Layer upon layer
As
we all know, art is a fluid thing. Movements come and movements
go; what’s fashionable and fresh one day is staid and stale
the next. In this ever-changing environment, some movements –
impressionism, for example – endure as a subject of both
public and academic interest; while others fall by the wayside.
This month, the Art Gallery of South Australia revisits
one of those influential but now-forgotten movements as it explores
the tonalism movement in Australia during the early 20th century.
Misty Moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915-1950
is the first major exhibition to tell the story of Australian
Tonalism; a movement championed by the influential and often controversial
Melbourne painter Max Meldrum (1875-1955), which had a strong
influence on artistic practice during the inter-war period.
Colin Colahan (Australia),
1897 - 1987
Elizabeth Street, Melbourne c1930
oil on canvas mounted on board, 46.4 x 38.5 cm
Maud Rowe Bequest 193. City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat,
Victoria
© estate of the artist
“Tonalism is probably the most misunderstood,
underestimated and underappreciated movement in Australian art
history and yet it was hugely important to the development of
20th century art in this country” states Tracey Lock-Weir,
the Gallery’s Curator of Australian Art and Curator of Misty
Moderns.
“Max Meldrum was a pioneer but he was also
terribly divisive. There was a certain stigma attached to him
and his followers which still remains today … even some
of the most beautiful Tonalist paintings have often been ignored
or dismissed by the art world – until now” says Lock-Weir.
Australian Tonalist painting is characterised by
a particular ‘misty’ or atmospheric quality created
by the Meldrum painting method of building ‘tone on tone’.
Around 80 works by Max Meldrum and 17 of his followers
have been brought together from public and private collections
around Australia for the first time for Misty Moderns. Included
in the exhibition are works by Meldrum’s best-known pupils
Clarice Beckett, Percy Leason and Colin Colahan, and formative
works by Australian Modernists Roy de Maistre, Roland Wakelin,
Lloyd Rees, Arnold Shore and William Frater, who were all heavily
influenced by Meldrum’s theories.
Tonalism
developed from Max Meldrum’s ‘Scientific theory of
Impressions’ and flourished in Melbourne and Sydney. Controversially,
it opposed post-Impressionism and Modernism, and is now regarded
as a precursor to Minimalism and Conceptualism.
“Traditionally Meldrum has been associated
with conservatism, however it is surprising to realise that his
theories influenced many of Australia’s most innovative
Modernists” says Lock-Weir.
Percy Leason (Australia),
1889 - 1959
At the campfire, San Remo c1934
oil on canvas on cardboard 38.3 x 45.5 cm
Gift of Max Leason 1980, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
© estate of Percy Leason
And his influence endured for generations: “Meldrum’s
student A.D. Colquhoun taught William Dargie, who in turn passed
on the theories to his pupils, including John Brack and Fred Williams”
she explains.
Well-known curator and writer, Rosalind Hollinrake,
who effectively re-discovered the work of Meldrum’s star
pupil, Clarice Beckett, in 1971, will officially open Misty Moderns
at the Art Gallery of South Australia before it goes on show to
the public from Friday 15 August.
The exhibition’s public program includes talks
and lectures by Tracey Lock-Weir, Rosalind Hollinrake and Peter
Perry, Director of Castlemaine Art Gallery and author of Max Meldrum
& Associates. There are also regular guided tours, children’s
activities and a tonal painting workshop for adults.
Following the exhibition’s opening season
in Adelaide, Misty Moderns will tour nationally to venues
in Victoria, ACT, New South Wales and Queensland in 2009 and 2010;
a tour made possible with the support of Visions of Australia,
the Australian Government’s program supporting touring exhibitions.
David Edwards
