All posts tagged artists

Montsalvat

Montsalvat's building

Montsalvat's building 2

Montsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, north east of Melbourne that was established by artist and architect Justus Jorgensen in 1934. I don’t know any more about Mr Jorgensen, but from visiting Montsalvat and seeing the number of self portraits he painted, I’m going to gamble that he was quite a peculiar man. Montsalvat is a whimsical place; an artist colony housed in European gothic buildings, which were built during the 1930s in Australia.

Montsalvat's medieval interior

It was still lovely to walk around the 12 acres, and I appreciated that we could explore all the old looking buildings, the gardens (and sample a few of their blackberries) and listen to a saxophonist complete with frogs and a kookaburra.

Montsalvat's gothic door Montsalvat's brick-filled door Montsalvat's stone door

Montsalvat is now mostly used for exhibitions, performances, conferences, seminars, weddings and funerals; although some artists continue to reside there.

Montsalvat's gallery

Montsalvat's resident artists' studios

Australian modern painting

The Heide’s collection, especially some of the earliest works that were on show in Heide I, got me really excited. I wanted to find out more about the artists whose work was featured, including Sam Atyeo (whose cubist painting, Cigarette (1936) was my favourite of the collection), and I wanted to paint or draw.

On the first aspect of my art-inspired mission (research), I went to the local library to borrow a book or two on Australian painting. I borrowed an enormous book on Australian modern painting and lugged it home in the near 40˚C heat with a pile of other books that people had recommended (Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and the classic Moby Dick) or that started to address gaping holes in my education (philosophy).

The book Australian Modern Painting: Between the Wars 1914-1939, provided a great introduction into the main players (artists, collectors, educators), movements and events affecting art during the period. Here are the artists that stood out to me:

Max Meldrum (especially his oils of eucalyptus, like Landscape with trees c. 1925)
Grace Cossington Smith (especially her painting Studio Door 1966)
Roland Wakelin (especially his Sewing Machine 1928)
Magaret Preston (especially Implement Blue 1927)

There were also a few large, full colour copies of Sam Atyeo’s work. Atyeo painted what is regarded to be the first Australian abstract canvas, Organised Line to Yellow (1934). He also trained as a designer, and seemingly haphazardly became a diplomat.

Doctor Herbert Vere Evatt, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs in John Curtin’s Government, personally recruited Atyeo into his service in the early 1940s. Just a quick sidenote, Dr H V Evatt (better known as “Bert” or “Doc” Evatt) was also a pretty interesting character in Australian political and cultural affairs. He was a jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). He was Leader of the Australian Labor Party while in Opposition from 1951 to 1960. Two years later, Evatt suffered a mental breakdown and was retired from the bench.

But back to Atyeo…

Daniel Mandel says of Atyeo‘s diplomatic experience:

“During a temporary appointment that was to last for about eight years, he enjoyed unhindered access to Evatt; this intimacy and Evatt’s use of him to inform on officers in the Department of External Affairs caused many career diplomats to be suspicious and jealous of him…

Atyeo earned a reputation for gregarious bluntness and intemperate speech; (Sir) Winston Churchill is reported to have described him as the most foul-mouthed diplomat in the world…

In later life he disparaged his diplomatic career as mere `international politicking’.”

In a letter the artist wrote to his political patron while in Greece, his casual manner towards the whole diplomatic experience is evident:

“21 Atyeo to Evatt

Letter SALONIKA, 12 March 1947

….

The Greek Govt is very far to right & I’m sure no solution is possible until it becomes a whole lot more democratic. The presence of the commission has been valuable in this direction.

The cessation of executions did a hell of a lot of good. It was a young American & myself who went to see the Greek liaison officer at 3.30 a.m. & pleaded with him to stop the executions (which were to take place at 5 a.m.) until at least the commission could sit & give a decision. The order was given at 4.30 a.m. Quite close. The long telegram Hood sent is a fair account.

All the best my boy & look after yourself. Love to both.

SAM

I reckon I’m becoming quite a delegate now with all my experience.”

But back to the Art.

As Daniel Mandel says:

“The importance of Atyeo to the modernist movement in Australian painting and design is often neglected.”

But at the Heide, they feature some of his works, including Cigarette (1934), Abstract figure with thumb (c.1934) and The Dancer (1936).

Heide gallery

Last week, Mum and I went to the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

We were greeted by this sign…

…so we stomped around the sizable fruit and vegetable garden, and into the original farmhouse.

The Heide started when Melbourne art collectors John and Sunday Reed bought an old dairy farm in 1934. They hosted artists who become known as the Heide Circle. This group included many of Australia’s most famous modernist painters like Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan. Their work features in the current retrospective ‘Forever Young: 30 Years of the Heide Collection.’

There were black and white photos of these incredible artists and their friends and families going about their life in what is made out to be an artistic paradise – free, fun, organic.

The retrospective is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the museum’s establishment on the site. It includes not only the buildings, but also the surrounding gardens and parklands, about which sculptures (and families enjoying picnics) are scattered.