Once upon a time John and Sunday Reed, champions and patrons of Australian contemporary art in the mid-20th century, established an artists’ community on their 15-acre property at Heide. Many of Australia’s most prominent artists spent time there: Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Sydney Nolan, and John Perceval to name a few. I like to think that when I put my hand on the worn timber of the newel post at the farm house I am connecting with these people and the lively artistic and intellectual world they lived in.
The main exhibition, Charles Blackman’s “Schoolgirls”, is very apt: Rosemary and I have been friends since the early days of primary school. The paintings are striking, almost geometrical, and the colours strong even when the palette is limited. I’m immediately drawn to the painting of a girl on a pushbike in which I recognise my self, or at least my view of young self, tentative, slightly timid, but venturing nevertheless. It ignites emotion in a way that rarely happens for me in front of a painting.
Many of the other paintings remind me of the twins: the intentness, the physicality, the games. Most delight, but some present the schoolgirls as frighteningly vulnerable. There are stories critics use to explain the mood of some of these paintings: his first wife’s blindness; his own unhappy, isolated childhood; two murders of young women, one a schoolgirl. The backgrounds are often semi-industrial Melbourne, and a slew of later ones use a collage of advertisements. (Presenting them like this needs apology I think, but it allows me to share a lot more of the images, even if some of them are cropped.)
The Blackman exhibition is not the only pleasure of Heide. A smaller exhibition presents paintings of a landscape familiar to both of us – and to Germaine Greer: the Springbrook area in south-eastern Queensland, with its waterfalls and rainforest. The artists are Albert Tucker, a member of the Heide household, who painted the first collection, and his friend Fred Williams, whose exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia I visited three times.
Panel paintings are typical of Williams, his way of showing many layers of a complex scene.
A longish train journey, and two exhibitions. It must be time to pause for lunch, and a contemplation of a few of the outdoor sculptures, all within sight of the cafe.
After lunch, we visit the house where everyone lived, Heide 1: here we see the vegetable garden with thriving kale (another form of modernism); more paintings; the library; cats; household goods; and the interior of the house itself.
But the day’s not over yet. We head down the hill to Heide 2, more gallery than home, and quite uninviting with its limestone walls and dead ends, except for a vast fireplace. There are however intriguing paintings by Denise Green, again cropped a bit for economy.
By 3 o’clock our stamina is waning. There’s no time to visit the corrugated iron cows and other sculptures scattered through the grounds. We pass a ginkgo in glorious golden leaf and head back to the bus and the 2-hour trip home, where we relish arancini bought at the Queen Victoria markets.
icelandpenny said:
What a treat…
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Lucid Gypsy said:
I’m not sure about either Blackman or Williams work, but both are powerful. Thanks for the autumn Ginkgo, my favourite tree, because it’s one of the oldest on the planet.
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morselsandscraps said:
Not sure about Williams!!!! Shriek of outrage! Blackman you can be unsure about – I was too till twins and this exhibition. This ginkgo was particularly splendid, and little kids were having great fun with its leaves and the bright-coloured sculpture nearby.
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Kate said:
Thanks for the rich range of images you presented Meg with their varied textures and often shouting colours. Albert Tucker is a new introduction who I shall endeavour to remember and it was a joy to see Fred Williams again. It sounds to have been a day of sensory delights.
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morselsandscraps said:
This was unexpected Tucker. It’s always a pleasure to see an artist representing a familiar landscape. And Fred Williams was an absolute bonus.
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Madhu said:
Oh my, this is a visual feast Meg! Thank you for introducing me to Charles Blackman. They are all beautiful, but that first one of the girl on the pushbike is indeed particularly evocative. Love the colours too. Shall look out for his work on museum visits in the future.
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Susan at FindingNYC said:
I had not heard of these artists before – thanks for introducing them to me. I especially like Blackman’s Schoolgirls. Such a range of emotions communicated in his paintings.
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morselsandscraps said:
And so different from van Gogh who was our other major artist on the Melbourne trip. For each of us a different single Blackman painting evoked so much of childhood: its possessions and its angst.
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restlessjo said:
The Blackman work is stunning, Meg! I love that first image, paused mid-pedal. 🙂 And the little girls… one crying with fists rammed in eyes… so powerful. Yes, the twins… 🙂
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clothesandmargarita said:
Beautiful artwork! The gallery would definitely be on my visiting list, were I in Melbourne. “Schoolgirls” are intriguing and captivating. There is so much content/tension in the geometric figures. And the urban background (as you point out).
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morselsandscraps said:
Somehow the schoolgirls remind me of your art, although your line is very different. So why am I reminded? The creation of a feeling? A kind of simplicity? A strong sense of artist uniqueness? When are you visiting Melbourne???? I’ll meet you there!
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clothesandmargarita said:
I am very flattered to hear that my work communicates such values. That you see such values in it. I assume you are back home from your wonderful journey?
Yes, Melbourne would be something! Especially with you as my guide.
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Suzanne said:
I love Heide Gallery though it would be a long haul getting there by public transport. Thanks for showcasing all that art – particularly the Tucker landscapes. I had no idea he painted landscapes at all. Fred Williams always stirs me though I can’t get all that excited about Blackman. Proves art is very subjective and we all like different things. 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your stay in Melbourne. I hope the weather gets a bit better. It’s so cold down here in the south west today.
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morselsandscraps said:
Melbourne weather’s been perfect despite prognostications of rain. I was unfamiliar with Tucker, but my friend was startled too to see him in landscape mode. I loved Blackman, largely thanks to a year with twins, I think. I recognised so many childhood stances in the paintings.
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