Title

Colour prints. [colour linocuts, woodcuts and lithographs by Australian and overseas artists.]

Author

Sydney Morning Herald critic.

Source

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney) 18 April 1831 - ongoing

Details

13 September 1939, page 9, column 1.

Publication date

13 September 1939

Type

Exhibition review

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

COLOUR PRINTS.
Work From Overseas.

An exhibition of colour prints at the Macquarie Galleries strikes a gay note in a gloomy period. There is something particularly stimulating about colour woodcuts, lino-cuts, and lithographs when the artist uses natural forms as material for a personal fantasy. The charm does not strike deep; but its effect is immediate.

The present collection includes three pictures in which reality is only faintly suggested and the subject-matter comes close to abstraction. As a rule, abstract pictures seem both empty and "arty"; but these lino-cuts of Ronald Grierson's have a definite appeal, and they make a pleasant change from the more conventional pictures which surround them.

For sheer brilliance of colour, Lill Tschudi's "Kiosk in Paris" would be difficult to surpass. Iain McNab's "Haute Savoie," on the other hand excels in delicate shadings. Another vivid contrast is that between Sybil Andrews's "Michaelmas." a heavily and richly coloured picture of some workmen shovelling into a dray, and Viola Paterson's "Venetian Ice Cream," a sensitive design, all glowing pallor, which hangs next to "Michaelmas" on the wall.

Such sharp differences of style are characteristic of lino-cutting and wood-cutting, and they persist throughout the exhibition. The list of oversea work has been expanded by the addition of three Australians: Ethleen Palmer, Thea Proctor, and Ethel Spowers.

[Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 1939, p.9, col.1.]
 

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Last Updated

07 Aug 2024