Australian · PDF fileAustralian Art Selected works of ... roses and hollyhocks. Most of...

Australian Art

Selected works of art from the Art Gallery of South Australia Education Services Resource

Image: A break away!, 1891, Tom ROBERTS, Australia,1856-1931, Elder Bequest Fund 1899

Outreach Education is a team of specialist DECD teachers based in major public organisations. Each teacher creates and manages curriculum-focused learning programs for early years to senior students and teachers using the expertise, collections and events at their unique site.

The following selection of key works within the Elder Wing are designed to introduce students to aspects of Australian art. Due to the rotating nature of Gallery displays, please note that Education Services is unable to guarantee that all works of art included in this resource are currently on view.

Please contact Education Services to book your visit and discuss whether particular works are on display.

Mark FischerDECD Eduation Manager Art Gallery of South Australiae: [email protected]: 08 8207 7033

English artist John Glover migrated to Tasmania from his home in London in 1830. He bought land and set up a farm near Launceston.

Glover’s Tasmanian landscapes often showed his liking for the natural bushland, and his interest in the disappearing indigenous peoples who once lived on the land he now owned.

This painting shows a summer’s day at Glover’s new farm. A shingle-roofed stone house and wooden studio look out onto his extensive cottage garden full of flowering plants. The size of this garden shows Glover’s dedication to familiar plants from his home country. He had brought plants and seeds with him on the long journey in a sailing ship, and planned the garden while on the ship, even though a fellow passenger’s monkey ate many of his seedlings.

Glover painted the natural bushland beyond the edges of his garden. The hilly bushland shows the soft olive greens of the Tasmanian manna gum trees. At the front of the garden we see he has made formal pathways, and a small pond or lake, and there is a vegetable plot to the right of the house.

Glover’s garden is a display of introduced plants thriving in their new environment. Some of them are easy to identify: willows, roses and hollyhocks. Most of Australia’s problem weeds began as escaped garden plants introduced by immigrants, travellers, and later by plant nurseries. Weeds often threatened and smothered the growth of native plants by doing too well in this new country.

Focus• Look closely at the painting. Where do you think the water for household and garden use came from?• Would any part of Glover’s garden have needed more water than other parts? Do non-native plants have the same water needs as the native plants?

Gallery 1

SMALL TALK EDUCATION RESOURCE

EDUCATION SERVICES, ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A View of the artist’s house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen’s Land, 1835, TasmaniaJOHN GLOVERBritain/Australia, 1767-1849 Morgan Thomas Bequest Fund 1951

Gallery 1



This work represents how water is important for trade and cultural contact between peoples. It shows a Malay sailing boat or prau. From at least the early 1700s until the early 1900s, men from Macassar (Sulawesi), part of Indonesia, sailed to northern Australia each year to gather trepang (sea cucumber), a seafood delicacy traded to China.

The Macassans established trading and cultural relations with Aboriginal people from northern coastal areas. Exchanges were made of exotic materials such as cloth, metal knives and axes, rice and tobacco. This was Australia’s first export industry.

Many Aboriginal men also travelled across the water to Macassar (particularly to Ujung Pandang, on Sulawesi) after the wet season’s harvest of trepang. On Groote Eylandt, off the northern Australian coast, Macassan influences remain in language, landscape and beliefs through introduced words and plants, incorporation of boats into creation stories, and the adoption of boat and wind ‘totems’.

Focus• What sea creatures, other than trepang, might be a source of food for people in this area?• What navigation ‘tools’ might have been used by these early traders?• As you walk through the Gallery, look for other works that show sea travel and trade.

The Malay prau1948, Umbakumba, Groote Eylandt, Northern TerritoryMINIMINI MAMARIKAAustralia, 1904-1972Anindilyakwa people, Northern TerritoryGift of Mr Charles P Mountford 1960© Estate of the artist, Licensed by Aboriginal Artist Agency, 2011

Gallery 1



At the time of European settlement when Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived from England on January 26, 1788, about 34 Aboriginal groups lived in the Sydney region close to waterways such as the Parramatta River. Aboriginal people had managed the water sustainably for thousands of years, and were careful not to pollute the water supplies which provided fresh drinking water, and supported food such as fish, crustaceans and birds.

The first managed water supplies for Sydney’s colonial population were holding tanks cut into the Tank Stream that flowed through the settlement into Sydney Harbour, at Circular Quay. By 1826 the stream was polluted with sewage and rubbish and was abandoned in favour of water from Busby’s Bore, a convict-built tunnel from Lachlan swamps to Hyde Park. The water was distributed throughout the city by water carts.

All cities, towns, and settlements have to manage water. Over time they have developed complex systems for collecting, distributing and treating water for people’s needs. Using stormwater, rainwater tanks, desalination plants, and recycling, means that communities can reduce their reliance on rivers and dams for water supplies.

Focus• What can you see in the painting that would need/use water?• How would the water for household use have been collected at this time?• This is a painting about the past, about arriving in a new colony and having to start everything from scratch. When new towns or cities are developed and settled now, the problem remains of providing water and sewage to households. Most Australian cities are centred on natural water features such as deep harbours, and rivers. But some water needs to come a long way. Where does Adelaide’s water come from? And what happens to Adelaide’s stormwater and sewage?

View of the town of Sydney in the colony of New South Wales c1799, probably painted in Britain from sketchesafter THOMAS WATLING Australia, 1762-c1814MJM Carter AO Collection

The artist John Lewin was a trained natural history painter who made many illustrations of Australian flora and fauna. Several kinds of fish Lewin officially discovered were named after him, and among them was a hammerhead shark. Its official (scientific) name is Sphyrna Lewini.

This is the first known oil painting to be made in Australia. The fish species in this still-life arrangement have all been identified. From the top: snapper, hammerhead shark, crimson squirrel-fish, estuary perch, rainbow wrasse and sea mullet.

Fish catch and Dawes Point, Sydney Harbour c1813, SydneyJohn William LEWINAustralia, 1770-1819Gift of the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation and Southcorp Holdings Limited on the occasion of the Company’s Centenary 1988

Focus• How many of the listed fish do you recognise?• What story do you think is being told by the artist? • What impression does this realistic painting of ‘dead fish’ painting leave on you?

Later• Imagine that you have just caught these fish at Dawes Point, on Sydney Harbour. Write a wall label about your day of fishing with your friends.

Gallery 1



Gallery 1



Joseph Backler was a talented forger in London before he was caught making false money orders. For punishment he was sent to Australia’s colony of New South Wales for life in 1832. Once in Sydney his talent for drawing meant he was treated as a special convict and assigned to the Surveyor general’s department as a draughtsman. After he was pardoned in 1847 he remained a mischievous person, often in trouble with the law as he travelled looking for work. Backler’s talent for drawing provided him with income as a landscape and portrait painter.

Unlike many of his portraits that were painted from life, this portrait of the famous English explorer and navigator Captain James Cook was made from copies of Cook’s appearance, as Cook was long dead, having died in 1779 aged only 50.

We see Cook standing on a rocky ledge with cliffs in the distance, suggesting the East coast ocean cliffs near the Heads of Sydney Harbour. Cook is seen resting his hand globe of the world on the northern hemisphere, likely to be England from where he came. This gesture signifies how Cook’s discovery of Australia in 1770s (90 years earlier) was very important in the expansion of the British Empire. He is also holding a brass and wood telescope, an essential tool for looking at distant objects or land when sailing in unknown waters.

FocusCook used the finest navigation science of his time. To locate his position he would have measured the angle between the sun and the horizon. Daily handwritten logs of these measurements and the route of the ship were precisely drawn on a map. Any new land forms found were also plotted on the ship’s map. • Research how the magnification of a telescope works.• Research Pacific peoples used the stars for navigation on the sea.

Captain Cook on the coast of New South Wales, 1860JOSEPH BACKLER1813-1895MJM Carter AO Collection through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation to mark the Gallery’s 125th anniversary 2006

Gallery 2



Isaac Whitehead painted this large landscape to show the scale and mystery of the magnificent forests of the Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne. He was interested in showing how the Australian landscape matched the imaginations and perceptions of its European settlers, as being an ancient and impenetrable wilderness.

The painting shows a thickly-wooded forest valley where the undergrowth is damp and ferny. There is a crystal clear creek shaded by huge, ancient eucalypt trees. Many micro-environments exist within the general forest area here.

Tiny figures of loggers clamber over mossy logs. The figures are dwarfed by the towering trunks around them. This painting was originally titled ‘Victorian Forest with Loggers’. Unlicensed loggers were starting to degrade the forest by cutting down these giant, old-growth trees for their valuable timber. Australia’s new furniture and building industries depended on these beautiful timbers.

In this work Whitehead was responding to an international mania for ferns from the Dandenongs. Ferns were so popular that patterns and images of them were often incorporated into decorative arts in silverware, pottery and textiles. Look around the room to see some of these objects.

People are drawn to watery locations, and will picnic, bushwalk and camp by rivers, dams and in rainforests. Some people also enjoy such locations for bird-watching and animal-spotting.Focus• What happens to these micro-environments when old growth forests are cut down?• How much rainfall a year does a rainforest require to survive? Are there any rainforests in South Australia?

In the Sassafras Valley, Victoria1875, MelbourneISAAC WHITEHEADAustralia, 1819-1881MJM Carter Collection and the South Australian Government 1996

Evening shadows, backwater of the Murray, South Australia1880H.J JOHNSTONE1835-1907Gift of Mr Henry Yorke Sparks 1881

This painting shows a twilight scene along a backwater of the Murray River. There are Aboriginal people in their bark dwelling, and standing by the water. It was the first painting to enter the Gallery’s collection and is the most copied. The artist painted one or two very similar works as well.

It is an extremely smooth and realistic painting. Johnstone was a clever photographer who painted many of his works from photographs. It is thought he painted this in London or Paris. This was unusual for the time.

Compare the way ‘Evening Shadows’ is painted with some of the other Australian works you look at today.

Focus• How was the paint applied?• Are the colours bright or subdued?• Describe how this use of colour makes you feel.• Observe the people in the painting. What are they doing? What mood does the scene set?

Gallery 2



Gallery 3a



Steiner migrated from Germany in 1858 and was part of a large group of immigrants who settled in the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley. He was Australia’s most prolific colonial silversmith and jeweller.

There was a great demand for locally made silver and gold jewellery and presentation pieces. Ordering these items from overseas could take up to six months to arrive in the colonies. Steiner was clever to build his business by being a local silver smith with outstanding skills.

The discovery of silver at Broken Hill in 1883 along with the mining locally of semi-precious and precious stones like malachite, jasper, amethyst, agate and garnets provided colonial jewellers with much needed materials. More unusual local materials were also used such as emu eggs, indigenous seeds and pods.

Steiner made many presentation pieces using Emu eggs which he combined with uniquely Australian motifs such as Aboriginal figures and native flora and fauna. This work uses all the characteristic materials and symbols of Steiner and showcases the success and progress being made in the colony of South Australia. Steiner’s presentation pieces are examples of colonial pride and extravagance and are beautifully crafted examples of this jewellers’ highly developed skills.

FocusIn the process of mining for one particular mineral other valuable minerals can be recovered. There have been many examples of this in South Australia’s mining history. When copper was discovered in Burra, the very beautiful semi precious stone malachite was also found. • Research the materials and the jewellery making techniques that Steiner has used to create his Perfume bottle holder.• What would some of the difficulties be working with a raw material like emu eggs and Queensland beans in comparison to a metal like silver.

Perfume Bottle Holder, c1875JOHANN HEINRICH STEINER1835-1914Gift of the Southern Farmers Group Ltd in its centernary year 1988 through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 1988

The wife of the artist is shown with three of her children at the door of their home. An Aboriginal woman has asked for food, and the mother is teaching her eldest child Henrietta about the way a good Christian ‘gives to the poor and does charitable works’. Henrietta’s younger brother Charles peeps around the corner of his mother’s skirts.

This family and many like it would have found it difficult to accept at the time that colonial settlement and the clearance of Aboriginal land had created a situation where Aboriginal people were forced to beg for food.

The First Lesson1857, AdelaideCharles HILLAustralia, 1891-1951Gift of Mrs I Ruck 1966

Focus• What do you think Henrietta might have been thinking or feeling during her lesson in 1857?• Has Hill’s story made you think about the importance of sharing and giving to people less fortunate than ourselves?

Later• Research traditional ‘hunting and gathering’ practices.• The bread being offered to this woman has lard spread onto it. Find out what, and how lard is made.• What might have been the impact of forced change of diet on the health of Aboriginal people at this time?

Gallery 3a



At last!1896, MelbourneHugh RAMSAYAustralia, 1877-1906Gift of James & Diana Ramsay 1991

Born in Scotland, Hugh Ramsay arrived with his family in Victoria in 1878. Considered to be one of Australia’s finest tonalist painters Ramsay trained at the National Gallery School (1895-99) before setting out for Europe in 1900. Unfortunately, due to ill health, Ramsay returned to Australia in 1902 where he tragically died of tuberculosis four years later at the age of 28.

This painting was submitted for the National Gallery School Travelling Scholarship in 1896. Ramsay, still in mourning for his mother, who had died in March that year, painted a deathbed scene.

The work of art shows a great deal of tone, light and shadowing that adds to the drama. This style of painting is in keeping with the sentimentality of the Victorian period. Common subjects for paintings were: love, death, beauty and desire. Death was commonplace and affected children, young men and women, the healthy and apparently robust, not just the old and sick. The model for the little girl is the artist’s youngest sister, Jessie, aged eight, who was also to die young.

Focus• Why do you think Ramsay called this painting ‘At last!’?• How has the artist used light in this painting and why?• Who do you think the figures coming to help this young family are?• What can you read from this painting that tells you about how wealthy this family was?• What conversations might taking place in the room? Later• Poverty, sickness and hunger - the Victorians’ fear of tragedy was real and justified, and found expression in art. Research what life was like during the Victorian period.• Research the disease tuberculosis.

Gallery 3b


EDUCATION SERVICES, ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA PAGE 11

Charles Conder became a friend and painting companion of Tom Roberts. Roberts met Conder in Sydney and invited him to join a group of artists camping and painting outdoors around Melbourne.

Mentone was a popular sea-side spot for people living in Melbourne. In this painting people have caught the train down for the day and are dressed 1880s style!

Conder used techniques learnt from Roberts, such as using jetties to divide up the composition into smaller sections. An Impressionist device was to use mauves and blues in the shadowing, replacing the browns and blacks that had been used in earlier Colonial works. Conder added something which was contemporary to the time. The woman in the foreground is reading a newspaper called ‘The Bulletin’.

Focus• Imagine the same scene today. What changes might there be?• Notice how Conder has used perspective in his work of art. Can you find the horizon line and vanishing point in the painting?• Notice Conder’s use of colour. List the primary and secondary colours Conder has used to animate the painting.

A holiday at Mentone1888Charles CONDERAustralia, 1868-1909South Australian Government Grant with the assistance of Bond Corporation Holdings Limited through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation to mark the Gallery’s Centenary 1981

Gallery 3b



A break away!1891Tom ROBERTSAustralia,1856-1931Elder Bequest Fund 1899

Focus• This is a drought landscape. How has the artist indicated this?• Imagine you are one of the stockmen. What thoughts are going through your mind right now?• Roberts’ A break away! is an Australian icon. What does this mean? • The ‘real Aussie’ is a bushman. It is a man (not a woman). What do you think of this statement?• After the European explorers came the pastoralists with their sheep, cattle and fences. The inland, even by the turn of the century, retreated further towards Australia’s ‘Dead Heart’. What does this term mean?• Some people say that the ‘real’ Australia is inland, not on the coast. What do you think?

This work was painted in a shearing shed in the Riverina, New South Wales. It is very much a ‘country’ painting. The subject is a stampede of sheep racing towards the dam at the bottom right. If the stockman riding away from us is unsuccessful in ‘cutting them off’, many sheep will be crushed and drown in the dam.

Roberts never saw this ‘break away’ happen. He travelled through the area and camped out with drovers - who told him yarns of adventures in the bush.

Roberts drew the stockman from a ‘model’. He paid a man to sit on a box with arm and leg outstretched while he drew him in his studio.Some critics at the time didn’t like this painting because it looked ‘too Australian’ and the composition (arrangement of everything) was too loose. What do you think this means?

Gallery 3b



Adelaide-born Dorrit Black travelled overseas in the early part of last century and studied in both London and Paris. Her training in Cubist art influenced her style.

The subject of ‘The Olive Plantation’ is olive groves in the Adelaide foothills at Magill. Dorrit Black has not painted this work to look very real, as in a photo.

The artist has focused on the sculptural forms of the hillsides and the rows of trees. By reducing details, simplifying the colour scheme, and adding dramatic interest by use of light and shade, she has made this work into what we call a modern work of art.

Look for the strong sense of movement created by repeated patterns and curves. The shape of each olive tree has been simplified (i.e the details are left out). Notice how the artist has made it easy to see the overall patterns of the plantation. She has simplified forms and used bright flat colours.

The Olive Plantation1946Dorrit BLACK1891-1951Bequest of the artist 1951

Focus• Create a list of the things you can see in this painting.• The cloud on the horizon takes the eye back to the vanishing point. • Describe how the rows of olive trees help to show perspective in the work.• Are there any other works by Dorrit Black near this one? Is her style in these works similar or different?

Gallery 4



The Bridge1930, SydneyDorrit BLACKAustralia, 1891-1951Bequest of the artist 1951

Dorrit Black was an Australian modernist painter who was born and died in Adelaide. Her painting shows a new way of depicting shapes. Instead of being rounded and natural there is a geometric shape to the land, the trees, and the buildings. The bridge is of course geometric in shape.

Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, had earlier introduced the style of Cubism to painting, and Black had studied his work in France. She was also aware of painters such as Cezanne who used geometric shapes.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s largest steel arch bridge. The two half arches were held back in the construction phase by steel cables anchored underground. On one of the arches a creeper crane can be seen at work. Two cranes working from either side travelled slowly forward, laying arch sections in front of them as they progressed. As the two sections grew closer together excitement grew. Some people thought that when the last section was put into place the Bridge would collapse into the Harbour!

For many Australians at the time, the Bridge became a symbol of Australia as a modern, ‘can do’ nation. The Bridge was a very popular subject for artists at this time. It was seen as a symbol of the new Nationalism which emerged in Australia after World War I.

FocusWhen this was painted it was considered to be among the most modern paintings in Australian art. • Do you think it looks modern now? Is the subject easily recognised? • Look at the different shapes Black used. Make a list of all the geometric, organic and abstract shapes you can find in this painting.

Later• Research the design and construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.• Write a wall label about this Australian icon.

Gallery 4



Grace Cossington Smith was one of a number of Australian artists who early last century experimented with new forms of art expression. This style of art was given a general name, modern art. Modern artists used colour in the same way that composers use musical notes. In this painting the natural colours of the ground, grass and sky have been exaggerated to give the picture more energy. The warm, earthy colours of the road are balanced by the cool greens and blues of the hillsides.

All two-dimensional images such as paintings have a sense of space or distance. In traditional paintings this space is usually deep. Things look close or distant, or look solid or three-dimensional. In modern style paintings this space is flattened. Here are some of the things the artist has done to give the work of art a flatter or more designed look:• creating outlines around the edges of things• using brush stokes to make strong surface patterns• using thick or wide brushes.

This painting uses traditional approaches to composition in that nearest things are the largest and sit at the bottom of the picture, and distant things are placed higher. Notice how the composition is divided into three parts: the road up close, the farmland and hillsides in the middle distance, and the sky. Objects become smaller the closer they are to the vanishing point. The vanishing point sits on the horizon line.

Landscape at Pentecost 1929, SydneyGrace COSSINGTON SMITHAustralia, 1892-1984South Australian Government Grant 1981

Focus• Can you locate the horizon line and vanishing point in this painting?• Just imagine all the lines, outlines and edges in this painting are roadways for your eyes to travel on. Start anywhere and see how far you can travel without taking your eyes off the painting.• Can you find the techniques the artist has used to create a modern style, flattened painting?• The road is important in this composition. Why do you think this is?

Gallery 4



Gallery 4



Water is not always visible as ocean, lake or river. Sometimes it is less obvious, as Clarice Beckett’s paintings often show.

Clarice Beckett is recognised as one of Australia’s most important Modernist artists. Her paintings are ‘everyday’ landscapes: suburban scenes that feature fog, mist, or rain often suggesting an illusion of reality.

Beckett often walked the streets and cliff tops near her seaside home with her painting cart loaded with easel, paint and canvasses. She painted incessantly, and in all weathers. She died at the age of 45 after contacting pneumonia following a spell of painting outside during a storm.

Beckett’s favoured painting times were dawn and dusk. Her paintings often seem blurry, foggy or misty; objects are made shiny - and different - by rain. This painting shows a Melbourne city streetscape in mist and fog. Fog is tiny droplets of water which are light enough to float in the air.

FocusThere is a fixed amount of water on earth and it is constantly moving from one place to another in a process called the water cycle or hydrological cycle. The water cycle works when water evaporates from oceans, rivers and vegetation into the air as water vapour, which builds up forming fog, mist or clouds. Air temperature and pressure cause the clouds to rain and water falls back down to the ground. • At school, draw the water cycle showing evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection/run-off. Where are mist and fog on this cycle?

Passing trams, c1931, MelbourneCLARICE BECKETTAustralia, 1887-1935Edna Berniece Harrison Bequest Fund through the Friends of the Art Gallery of South Australia 2001

This painting shows a little boy riding a goat, although it does not look exactly like a goat. As the title implies it is a story the artist recalls when he was a young boy.

It is set in a farmyard scene perhaps similar to the farm where Perceval grew up in Western Australia, and where his father grew wheat. The old man with the cart seems to have bags of something on his cart, and it could be wheat. While some objects in the painting look to be real, the dogs and the black chook for instance, the goat, the pig and the boy have strange toothy grins. The little boy stares at us. It is difficult to say if he is happy or sad. The artist is known to have had a sad childhood.

Perceval later made many ceramic angels that resemble the boy in the picture. Can you find one of these angel sculptures nearby?

Recollection of the artist as a small boy riding a goat1942-43, MelbourneJohn PERCEVAL Australia, 1923-2000Acquired 1993

Focus• How does this painting make you feel?• Describe the texture used by Perceval to create this painting.• What story does it tell you about the artist’s childhood?• Perceval was a friend of artist Arthur Boyd. Does the painting look like Arthur Boyd’s work or Albert Tucker’s? • Look at other works of art in this Gallery. They all belonged to a group of artists who were affected by the Great Depression and the Second World War. They also followed the style of work favoured by German painters called Expressionists. One of the points of their work is that they show emotion. Do you get a sense of this? Later• Recount a story about something that made you happy when you were younger.

Gallery 5



Sidney Nolan was an artist with a wide range of interests, and this is reflected in his art. He experimented with different forms and styles, including portraits, landscapes, narrative paintings, in abstract, surrealist and expressionist styles.

These ‘heads’ are of people the artist knew – friends, other artists, writers. Nolan painted these ‘heads’ at Heide. Here he was free to draw and paint, and also to enjoy the country life. This tranquil environment was important for his artistic endeavours.

Nolan used a paint called Ripolin and Dulux enamel house paint, bought at the local hardware shop. This was a paint which was generally used on houses and boats. Ripolin had a glossy effect which Nolan particularly liked (it was very luminous) but it was also very ‘fluid’ and dried quickly, so he had to work rapidly. He worked generally on boards from packing cases, or on cardboard. Sometimes he laid his canvases flat to minimize the likelihood of the paint running.

Sometimes these works of art are referred to as ‘heads’ rather than portraits. What’s the difference? A portrait is painted from life or perhaps from a photographic image, whereas a ‘head’ is drawn from memory. Nolan drew these heads from recollections of his friends, rather than having them ‘sit’ for him.

Installation photo of works bySidney NOLAN Australia, 1917-1992Gift of Sidney & Cynthia Nolan 1974

Focus• What do you think Nolan was trying to capture in these images? Can you get a sense of emotions, or personalities?• Have you ever drawn or painted or taken a photo of a portrait? If you were painting a portrait of yourself, what features would you concentrate on? Would you try to paint an accurate likeness?• Nolan’s early works of art were sometimes labelled ‘avant garde’. Do you know what this term means?

Gallery 5



Gallery 5



John Perceval was an Australian artist who painted as well as created works in clay. He made about sixty angels, some were called Delinquent Angels, Fighting Angels and Hypnotic Angels. Angel Winkie was named after one of Perceval’s children, the baby Celia, whose nickname was Winkie.

Perceval would start with a sketch on paper, then use earthenware clay to model the final angel. The torso of the Angel Winkie was thrown on the pottery wheel, the head and arms fashioned from hollow balls of clay and then attached to the body.

Pieces of balsawood and match sticks were used to support the most delicate sections of the figure. Perceval always glazed his figures and Angel Winkie was glazed with sang-de-boeuf (ox blood) to create the rich, red colour. The clay itself changes from a soft, non permanent, pliable material which would dissolve if placed in water to a permanent shape which can absorb water yet still retain its shape and if glazed it becomes waterproof.

Angel Winkie1959John PERCEVAL Australia, 1923-2000Gift of Diana Ramsay AO 2003

FocusPerceval developed his skills in working with clay and glazes to such a degree that he was very secretive about some of the processes he had developed to produce his amazing glaze finishes.It was only his understanding of the technology of his kiln that allowed him to achieve such results. • Why didn’t Perceval use metal supports to prop up his clay models during construction?• How has heat generated by fire contributed to other great advances in technology related to art?• Create your own set of angels in the classroom using a variety of materials from paper, card, wire to clay.

Gallery 5



Dusan Marek’s painting tells the story of Dusan, his brother Voitre and his wife Vera’s voyage to Australia, as refugees, fleeing Czechoslovakia in the mid 1940’s.

Their cousin Milena played a key role in organising for them to be smuggled out of their country of birth. Milena is the women depicted in the centre of the painting, she is part of a black ships hull which represents the migrant ships the three refugees travelled in to Australia.

In the top left hand side of the painting there is a white globe with latitude lines painted across the globe, one line with an ‘O’ refers to the line of the equator which passes around the world at O latitude.

The refugees travelled across the equator going from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere- going ‘down under’ to Australia. In Dusan’s painting he has added a small upside down half man half insect creature attached to the globe, suspended from the southern hemisphere like a fly on the ceiling.

FocusMarek’s work often focused on travelling to a country far away from Europe both in distance and culture, the ship he and his family were travelling in, and and the problems of navigation over vast distances of ocean. He ‘borrowed’ one of the ships’ gaming tables, removing the green felt from one side and put down his thoughts on both sides of the wooden table top.Australia is sometimes called “ The land of Down under”- do you think this is an accurate description of Australia’s placement on a world map? • Using an atlas find out the longitude and latitude location of some important places in Australia.

Equator, 1948DUSAN MAREK Australia, 1926-1993Sourh Australian Government Grant 1972

Courtyard



Catherine Truman is a contemporary South Australian artist who is well known in Australia and internationally for her finely-crafted objects. The fish – a recurrent symbol in her early work – are used here by the artist as a metaphor for the human spirit.

This work provides an example of how water is an inspiration for artists. Catherine Truman has imagined playful fish leaping in and out of the water. The bronze fish seem to dive into the slate ‘pool’ or become caught in the ‘net’ of the gateway.

Focus• Consider how the artist has created a visual game. You are walking on, or through, water. How has the artist made the stone slate look like water? • Back at school, using plasticine and/or cardboard, create your own fish or sea-creature sculpture.

Slate pool walkway1993-1996, AdelaideCATHERINE TRUMAN Australia, 1957South Australian Government Grant 1996

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