Evening star., 1941-10-05

Strlk1nEly pardllelS IIldJ OF our OWL Z
We think of Australia in terms OF ka
raisers, as retreat for British
Younger sons, a place where courage
and capital have free play-but we
must not forget that. like the United
States. it has a capital city Can
berra) deliberately and artistically
planned as such incidentally. by
an American. that its men bore
the burden of the Gallipoli cam
naipn in the last World War and
of the Greek siege in the present
conflict. besides which it has gwen
the world writer's and artists OF dis
tinction.
With the last. We have had but
small acquaintance up to the pres
ent. All this. however, is to be
altered by the exhibition of the
"Art of Australia" which opened IN
fine National Gallery of Art with
private view and under distinguished
auspices. last Wednesday. This con-
sists of approximately Is items
which. collectively, give complete
retrospect of art in Australia, be
ginning with paintings on Dark
made by the aborigines prior to
the arrival of the white man ana
embracing works by outstanding
rresent-dav artists. There are oils,
vater-colors, drawings, and one
piece of sculpture, lent by national
galleries in New South Wales, Vic
toria. South Australia, Queensland,
Western Australia and Tasmania, as
we'll as by artists and collectors.
These works were selected by COM
rittee which included the dlrec-
tors of the three large galleries
in sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
with the advice of Prof. Theodore
Sizer. director of the art gallery at
Yale University. as representing
both the Carnegie Corp. Of New York
and the Museum of Modern Art, by
which the enterprise was financed
and sponsored.
Foreword by Casey.
An attractive catalogue of the eX-
hihition has been issued IN which
there is a foreword by the Australian
Minister. Richard G. Casey, who
SAYS in part:
For 100 years. Australia went
through stages of hardship, lawless-
ness and heroism similar to those
that characterized the same period
in American history. There were no
varlike tribes like the North Amer
lean Indians to contend with. but
the tanning Of a vast continent
where heat and drought, fire and
food. succeeded each other IN a
vav calculated to test the strongest
suirit. called for endurance and
courage equal to that OF the braveSt
pioneers Of history,
against the background of the
bark paintings left by the world
most primitive aborigines, the art
in the present exhibition RECORDS
the progress of European and, par
ticularly, British people in this
struggle.
"A tenacious conservatism has
Until recently. dominated the artis-
sic scene in Australia. This is large
" due to the relatively short time
that the white man has lived there
snd TO his natural nostalgia for the
remembered Old World. 1t has taken
Australia long time to absorb and
digest her own unique surround
ings. to put new overseas move
rnents in painting into proper per-
snective. and to weld the two into
an artistic idiom of her own.
Fearless Experiment.
1.-The material is there in plenty;
the strange and rather grim beauty
of her landscape and the very lndl-
vidual life of her people, in whom
the love of independence and OF
fearless experiment persists.
throughout this exhibition one can
detect the pungent flavor OF the
Australian bush, something OF the
color and vitality that distinguishes
the Australian in other fields.
"If the art of nation is to -four
ish. her painters must have pro
lection and encouragement. This
the United States has for some time
anpreciated and has now LAID the
basis for a proud national art. 1t
Is hoped that Australia may some
dav contrive to do the same Tor her
Young painters so that the already
strong foundations of her painting
NAV be worthily built upon. This
will doubtless happen when she
emerges from the shadow that now
lies upon most of the countries OF
the world and when her feet are
once more set upon the way OF
peace" ,...
No one who sees this exhibition
ran fail to be impressed with the re-
roarkable way in which art mas
sprung up and flourished in what
NAV seem to have been very barren
soil. how spontaneous was this
growth and how fundamentally 1t
is. from first to last, British IN
flavor.
From three different angles, this
exhibition has exceptional interest:
First. subjective, the material pre-
sented rejecting, as in a mirror, q
con1paratively unknown land and q
strangely diverse life lived therein;
second. biographical, the lives OF the
painters and the divergent ways
which led to successful achievement;
third, the character of the art, It's
debt to tradition Cancelled, as 1t
were, by independence of vision and
pover of determination.
Bark Paintings.
The approach to this exhibition Is
chronologically, the bark paintings
These are of animals and men,
primitive in expression, but decora-
tive and significant. Herein one
sees the native instinct of man
living under the most primitive
conditions, turning to art as a mode
of speech, a universal language, and
evidencing ability to use it forcefully
At the opposite end of the hall in
which the exhibition is set forth
are some paintings by contempo-
rary Australian artists greatly in
7uenced by these aboriginal paint
ings, with results so usual under
like circumstances, weakness re-
placing strength, when sophistoca-
ton harks back to savagery.
When Australia was settled. a new