15 August - 19 October 2008
The Art Gallery of South Australia will lift the fog from one of the most influential but forgotten movements of 20th century Australian art in a ground-breaking new national touring exhibition opening in Adelaide in August.
Misty Moderns: Australian Tonalists 1915-1950 is the first
major exhibition to tell the story of Australian Tonalism; a movement championed by the influential
and often controversial Melbourne painter Max Meldrum (1875-1955), which took place during the
inter-war period.
Clarice Beckett, Australia, 1887 - 1935,
Passing trams, c.1931, Melbourne, oil on board, 48.6 x 44.2
cm; Edna Berniece Harrison Bequest Fund through the Friends of the Art Gallery of South Australia
2001, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
“Tonalism is probably the most misunderstood, underestimated and underappreciated movement in Australian art history and yet it was hugely important to the development of 20th century art in this country” states Tracey Lock-Weir, the Gallery’s Curator of Australian Art and Curator of Misty Moderns.
“Max Meldrum was a pioneer but he was also terribly divisive. There was a certain stigma
attached to him and his followers which still remains today … even some of the most beautiful
Tonalist paintings have often been ignored or dismissed by the art world – until now” says
Lock-Weir.
Australian Tonalist painting is characterised by a particular ‘misty’ or atmospheric quality
created by the Meldrum painting method of building ‘tone on tone’.
Around 80 works by Max Meldrum and 17 of his followers have been brought together from public
and private collections around Australia for the first time for
Misty Moderns. Included in the exhibition are works by
Meldrum’s best-known pupils Clarice Beckett, Percy Leason and Colin Colahan, and formative works by
Australian Modernists Roy de Maistre, Roland Wakelin, Lloyd Rees, Arnold Shore and William Frater,
who were all heavily influenced by Meldrum’s theories.
Tonalism developed from Max Meldrum’s ‘Scientific theory of Impressions’ and flourished in
Melbourne and Sydney. Controversially, it opposed post-Impressionism and Modernism, and is now
regarded as a precursor to Minimalism and Conceptualism.
“Traditionally Meldrum has been associated with conservatism, however it is surprising to realise that his theories influenced many of Australia’s most innovative Modernists” says Lock-Weir.
And his influence endured for generations: “Meldrum’s student A.D.
Colquhoun taught William Dargie, who in turn passed on the theories to his pupils, including John
Brack and Fred Williams” she explains.
Well-known curator and writer, Rosalind Hollinrake, who effectively re-discovered the work of Meldrum’s star pupil, Clarice Beckett, in 1971, will officially open Misty Moderns at the Art Gallery of South Australia before it goes on show to the public from Friday 15 August to Sunday 19 October.
The exhibition’s public program includes talks and lectures by Tracey Lock-Weir, Rosalind Hollinrake and Peter Perry, Director of Castlemaine Art Gallery and author of Max Meldrum & Associates. There are also regular guided tours, children’s activities and a tonal painting workshop for adults.
Following the exhibition’s opening season in Adelaide, Misty Moderns will tour nationally to
venues in Victoria, ACT, New South Wales and Queensland in 2009 and 2010, made possible with the
support of Visions of Australia; an Australian Government Program supporting touring exhibitions by
providing funding assistance for the development and touring of cultural material across Australia.
National Exhibition Tour
McClelland Gallery
16 November - 1 February 2009
National Gallery of Australia
20 February - 26 April
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
9 May - 21 June
University of Queensland Art Museum
17 July - 13 September
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
9 October - 29 November
Exhibition sponsor
