaker 1: was bought at the instigation of Julian Ashton for the
Speaker 1: Sydney Gallery, is the masterpiece which crowns this period of
Speaker 1: his work. It lays its quiet spell upon us ever
Speaker 1: more surely because its poetry is inherent in the faithful
Speaker 1: and delicate rendering of failing lights. In the year following,
Speaker 1: street and Condor and Roberts migrated to Sydney and settled
Speaker 1: in their Mossman camp, all traces of which have long
Speaker 1: since been obliterated by suburbia. Streeton's art was now fixed,
Speaker 1: and the coming years but saw him develop it. His
Speaker 1: colour always refined, became richer and more harmonious, his observation
Speaker 1: surer and more profound. New subject matter he opened up
Speaker 1: in fires On by the treatment of the open face
Speaker 1: of the range. A blaze of light in the summer
Speaker 1: sunlight with trees and hillside receding into the palpable blue
Speaker 1: of the sky, marks the furthest step in this treatment
Speaker 1: of light in Australia until Hasten matured his wonderful art
Speaker 1: in his two renderings of the Hawkesbury. Streeton displays absolute
Speaker 1: genius in the way he has handled the great stretch
Speaker 1: of countryside until the distance is closed by the Amethysteine hills.
Speaker 1: Here we have his peculiar ability at its finest, the
Speaker 1: power of laying value, colour and character with a stroke
Speaker 1: of the brush, so surely that the atmospheric impression is
Speaker 1: secured without artifice. This faculty could only be acquired by
Speaker 1: years spent out of doors. It is no studio art
Speaker 1: of sources and tricks. Painted entirely in the open. There
Speaker 1: rests upon it the benediction of the sky. Lyrically, it
Speaker 1: affirms the gift of life, the sovereignty of the sun.
Speaker 1: Such pictures are adorations, veritable hymns to Apollo, the one
Speaker 1: and only god of all true landscape painters. In eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety six, Streeton left us for the Old World, where
Speaker 1: he has exploited the picturesque in Venice, Posilipo and Cairo
Speaker 1: Chepstone Corf. The beautiful reaches of the Thames and the
Speaker 1: mystery of London fog have in turn attracted his brush,
Speaker 1: and to their characteristics he has added his inimitable grace,
Speaker 1: but has suffered the loss of that intimacy. This is
Speaker 1: the fate of all tourist art, which is embodied in
Speaker 1: the local soul of things understood from boyhood. In the
Speaker 1: center of the Empire, Streeton's eyesight is still his own,
Speaker 1: his impressionism as faithful to things seen, as in his
Speaker 1: Australian days in a Kent's Harvest, and as Sussex Idol,
Speaker 1: he returns to his Australian manner and achieves two exquisite
Speaker 1: masterpieces of all his English work, the most convincing and beautiful,
Speaker 1: but in Windsor, the Royal Barge at Eton KrF Castle,
Speaker 1: the chalk Pit, and all the heavier machines. I feel
Speaker 1: that there are other influences at work, and that the
Speaker 1: gay and exquisite impressionist has become a picture builder, availing
Speaker 1: himself of the formula of the masters, and that he
Speaker 1: has forsworn his birthright. Night upon two return visits to
Speaker 1: Australia Street and painted Australia Felix and the Fine Sydney
Speaker 1: Harbor across Cremawne, which was acquired by one of Streeton's
Speaker 1: most generous patrons, Sir Baldwin Spencer. Here he submits himself
Speaker 1: again to the charm and virtues of his native land,
Speaker 1: forgetting the recipes he had acquired abroad. In the Sydney
Speaker 1: Harbor panels of this period, he plays again with color
Speaker 1: like a magician, and if upon a louder and less
Speaker 1: delicate scale than in his earlier harbor pieces, still with
Speaker 1: the bravura that is rich and brilliant. Undoubtedly, the loss
Speaker 1: of Streeton to Australia is a heavy and irreplaceable one,
Speaker 1: for his art, as fresh and natural as the song
Speaker 1: of a bird, has revealed our country to us. But
Speaker 1: perhaps ours is the blame that, in the lean years
Speaker 1: following the Bursted Boom, he was forced to leave us
Speaker 1: for a handful of silver. But our permanent gain is
Speaker 1: that he matured his talents before he left us, in
Speaker 1: a series of masterpieces that began with Golden Summer and
Speaker 1: still glides the Stream, and ended with fires On and
Speaker 1: the Hawkesbury. These are our proud possessions and the cornerstones
Speaker 1: of Australian landscape. In them, faithful to the mood of
Speaker 1: the light, with no romantic instinct to clothe the facts
Speaker 1: with the ideal character of a vision, Streeton has revealed
Speaker 1: the native beauty of our country, its light, its gaiety,
Speaker 1: and its charm of color, with the incomparable style which
Speaker 1: is genius. In that revelation, he has raised his own
Speaker 1: most enduring monuments. End of Parts four, Part five of
Speaker 1: the Second Number of Arts in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This
Speaker 1: Libri vopt recording is in the public domain. David Lowe
Speaker 1: by Bertram Stephens, illustrated by pencil caricatures of F. McCubbin
Speaker 1: and Backsmeldrum by David Lowe. While a boy in New Zealand,
Speaker 1: David Lowe proved himself to be a facile portraitist. In line,
Speaker 1: the ability to capture a recognizable likeness in a rapid
Speaker 1: sketch is not common, and few artists anywhere have displayed
Speaker 1: such skill in portraiture as Loaded. While a youngster, time
Speaker 1: brought him greater ease and more insight into character. His
Speaker 1: book of Caricatures, published in nineteen fifteen, includes nearly four
Speaker 1: hundred figures and is the best portrait gallery of notable
Speaker 1: Australasian citizens that we possess. As a caricaturist, Low knows
Speaker 1: how to exaggerate humorously the external features of his subject,
Speaker 1: but is seldom grotesque. He lacks the moudants power of
Speaker 1: will Dyson, who in many cases has given a subtle
Speaker 1: and relentless interpretation of the soul of his victim. Low's
Speaker 1: cartoons and illustrations have always had humor in the actual drawing,
Speaker 1: and in his social sketches he depicts admirably the insussients
Speaker 1: flapper and the blatant cannut. They look as if the
Speaker 1: artist really enjoyed himself while at work upon them, which
Speaker 1: I am sure was really the case. Low takes his
Speaker 1: art seriously enough and spares no pains to secure the
Speaker 1: effect he desires, but he has come to regard his
Speaker 1: fellow men as material for laughter or derision. Life has
Speaker 1: been to him a more or less comic pageant, providing
Speaker 1: plenty of material for his pencil. For that reason, none
Speaker 1: of his drawings has touched the note of pathos, the
Speaker 1: tears mixed with laughter, which makes so much of the
Speaker 1: value of Phil May's sketches. Low's early cartoons would draw
Speaker 1: on one plane only they had the precision and a
Speaker 1: little of the coldness of a geometrical design. As a draftsman,
Speaker 1: he had something to learn when he began to work
Speaker 1: for the Bulletin in nineteen eleven. He soon learned it,
Speaker 1: and now he draws with depth and spirit. No longer
Speaker 1: do his pages depend upon the clean and vigorous line.
Speaker 1: They are more artistically composed. His observation has become keener,
Speaker 1: and he yets more bite and force into his portrayal
Speaker 1: of a political situation by patients, industry and incessants. Study
Speaker 1: Low has developed amazingly during the last six years. Now,
Speaker 1: at the age of twenty six, he has a fine
Speaker 1: achievement behind him, but as with Rabbi ben Ezra, the
Speaker 1: best is yet to be. End of Parts five, Part
Speaker 1: six of the Second num of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 1: This Library Vox recording is in the public domain. Hans
Speaker 1: Haysen by Ronald Finlayson, illustrated by in the Rangers and
Speaker 1: a Gray Morning Watercolours in the possession of Anthony Harden's
Speaker 1: Fine Art Gallery. When Haysten was sixteen years old, he
Speaker 1: went out of his home near Adelaide to paint a
Speaker 1: couple of gum trees. After three years spent between Julian's
Speaker 1: studio the Julian so maliciously drawn in Moore's Impressions and
Speaker 1: Opinions at the Bazaar and in Italy, Hasten returned to
Speaker 1: South Australia. Since then he has painted many gums, chiefly
Speaker 1: the beautiful white trunk gums which abound near his home
Speaker 1: at Ambleside. He has painted them in all stages of
Speaker 1: their growth, under all conditions of sunlight, delicate opalescent saplings
Speaker 1: at early dawn, and robust for grown trees under the
Speaker 1: rays of noon and afternoon, or in the red and
Speaker 1: gold of evening. Walk a step or two from his
Speaker 1: house and one is in the midst of his subjects.
Speaker 1: He was the first to fully recognize and develop the
Speaker 1: possibilities resident in the gum, and in spite of the
Speaker 1: uniformity of subject, his handling of line and light and
Speaker 1: shade has always charmed away monotony. Under the immediate influence
Speaker 1: of his landscape, seeing and becoming saturated with its daily
Speaker 1: life and growth, he paints the gum with unrivaled intimacy
Speaker 1: and understanding, yet always as a painter who never overlooks
Speaker 1: the pattern of form and color, for one almost wholly
Speaker 1: a landscape painter. There was a danger that this constant
Speaker 1: preoccupation with one subject might spoil the freshness and spontaneity
Speaker 1: of his work and hinder further development. But in the
Speaker 1: last two or three years this danger has been seen
Speaker 1: and averted. New and robust freshness is evident in the
Speaker 1: Decorative series of Turkey Studies, bright and happy in colour
Speaker 1: and full of movement, and in the sketches and paintings
Speaker 1: of the River Murray, in the strength of the red cliffs,
Speaker 1: in the strangeness of the tree scenery, in the breadth
Speaker 1: of the low lying vistas. In his early work, Hasten
Speaker 1: painted his landscape much as he saw it. One cannot
Speaker 1: notice the preference and selection that so individualize his later manner.
Speaker 1: The colour looks solid and heavy, without the characteristic suggestion
Speaker 1: of suffusing light. Then followed a period when the gun
Speaker 1: was intimately studied and rendered with a leaning towards the
Speaker 1: warm red and gold tones and the slanting light of evening.
Speaker 1: In many of these pictures there is a pervasive tint
Speaker 1: of purple that now looks heavy beside the delicate gray
Speaker 1: and lilac of his recent work. But his attachment to
Speaker 1: evening effects has become slighter, and now the silver grays
Speaker 1: of dawn with the early sunglow lighting the mists attract him,
Speaker 1: and here the decorative note is becoming more accented. At
Speaker 1: times we can catch a distinct hint of Japanese influence.
Speaker 1: All his work is growing lighter and cooler in key,
Speaker 1: and it is in this direction that his color schemes
Speaker 1: are increasingly tending for this cooler color scheme. He has
Speaker 1: practically abandoned oils, in which medium much of his former
Speaker 1: work was done, and adopted water color. To some extent
Speaker 1: he has worked in pastels, and there are some delightful
Speaker 1: studies of Sydney Harbor and haystacks seen under the light
Speaker 1: of late afternoon. In all Hasten's pictures, one is keenly
Speaker 1: aware of the presence of the sun. In an art
Speaker 1: so typically Australian, this could hardly be otherwise. His aim, still,
Speaker 1: in the course of such admirable achievement, is the complete
Speaker 1: rendering of atmosphere permeated and alive with light, clear atmosphere,
Speaker 1: atmosphere laden with mist or dust or the gold dust
Speaker 1: of the evening, and in and through it all the
Speaker 1: sun's light. Thus one marks the absence of strong shadows,
Speaker 1: the restrained relief of light against light, the silver gold
Speaker 1: tones of the sun. So far, Hasten's successful solutions of
Speaker 1: his problem have deservedly charmed both artists and amateurs. The
Speaker 1: new developments, however, are clearing away some of the soft
Speaker 1: and pleasing qualities, So dear to the amateur he is
Speaker 1: looking at, selecting and rendering his subjects in a more
Speaker 1: masculine and robust manner. That his art will gain much
Speaker 1: thereby is certain, though amateurs mourn. A man cannot continue
Speaker 1: to create the same class of beauty without some loss
Speaker 1: of the original freshness and spontaneity. He must extend and
Speaker 1: change his method of expression. And this is what Hasten
Speaker 1: is attempt and achieving. End of Part six, Part seven
Speaker 1: of the second Number of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 1: This livery of vox recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: The Baldwin Spencer collection by Bertram Stephens, illustrated by Baldwin Spencer.
Speaker 1: Portrait in Oils by the late Phillips Fox Oil painting
Speaker 1: in the possession of Sir Baldwin Spencer. During the last
Speaker 1: century there was a prejudice against Australian products of any kind,
Speaker 1: and the pictorial arts struggled through their infancy with little
Speaker 1: more encouragement than that of the governments. In two or
Speaker 1: three colonies where national galleries had been established, a few
Speaker 1: men of wealth made collections of pictures of historical interest
Speaker 1: and paintings of Australia landscape by such artists as Conrad Martin's,
Speaker 1: who looked at our country with eyes trained elsewhere. Australian
Speaker 1: born artists had not much prospects of sufficient patronage to
Speaker 1: enable them to continue painting in Australia, and unless they
Speaker 1: had independent means or could add some other occupation, they
Speaker 1: migrated to England. It is true that until the end
Speaker 1: of the century there were very few Australian painters whose
Speaker 1: work was worth collecting. The first of a distinctly national
Speaker 1: school was Arthur Streeton, whose artistic career virtually dates from
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two. It was a happy chance that the
Speaker 1: first consistent purchaser of Australian pictures began his collection about
Speaker 1: this time with one of Streeton's landscapes. The purchaser, Walter
Speaker 1: Baldwin Spencer, has been for many years Professor of Biology
Speaker 1: in the Melbourne University. He has earned for himself an
Speaker 1: eminent place in the world of science by his records
Speaker 1: and studies of Aboriginal life in central and Northern Australia.
Speaker 1: Professor Ernest Scott, in a recent History of Australia, speaks
Speaker 1: of him as one whose original researchers have revolutionized a
Speaker 1: branch of anthropology. Though born in England, Sir Baldwin Spencer
Speaker 1: has a very warm affection for Australia, had a keen
Speaker 1: interest in its development. His appreciation of artistic work has
Speaker 1: been heightened, rather than diminished by his scientific studies. The
Speaker 1: early work of Streeton appealed to him therefore with double force,
Speaker 1: and he continued to buy his pictures until he now
Speaker 1: has over forty representative canvasses. As other Australian painters came
Speaker 1: along who showed good craftsmanship, some specimens of their work
Speaker 1: were added to the collection. It stands to the great
Speaker 1: credit of Sir Baldwin that he followed his own judgment
Speaker 1: and selected what he thought good amongst the paintings of
Speaker 1: young and unknown artists who have since fully proved their merit.
Speaker 1: He was one of the earliest buyers of Hilda's and
Speaker 1: Haysten's work, and he quickly recognized the remarkable quality of
Speaker 1: Norman Lindsa's pen drawings. Young W. B. Mcinness found in
Speaker 1: Saint Baldwin a generous purchaser of those early oil paintings
Speaker 1: which showed a promise that has already been fulfilled. The
Speaker 1: artists already mentioned account for the major portion of the
Speaker 1: Baldwin Spencer collection. It also contains some fine examples of
Speaker 1: the art of sidlong Ford, Patterson, George Lambert, Walter Withers,
Speaker 1: and others. Nearly sixty artists being represented, all of whom
Speaker 1: save eight are still living. Of course, in some cases,
Speaker 1: especially that of George Lambert, the best work of these
Speaker 1: painters is not in the collection as a whole. However,
Speaker 1: it does give a very fair idea of contemporary Australian art.
Speaker 1: The hard working biology professor has never been the possessor
Speaker 1: of large means, but, as he says, it does not
Speaker 1: need a great outlay to acquire fine pictures. The first
Speaker 1: of his purchases was for eight guineas, some have been
Speaker 1: made for less, and the highest price paid was one
Speaker 1: hundred guineas for streetns the center of the Empire, for
Speaker 1: an annual expenditure not greater than what it costs many
Speaker 1: men to keep a motor car. Sir Baldwin Spencer has
Speaker 1: adorned his home with things of beauty and acquired an
Speaker 1: asset of increasing value. The intrinsic interest of the collection
Speaker 1: to me great, as that is, is not so important
Speaker 1: as its effect upon Australian art. That a man of
Speaker 1: influence in this small community should buy pictures rather than
Speaker 1: race horses, is in itself a very good thing. Still
Speaker 1: better that he should choose the work of Australian artists.
Speaker 1: The example of Sir Baldwin Spencer will be followed by others.
Speaker 1: Keener interest will be taken in the artistic products of
Speaker 1: our own country, and perhaps in the near future we
Speaker 1: will have enough men of taste and judgment to provide
Speaker 1: the stimulus and the material encouragement, without which Australian art
Speaker 1: will only be a sporadic growth. And the Australian artist
Speaker 1: an early emigrant to Europe or America. End of Part seven,
Speaker 1: Part eight of the Second Number of Art in Australia,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen. This livery VopS recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: The Creator and the Parasite by Norman Lindsay. It is
Speaker 1: a peculiar fact that in art there is little profit
Speaker 1: in stealing inspiration from the movement of one's own generation,
Speaker 1: For a movement is nearly always the result of technical achievement,
Speaker 1: and its disciples ceased to create in their efforts to copy.
Speaker 1: A man may arise who influences the artistic vision of
Speaker 1: his generation, but artists are well advised to leave his
Speaker 1: technique carefully alone. The zeal of the admirer is his
Speaker 1: own undoing. In his efforts to be somebody else, he
Speaker 1: ceases to be anybody at all, swallowed up like a
Speaker 1: too insidious parasite in the personality he battens on. Yet
Speaker 1: all great creators are great thieves. Only their cunning is
Speaker 1: vindicated in stealing what others discard or have not the
Speaker 1: ability to use. The big man of a generation is
Speaker 1: he who gathers together the failures of others and uses
Speaker 1: them with success. How many immature playwriters perished to make Shakespeare.
Speaker 1: One might almost think that the tentative efforts of the
Speaker 1: incompetent were made in order the genius might come along
Speaker 1: and use them. But alas for those who come to
Speaker 1: life in the shadow of a master, they go to
Speaker 1: swell the grand army of the disgruntled, to pile a
Speaker 1: canvas or two more on that secret and undiscovered rubbish sheep,
Speaker 1: the place where all the rotten books and pictures go to.
Speaker 1: It is true that there is a sort of uniformity
Speaker 1: of vision, which is the distinguishing quality of a period,
Speaker 1: just as there is a sort of family likeness in
Speaker 1: its portraits, and a peculiar sameness in the way its
Speaker 1: trees grow. One is quite sure, for instance, that all
Speaker 1: fourteenth century women were not mere skin and bone, or
Speaker 1: that femininity in the sixteenth century ran to fat. It
Speaker 1: is hard to believe that each lady at the court
Speaker 1: of Charles the second had a face like Lady Castlemaine,
Speaker 1: and that gentility among our grandmothers was evinced by a
Speaker 1: morbid passion for looking like Queen Victoria. There is a
Speaker 1: fashion of eyesight which makes artists of a period seek
Speaker 1: for certain generalized forms in all things, whether they be
Speaker 1: ladies faces, for the shape of cows. The swing of
Speaker 1: the pendulum that goes from crinolines to knee skirts makes
Speaker 1: ladies noses aquiline or retrusee as the fancy takes us.
Speaker 1: Such expressions of a popular taste, whether made by artists
Speaker 1: or only followed by them, are apart from the influence
Speaker 1: of an art movement. Habits produces sterility. Sterility seeks for
Speaker 1: the expression of fresher vision, rejecting the worn out formulas
Speaker 1: of its generation and HARKing back to some older and
Speaker 1: newer theme. For a work of art or a point
Speaker 1: of view has only to be sufficiently old to become
Speaker 1: startlingly new. And it is the man whose gaze turns
Speaker 1: backward who resurrects the new thing and stands before his
Speaker 1: contemporaries in the character of a discoverer. Manney upsets the
Speaker 1: fossilized modernity of his period by going back to Velasqueth,
Speaker 1: and even Bernard Shaw cuts his futurist antics a little
Speaker 1: way behind Plato and Aristophanes. In this latter relation, it
Speaker 1: may be said that of all mental states, the ultra
Speaker 1: progressivist is the most stationary. It goes nowhere. It scorns
Speaker 1: the past, and the future will scorn it. What use
Speaker 1: are prognostications to the future that overtakes them? What use
Speaker 1: profheses to a generation that will not live to see
Speaker 1: them discredited? The progressivist is annihilated by his own doctrine.
Speaker 1: If mankind fails to reach his ideal, what claim has
Speaker 1: he upon its gratitude? If mankind overtake it, how superior
Speaker 1: mankind will be to him? And that, at least is
Speaker 1: a consummation. No progressivist would welcome theories, philosophies, religions are
Speaker 1: as unstable as politics and change to suits. The economics
Speaker 1: of a community. Thought has no tradition, but is as
Speaker 1: unstable as the fashion of our hats. The tradition of
Speaker 1: life alone matters. One generation may find protection wholly, and
Speaker 1: another seek salvation in free trade. But free trader and
Speaker 1: protectionist alike must go through life with the common stock
Speaker 1: of emotion, a sense of these alone. They may perpetuate
Speaker 1: in art, but what they thought on fiscal matters will
Speaker 1: perish like the newspapers wherein they printed it. Since art
Speaker 1: is only the effect of human wisdom and the human
Speaker 1: passion for beauty, its appeal must be the same in
Speaker 1: all ages. Man is not the protean animal, in spite
Speaker 1: of all that ever lived on peptimized food. Fox terriers
Speaker 1: may change from red to white in a century, But
Speaker 1: man is a fixed quantity, seeing always with the same eyes,
Speaker 1: suffering the same emotions, expressing himself with the same gestures,
Speaker 1: and living the same eternal mechanism that runs from birth
Speaker 1: to death. Therefore, the tradition of art is no other
Speaker 1: than the tradition of life. Every effort to escape it
Speaker 1: ends in preciousness and sterility. Every century has its tame, rebels,
Speaker 1: its free versifiers, and post impressionists who seek in a
Speaker 1: maddened spirit of boredom to smash tradition and invent a
Speaker 1: new art. But to invent a new art, one must
Speaker 1: invent a new humanity. One must seek a new planet
Speaker 1: where the creatures do not eat, work and sleep, love, hate,
Speaker 1: and die like men, but exist hygienically beyond the reach
Speaker 1: of our conceptions. If one says that all great creators
Speaker 1: are great thieves, that is only to say that we
Speaker 1: all live and thrive on the exertions of a million ancestors.
Speaker 1: For the tradition of art is maintained in an eternal
Speaker 1: reuse of its symbols, and the creator is he who
Speaker 1: is most impelled to assert his sense of life's recurrence.
Speaker 1: He is most truly modern inasmuch as he touches fingers
Speaker 1: with the creators of the sphynx. Those who bear the
Speaker 1: legend modernity as a battle cry are only people who
Speaker 1: lack the historical sense. They exalt in the theory that
Speaker 1: alive ass is better than a dead lion. Let that
Speaker 1: fallacy explode. There are no dead lions in art, even
Speaker 1: their boasted modernity is only an illusion. For every man
Speaker 1: that ever lived was the modern of his generation. The
Speaker 1: truly modern mind is that which rejects the sense of modernity.
Speaker 1: Its interest is not in the new thing that happened
Speaker 1: last week, but in the old thing that happens every week.
Speaker 1: Who is quite so modern as that very bored and
Speaker 1: cultured gentleman who wrote Ecclesiastes, Who less modern than, say
Speaker 1: the writer of the philanderer. The one tells us the
Speaker 1: common things that come to all men in the hour
Speaker 1: of disillusion. The other fires off some uncommon social theories,
Speaker 1: excited by the Ibsen club, and joins the dodo in extinction.
Speaker 1: One may rifle the past with impunity, for there one
Speaker 1: rifles the common stock of human knowledge. But beware you
Speaker 1: who spoil the spoiler. For you thieve not his stolen goods,
Speaker 1: but only his manner of stealing them. You turn pirate,
Speaker 1: only to be hanged as a petty sneak thief. Masters
Speaker 1: of art, like masters of pirate ships, must steal in
Speaker 1: the grand manner, or fame and chapbook will have none
Speaker 1: of them. The creator plunders the centuries, but the imitator
Speaker 1: goes over the Creator's backyard fence. He does not raise
Speaker 1: a song of his own, but joins in the chorus
Speaker 1: where others sing. And if the master renders the common
Speaker 1: tradition of art by some facile note of his own devising,
Speaker 1: the imitator finds his business greatly simplified. Somebody asked Phil
Speaker 1: May once what he thought of his imitators. A moment
Speaker 1: the urbanity of that kindly soul deserted him. I hate
Speaker 1: the blighters, he said, Only blighters was not the word
Speaker 1: he used. But Phil might have spared himself a transitory annoyance.
Speaker 1: The imitator has already taken his place among the nonentities.
Speaker 1: His very ingenuity is the price of his individuality. For
Speaker 1: the closer he comes to his master, the further is
Speaker 1: he from any hope of fame. The legend of Homer
Speaker 1: grew from one hundred dead cities. Who cares the world
Speaker 1: has a great epic? Hamlets was only a rewritten play.
Speaker 1: But who would have heard of that? But for Hamlets?
Speaker 1: Let the abortive have their consolation. They grub on in
Speaker 1: the earth, sweating and panting, But at least they turn
Speaker 1: up a stone or two that master hands may polish
Speaker 1: into jewels. But we can all spare a kick for
Speaker 1: the imitator, that smug fellow who comes along when the
Speaker 1: work is done, and filters a comfortable living from it. Still,
Speaker 1: time supplies a remedy even for this nuisance. The smaller
Speaker 1: planets too suffer an attraction for the Sun, but swing
Speaker 1: they a little too far. There is a brief explosion,
Speaker 1: and a presumptuous satellite vanishes forever. End of Part eight,
Speaker 1: Part nine of the second Number of Art in Australia,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen. This library box recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Early Etches in Australia by Bertram Stephens, illustrated by Governor
Speaker 1: Burke Hotel, Old Sydney Etching by L. Hopkins, in the
Speaker 1: possession of Mitchell Library, Sydney and Old Cumberland Street, The Rocks, Sydney.
Speaker 1: As it's not until the latter part of the nineteenth
Speaker 1: century that the art of etching found of many voteries
Speaker 1: in England, and as very few artists of any kind
Speaker 1: favoured Australia with their presence until then, it is only
Speaker 1: natural that Australian etching should still be in the early
Speaker 1: stages of development. The lone precursor of the art seems
Speaker 1: to have been Conrad Martin's, as there is an etching
Speaker 1: of his and the Mitchell Library it is possible that
Speaker 1: he made other etchings during his long and artistically prolific
Speaker 1: stay in Australia. I have not found any trace of
Speaker 1: other etchings until the appearance of Christopher J. Coveny's twenty
Speaker 1: scenes from the Works of Dickens, published in Sydney in
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty three. These scenes were designed by the etcher
Speaker 1: and have some artistic value. It was in the same
Speaker 1: year eighteen eighty three that Livingstone Hopkins landed in Sydney.
Speaker 1: He came from the United States to draw cartoons for
Speaker 1: the Bulletin, and after he had settled down in a
Speaker 1: studio in Jamieson Street, he took up as a recreation
Speaker 1: the practice of etching, about which he had already learned
Speaker 1: something in America. Hop not only had the necessary draftsmanship
Speaker 1: and patience, he also had enthusiasm, with which he infected
Speaker 1: a number of other artists then in Sydney. He gave
Speaker 1: them demonstrations in his studio of the whole process of etching,
Speaker 1: and Julian Ashton, Tom Roberts, B. E. Mins and Arthur
Speaker 1: Streeton were initiated into the mysteries. A. H. Fulwood had
Speaker 1: acquired some knowledge of etching before coming from England to Australia,
Speaker 1: and was glad to continue his study of the art.
Speaker 1: Under Hopp's direction, the disciples went to Hop's house at Mossman,
Speaker 1: where he kept his press with their plates, and heeded
Speaker 1: the printing for them. There was very little public interest
Speaker 1: in etching at that time, and the enthusiasm of the
Speaker 1: pioneers died down, Hop himself etching to a good many
Speaker 1: plates between eighteen eighty seven and eighteen ninety one. The
Speaker 1: whole thirty five prints of I Thought I Had a
Speaker 1: Stamp about Me were sold at three guineas each, and
Speaker 1: The Fiddle Doctor also sold out in time, but the
Speaker 1: prints of his etchings of Old Sydney and landscapes did
Speaker 1: not meet with the same success. He has not made
Speaker 1: any etchings since eighteen ninety three, as he turned then
Speaker 1: to the construction of Cello's for recreation. Mins Robertson, Streeton
Speaker 1: were not sufficiently attracted by etching to continue beyond a
Speaker 1: plate or two, but Ashton made six or seven before
Speaker 1: the pressure of other interests compelled him to abandon the art.
Speaker 1: Fulwood left for England in nineteen hundred and since then
Speaker 1: has published a number of etchings which ore a distinct
Speaker 1: advance upon his earlier work outside the group just mentioned.
Speaker 1: Hall Thorpe, who was then on the staff of the
Speaker 1: Sydney Mail, made some attractive etchings of sin Sidney Streets
Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety nine and nineteen hundred, and is represented
Speaker 1: by two prints in the National Gallery of New South Wales.
Speaker 1: Soon afterwards, Forbe went to England, and for some time
Speaker 1: the only artist in Sydney who devoted any time to
Speaker 1: copperplate was Alfred Coffee, who has made a good many etchings. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: in Victoria some etching had been done by the late
Speaker 1: mister Oldham, about whose work I have at present very
Speaker 1: little information. The late John Mather was also an etcher.
Speaker 1: It is hoped that in the forthcoming book on Etching
Speaker 1: in Australia, the work of these pioneers, and any others
Speaker 1: who may come to light, will receive due recognition. The
Speaker 1: interesting landscape work of Victor Cobb extends over a number
Speaker 1: of years, and John Surlow began etching as far back
Speaker 1: as eighteen ninety five. To Surlow's unflagging enthusiasm is due
Speaker 1: a great deal of the present interest in the art.
Speaker 1: It can hardly be called a revival, as it had
Speaker 1: never been very much alive before. Ernest Moffatt and Lionel Lindsey,
Speaker 1: through seeing Prince of Sherlough's etchings, realized that the arts
Speaker 1: could actually be practiced in Australia, and soon afterwards obtained
Speaker 1: materials and produced etchings of their own. A number of
Speaker 1: young etchers have since arisen in Victoria. Lionel Lindsey moved
Speaker 1: over to Sydney and was the first to make a
Speaker 1: successful exhibition of etchings Sidney your Smith, Irene mort Bruce
Speaker 1: Robertson and others carry on the traditions of the craft
Speaker 1: in the Mother State. Etchings are now a feature of
Speaker 1: the art exhibitions and have a secure place in the
Speaker 1: estimation of the small public interested in Australian art. End
Speaker 1: of Part nine, Part ten of the Second Number of
Speaker 1: Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This LibriVox recording is in
Speaker 1: the public domain. John Longstaff by Bertram Stephens, illustrated by
Speaker 1: The Lady in Black by John Longstaff, in the possession
Speaker 1: of National Art Gallery, Sydney. If no other of Longstaff's
Speaker 1: paintings survived save The Lady in Black, that alone would
Speaker 1: be sufficient to prove him a master craftsman. It is
Speaker 1: not only the best of Longstaff's work, but the best
Speaker 1: painting of the figure that has yet been made in Australia.
Speaker 1: When exhibited in Europe, it's met with high appreciation. It
Speaker 1: was hung on the line at the Paris Salon of
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety three and came within one vote of winning
Speaker 1: the Gold Medal. The simplicity and directness of the artist's
Speaker 1: treatment of his subjects, the exquisite modeling of the face
Speaker 1: and hands, make the canvas one that never fails to interest.
Speaker 1: There is a fascination too, in the subtle suggestion of
Speaker 1: the lady's pose. Without one meretricious touch, Longstaff has made
Speaker 1: her quality manifest. There is an air of wistful melancholy
Speaker 1: about her refined features. Her attitude is that of one
Speaker 1: who has gone through the fire of suffering and found peace.
Speaker 1: Charm is an overworked word, but it is the only
Speaker 1: one that, in its best sense, expresses what Longstaff's art
Speaker 1: has imparted to that figure. In the New South Wales Gallery.
Speaker 1: The Henry Lawson in the same gallery is as remarkable
Speaker 1: in its way as the Lady in Black. It was
Speaker 1: painted one forenoon in nineteen hundred when Lawson was in
Speaker 1: Melbourne on his way to London, and a few touches
Speaker 1: were added on the following day. Longstaff hardly knew Lawson
Speaker 1: when the latter sat for him, yet he caught the
Speaker 1: characteristic expression of the poet at once and gave us
Speaker 1: one of the most valuable national portraits Weepers. Longstaff's methods
Speaker 1: are rapid and straightforward. He does not, as a rule,
Speaker 1: make any preliminary studies, but observes acutely, makes his plans quickly,
Speaker 1: and then begins on the portrait. Two or three sittings
Speaker 1: are generally all that he requires. There is a portrait
Speaker 1: of George Lambert's made in about an hour, which illustrates
Speaker 1: the deftness and certainty with which Longstaff puts his subject
Speaker 1: onto the canvas. The list of his portraits of Australians
Speaker 1: is too long to print here. It covers a considerable
Speaker 1: variety in subjects, ranging from the youthful beauty of Marjorie Williamson,
Speaker 1: through such different feminine types as Missus phil May, Missus
Speaker 1: George Lancell and Missus Longstaff, to Edward Knox in severe Black.
Speaker 1: Professor McCallum and the late Sir Frederic Darley in their
Speaker 1: robes of office. Since he first went to England in
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty seven, he has been fully occupied there. But
Speaker 1: it can have hardly be said that his later work,
Speaker 1: judging by what has been seen here, is better than
Speaker 1: that which first made him known and admired in Australia.
Speaker 1: John Longstaff was born at Kloon's, Victoria in eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: two and began to paint in childhood. At the age
Speaker 1: of nine, he went to Melbourne to compete for a
Speaker 1: public school prize for painting and won it. His mother
Speaker 1: encouraged his artistic ambition, his father wished him to go
Speaker 1: into business. Most of his early years were spent on
Speaker 1: his father's farm, but eventually he was sent to work
Speaker 1: in a Melbourne warehouse. Then he was able to study
Speaker 1: in the night classes at the Victorian National Gallery under G. F. Follingsby.
Speaker 1: Had made such good progress that he was soon released
Speaker 1: from the warehouse and allowed to devote himself entirely to art.
Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty seven, Longstaff won the first Traveling Scholarship
Speaker 1: awarded by the Victorian Gallery with Breaking the News, a
Speaker 1: remarkable work for a young man Shortly afterwards, Longstaff left
Speaker 1: Australia and spent some time in France and Spain before
Speaker 1: settling down in London. His mother and child secured an
Speaker 1: honorable mention at the Salon of eighteen ninety one. The
Speaker 1: difficult subject of the gipsul And Bushfires of eighteen ninety
Speaker 1: eight was handled well in a painting purchased by the
Speaker 1: Victorian Gallery, which also has his big Burkham Will's Group.
Speaker 1: The latter was acquired in nineteen hundred seven under the
Speaker 1: terms of the Gilby Bequest, which necessitated the painting of
Speaker 1: the picture in England. It might have been a success
Speaker 1: if painted in Australia. As it is, the detail is
Speaker 1: obtrusive but not realistic, the atmosphere is not convincingly Australian.
Speaker 1: The tragedy of the situation, however, is well conveyed in
Speaker 1: the treatment of the three figures, and Burke stands out
Speaker 1: with impressive dignity. Longst has visited Australia twice since he
Speaker 1: first left here, and has for some time acted as
Speaker 1: London advisor to the New South Wales Gallery Trustees. End
Speaker 1: of Part ten, Party eleven of the second Number of
Speaker 1: Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen. This Libri Voctor recording is
Speaker 1: in the public domain. B. E. Mins by Bertram Stephens,
Speaker 1: illustrated by study of ahead watercolor in the possession of
Speaker 1: Ah Hattersley, Esquire, Sydney. In all the paintings by B. E.
Speaker 1: Mins that I have seen, there is evidence that he
Speaker 1: has invested his subjects with a certain amount of sentiment.
Speaker 1: Probably he was attracted to the Australian Aboriginals as much
Speaker 1: by the sentimental interest attaching to the survivors of a
Speaker 1: fading race as by their picturesque and he seems to
Speaker 1: have mused over the poetry of a landscape long before
Speaker 1: he attempted to paint it. When in England, he used
Speaker 1: very often in spring and summer to cycle up from
Speaker 1: his home at Winchelsea to London, starting in the evening,
Speaker 1: in order to enjoy the beauty of the night, stopping
Speaker 1: at a wood on the way to hear the music
Speaker 1: of the nightingales, and riding into town with the flower
Speaker 1: grower's carts bound for Covent Garden. Some part of every
Speaker 1: year he wandered about in Brittany or other parts of
Speaker 1: North France, delighting in the then tranquil countryside, and transferring
Speaker 1: some of his quiet joy into his water colours to
Speaker 1: communicating colour. The pleasure of a dreamer is a rare gift,
Speaker 1: and I think it is that characteristic which constitutes the
Speaker 1: principal interest in Min's work. In the handling of his
Speaker 1: favorite medium, Mins has generally avoided the prettiness, which is
Speaker 1: the pitfall in front of anyone with a romantic temperament.
Speaker 1: Using body color as fluently as he does, the absence
Speaker 1: of anything like pastiness gives his work the delicacy, which
Speaker 1: as a rule, is only attained by the use of
Speaker 1: the pure medium. He is one of the few artists
Speaker 1: here who have given much time to the painting of
Speaker 1: the figure in water color, and he wished to be
Speaker 1: represented by a study of that kind. I hope that
Speaker 1: he will devote himself again to the blackfellows who attracted
Speaker 1: him so strongly at the beginning of his artistic career.
Speaker 1: He knew them well as a boy. For Benjamin Edwin.
Speaker 1: Min's was country bred, born and brought up in the
Speaker 1: Hunter River District, New South Wales in eighteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: and spending some of his early years at in Verrel.
Speaker 1: He had thoroughly absorbed the spirit of the Bush before
Speaker 1: he came to Sydney at the age of eighteen. It
Speaker 1: was in in Verell that he received his first lessons
Speaker 1: in painting from a Missus Thornton. In Sydney he went
Speaker 1: to the Technical College, where he studied under Lucian Henry.
Speaker 1: Later on he joined the life class at the Old
Speaker 1: Art Society, where the instructor A. J. Daplin was following
Speaker 1: the methods of the Ecolde Bouza successfully. Not long after
Speaker 1: Charles Condor came to Sydney, Mins met him and was
Speaker 1: at once attracted by the man as well as by
Speaker 1: his art. They became very friendly, sharing a studio and
Speaker 1: going out sketching together. Condor's fine sense of decoration, no
Speaker 1: doubt influenced Min's work a good deal. Condor was then
Speaker 1: employed by the Illustrated Sydney News, the pioneer journal of
Speaker 1: its kind, and he obtained for Min's a position on
Speaker 1: the same staff. For some years, the latter drew regularly
Speaker 1: for that paper and contributed occasionally to The Sydney Mail
Speaker 1: and the Town and Country Journal. Later on he began
Speaker 1: to illustrate current events for the Daily Telegraph. The drawings
Speaker 1: were made on zinc with printers inc and were probably
Speaker 1: the first to appear regularly in an Australian daily. The Bulletin,
Speaker 1: established in Sydney in eighteen eighty, gave wider scope than
Speaker 1: any previous publication for the development of black and white art.
Speaker 1: Editor J. F. Archibald formed a high opinion of Min's
Speaker 1: ability to interpret an imaginative conception, and therefore gave him
Speaker 1: poems of that order to illustrate for the paper. Mins's
Speaker 1: best drawings appeared in its columns before he left for
Speaker 1: England in eighteen ninety five. He also sent out work
Speaker 1: from England, and after his return to Australia in nineteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: he contributed cartoons and other drawings regularly. When Mins arrived
Speaker 1: in London he intended to stay for five years at
Speaker 1: the most. He went first to the editor of Saint Paul's,
Speaker 1: then one of the leading illustrated papers, which Phil May
Speaker 1: had just left for Punch. His pen drawings were at
Speaker 1: once accepted and thenceforward For twenty years. He spent most
Speaker 1: of his time in making illustrations of various kinds for
Speaker 1: the leading journals and some book publishers that however, was
Speaker 1: bread and butter work. His best self was expressed in watercolor.
Speaker 1: He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute
Speaker 1: of Painters in Watercolor, the New Salon, and other exhibitions.
Speaker 1: His paintings sold readily. Colonel Rhodes and other members of
Speaker 1: the Rhodes family, Mister Howard Smith, and a few other
Speaker 1: collectors acquired nearly all of his best watercolors, so that
Speaker 1: very few came out to Australia. Mins now proposes to
Speaker 1: stay in his native country for some years, and it
Speaker 1: may be that Australians will see even more charming work
Speaker 1: than any he has done. The danger of facile production
Speaker 1: induced by the popularity of his watercolors is not likely
Speaker 1: to affect a conscientious artist. End of Party Life, Part
Speaker 1: twelve of the second Number of Art in Australia. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Lloyd Reese by
Speaker 1: Sidney Yor Smith, illustrated by Collins Street, Melbourne, drawing in
Speaker 1: the possession of John Banks, Esquire, Sydney and Parliament's House, Brisbane.
Speaker 1: Lloyd Reese is a young Queenslander who is a penn draftsman. Intuitively,
Speaker 1: he expresses himself easily and gracefully in pen and ink,
Speaker 1: just as Hilda did in watercolor. In fact, his composition
Speaker 1: and methods of selection remind one of Hilda's early work,
Speaker 1: possessing something of the same idealistic charm. Nature has given
Speaker 1: Reese an unerring instinct for composition and a natural sense
Speaker 1: of beauty. He is not a realist. His pendron are
Speaker 1: slight and sometimes a trifle vague, but they possess the
Speaker 1: rare quality of delicate suggestion. So far he has only
Speaker 1: attempted simple problems, and he has mastered them. His drawings
Speaker 1: show no sign of effort. His sensitive line is like
Speaker 1: a delicately constructed cobweb, and with it he transforms prosaic
Speaker 1: streets into charming penn poems. He has made many pen
Speaker 1: and pencil drawings in Brisbane, where he lived until recently.
Speaker 1: He studied at the Central Technical College, Brisbane under mister
Speaker 1: Godfrey Rivers, and Miss Frankie Pane of Brisbane gave him
Speaker 1: generous assistance in the early days of his pen work.
Speaker 1: He is now resident in Sydney, and his new environment
Speaker 1: will no doubt act as a stimulus to his art.
Speaker 1: His drawings of buildings and streets would sometimes annoy the historian,
Speaker 1: as he has a way of donating trees and ornamental
Speaker 1: devices where they are, often unfortunately not to be set.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, the impulse to add better setting
Speaker 1: to his picture would delight a town planning enthusiast, and
Speaker 1: if it makes a better picture, why not. Rhese is
Speaker 1: young yet, and some of his mannerisms, such as the
Speaker 1: unrelated figure in the foreground, will disappear in time as
Speaker 1: he tackles the bigger problems of penn draftsmanship. His sound
Speaker 1: artistic instinct will carry him through to a fine accomplishment
Speaker 1: in the near future. End of Part twelve. End of
Speaker 1: the second number of Art in Australia, nineteen seventeen.