Diploma Lecture Series 2011

Art and Australia ll: European Preludes and Parallels

Misty moderns: Max Meldrum and the Australian Tonalists

Tracey Lock-Weir

2 / 3 March 2011

Introduction:

This lecture will focus on the distinctive school of Australian tonalism, which flourished during the twentieth-century interwar period. It will outline the beginnings of this painting movement from when it was first pioneered in 1915 by the controversial artist, teacher and art theorist, Max Meldrum (1875-1955).

Despite being widely condemned, Max Meldrum had an impact on the development of a young generation of Australian

artists. Several of these artists became leading figures of the modern art movement in Melbourne and Sydney. Some of

Meldrum’s other followers became known as the Meldrumites. Working in opposition to established tastes, these artists

produced some of the most abbreviated and abstractly well-designed landscapes in Australian art. During the 1950s

Meldrum’s ideas also had an enduring influence on a second generation of young Australian artists. Aspects of these

influences will be demonstrated and discussed.

Slide List

1. Max Meldrum, Portrait of Ida, 1910, oil on canvas, AGSA

2. Photograph of Max Meldrum

3. Margaret Preston, The tea urn, c.1909, oil on canvas, AGSA

4. Arnold Shore, Blue hydrangeas, 1921, oil on canvas, AGWA

5. Photograph of Meldrum’s painting technique from The Science of Appearances, 1950

6. Percy Leason, At the campfire, San Remo, c1934, oil on canvas, QAG

7. John Farmer, Peking, 1921, oil on board, CAGHM

8. Photograph of Studio Group, 1896

9. Photograph of Max Meldrum in his Paris studio, c.1901

10. Max Meldrum, Picherit’s Farm, c.1910, oil on canvas, NGV

11. Max Meldrum, Frosted poplars, Pacé, Brittany, c.1910, UQ

12. Max Meldrum, The little farm (Sketch, Eltham), 1917, oil on board, PC

13. Arnold Shore, Blue hydrangeas, 1921, oil on canvas, AGWA

14. Colin Colahan, King Island, 1920, oil on board, PC

15. A.E. Newbury, Morning light, 1919, oil on cardboard, PC

16. (left) Max Meldrum, Portrait, 1910, oil on canvas, Kerry Stokes collection (right) Max Meldrum, Portrait of Ida, 1910, oil on canvas, AGSA

17. Clarice Beckett, Summer fields, 1926, oil on board, PC

18. Napier Waller, The Pastoral Pursuits of Australia, 1927, oil on canvas, AGSA

19. Clarice Beckett, Hawthorn Tea Gardens, c.1933, oil on canvas, AGSA

20. Photograph of The Meldrum Group exhibition, 1920

21. Max Meldrum, The three trees, c.1917, oil on board, PC

22. Max Meldrum, Eltham bush, 1925, oil on canvas, AGSA

23. (left) Max Meldrum, The three trees, c.1917, oil on board, PC (right) Hans Heysen, The three gums, 1915-20, oil on canvas, AGB

24. Roland Wakelin, Self-portrait, 1920, oil on paperboard, AGNSW

25. Grace Cossington Smith (detail) Rushing, c.1922, oil on canvas, AGNSW

26. Grace Cossington Smith, Rushing, c.1922, oil on canvas, AGNSW

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27. Roy de Maistre, Berry’s Bay, c1920, oil on board, AGSA

28. Roy de Maistre, Berry’s Bay, Sydney Harbour, 1920, oil on board, AGSA

29. (left) Roy de Maistre, Berry’s Bay, Sydney Harbour, 1920, oil on board, AGSA (right) Roy de Maistre, Berry’s Bay, c1920, oil on board, AGSA

30. Roy de Maistre, Still life, c.1922, oil on paper on paperboard, AGNSW

31. Lloyd Rees, Morning at Parramatta River, c.1922, oil on canvas, PC

32. Lloyd Rees, Boy on a bridge, c.1922, oil on canvas, AGSA

33. (left) Percy Leason, Self-portrait, 1922, oil on cardboard, AGNSW (centre) Percy Leason, Portrait of Basil Burdett, c.1935-38, oil on canvas, QAG (right) Arnold Shore, Self-portrait, c.1921, oil on cardboard, CAGHM

34. Photograph of The Meldrum Group exhibition, 1920

35. (left) Percy Leason, Two of the artist’s children, c.1922, oil on canvas, CAGHM (right) James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in grey and green: Miss Cicely Alexander, 1872-4, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery

36. (left) Clarice Beckett, Hawthorn Tea Gardens, c.1933, oil on canvas, AGSA (right) Hiroshige III, Famous places of Tokyo, 1869, colour woodcut on paper, AGSA

37. (left) Justus Jorgensen, The shopping centre (Brighton), 1933, oil on cardboard, PC (centre) Hiroshige, Dyers’s Street, Kanda, 1857, colour woodcut on paper, AGSA (right) Colin Colahan, Cumberland rooftops, Lorne, 1928, oil on board, Xavier College

38. Colin Colahan, Tarczynski on the beach, 1930s, oil on board, Xavier College

39. Colin Colahan, Cumberland rooftops, Lorne, 1928, oil on board, Xavier College

40. Percy Leason, Caravan, Eltham Park, c.1930, oil on canvas, AGSA

41. Percy Leason, Campsite study, San Remo, c1934, oil on board, AGSA

42. Colin Colahan, Winter landscape, c.1935, oil on canvas, AGSA

43. Clarice Beckett Wet night, Brighton, 1930, oil on board, PC

44. Clarice Beckett, Taxi rank, c.1931, oil on canvas, Kerry Stokes collection

45. Polly Hurry, Still life, c.1940, oil on canvas, MCG+SP

46. Max Meldrum, Iris in the mirror, c.1945, oil on board, NGA

47. Colin Colahan, Ballet of wind and rain, 1945, oil on canvas, AWM

48. Hayward Veal, Harbour scene, Sydney, 1946, oil on board, MCG+SP

49. Fred Williams, Figure in a landscape, c.1958-59, oil on board, AGSA

50. (left) Max Meldrum, The three trees, c.1917, oil on board, PC (right) Fred Williams, Figure in a landscape, c.1958-59, oil on board, AGSA

51. Photograph front cover Max Meldrum’s book, The Science of Appearances, 1950

52. Photograph of Max Meldrum’s Colour Diagram in The Science of Appearances.

53. Ian Burn, Left to Right Painting, 1965, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, PC

54. Percy Leason, Two of the artist’s children, c.1922, oil on canvas, CAGHM

AGB Art Gallery of Ballarat; AGSA Art Gallery of South Australia; AGNSW Art Gallery of New South Wales; AGWA Art Gallery of Western Australia; AWM Australian War Memorial; CAGHM Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum; NGA National Gallery of Australia; NGV National Gallery of Victoria; MCG+SP McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park; PC Private collection; QAG Queensland Art Gallery; UQ University of Queensland collection Bibliography

Colahan, C., (ed) Max Meldrum: His Art and Views, Melbourne: A. McCubbin, 1919.

Foreman, R.R. (ed) The Science of Appearances as Formulated and Taught by Max Meldrum, Sydney: The Shepherd Press, 1950.

Hollinrake, R., Clarice Beckett: Politically Incorrect, Melbourne: The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, 1999.

Lock-Weir, T., Misty Moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915-1950, Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2008.

Perry, P. & J., Max Meldrum & Associates: Their Art, Lives and Influences, Victoria: Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum, 1996.

Rees, L., Peaks & Valleys: Lloyd Rees. An Autobiography, Sydney: HarperCollins, 1985.

Rees, L., The Small Treasures of a Lifetime, Sydney: HarperCollins, 1995. First edition Ure Smith Ltd 1969.

Stephen, A., On Looking At Looking: The Art and Politics of Ian Burn, Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press, 2006.

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Max Meldrum, Picherit’s Farm, c.1910, oil on canvas, NGV

Clarice Beckett, Summer fields, 1926, oil on board, PC

Max Meldrum, The three trees, c.1917, oil on board, PC

Roy de Maistre, Berry’s Bay, c1920, oil on board, AGSA

Lloyd Rees, Boy on a bridge, c.1922, oil on canvas, AGSA

Colin Colahan, Ballet of wind and rain, 1945, oil on canvas, AWM