Small Talk 2010-2011 Lighting - Art Gallery of South … · SMALL TALK EDUCATION RESOURCE EDUCATION...

Small Talk

Selected works of art from the Art Gallery of South AustraliaEducation Services Resource

A part of me died when dad did. Mum couldn’t work because a few hours later Tommy was born, my baby brother. He is so cold. He cries often because the cold air surrounds him. He never really met dad. I’m selling flowers. My brother is leaning against mum; they’ve both given up hope. I glance behind us. There is a policeman looking at us. Will he make us go away? I really hope he doesn’t. It’s raining hard. Oh, how did this happen?

Hannah McDonald, age 11

SMALL TALK EDUCATION RESOURCE

EDUCATION SERVICES, ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA PAGE 2

Education Services at the Gallery would like to invite you to participate in a very special Small Talk opportunity as part of your Art Gallery experience. We wish to encourage students to write about the works of art they have just seen, and then to send them to us. We will select some of the best writing and hang it next to the work of art as a wall label.. You can already see some of these ‘blue’ wall labels around the Gallery. So keep your eyes open for them.

The Small Talk label initiative encourages connections with the Art Gallery, and enjoyment of the works of art by young people of primary school age. It invites students to make public their response to the works of art. The students are asked to write about the exhibits they have seen after they return to school. Of course it is not intended that all students respond to all of the exhibits in this way. It is more realistic to think that students in a class will be stimulated to focus their writing on one or a few of the key works in the permanent collection.

How does ‘Small Talk’ work?• Classes of students and their teachers visit the Gallery on an organised excursion • the teachers and their students look at, talk about and describe the works of art. The teachers help their students to respond to the art, encouraging them to use appropriate language. The teachers help their students to ‘unpack’ the meaning/s contained within the works. • The students make notes of their ideas, feelings and the language they associate with a particular work. To help all this happen the teachers may use support materials provided online in the ‘Unpacking Art’ and ‘Unpacking AGSA’ resources via the Learning link on the Art Gallery website www.artgallery.sa.gov.au• The ideas and notes are then taken back to school where the students write a proposed label for display in the Gallery. The teachers can suggest a number of ways in which the labels can be written. For example the students might write a poem, an ‘Art critic’s’ view, a review, personal opinion, or imaginary dialogue. Teachers can help their students with the process of refining, editing and polishing their writing.The student’s written work is then sent by fax or email to Education Services for the selection process.

The student wall labels will be rotated each Term. The deadlines for entries for 2010 are: 18 June, 24 September, 26 November.

Outreach Education is a partnership program between major public institutions and the Department of Education and Children’s Services. It is managed through the Open Access College, the government school of distance education.

Images: (front) The pinch of poverty, 1889, Thomas Benjamin KENNINGTON, Britain, 1856-1916, Gift of Charles Drew 1889; (page 2) Education Guide, Kirsty, with Tintinara Area School; (page 3) Mark Fischer with St Joseph’s School.



Education Services encourage early entries.

All entries must include the name and age of the student, the school, and teacher contact details.

Entries must be no more than 50 words in length.

The selected student writing will hang alongside Art Gallery of South Australia’s curators’ wall labels. The student’s name and age will be displayed with their Art Gallery of South Australia label. The teachers of students selected to exhibit their work on a label will be informed. Certificates will be issued to all participating students.

We hope that the promotion of a student ‘voice’ in the Art Gallery will provide new insights and information for all Gallery visitors, both adult and children.

Education Services look forward to your participation in this Small Talk wall label program.

Please note the Art Gallery of SA is undergoing lighting and display changes to the Australian collection galleries. This project means the closure of galleries 1-5. A collection of highlights, iconic works from the Australian galleries is on display in Gallery 6.

Please contact Mark Fischer or Karina Morgan for more information.

Mark FischerEducation ManagerArt Gallery of South Australiaphone (08) 8207 7033 fax (08) 8207 7070 e-mail: [email protected]

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 6



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 6



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 6



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 6



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 6



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 6



Currently off display and on loan

as part of a Cubist exhibition.

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 6



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 6



Focus• Can you see that the artist has been innovative by combining the traditional manner of solid colour with fill-in dots for the upper half and used the x-ray manner of the Western Desert clans for the lower half?

Later• Locate Arnhem Land on a map of Australia.• Draw or paint your interpretation of this Creation story.

These three mermaid installation sculptures are suspended over the stairwell. This gives them an unearthly mood, essential for these acquatic spirits. These are contemporary works of art due to their size and decoration. Traditional Aboriginal sculptures are generally smaller.

Mermaids are commonly known around the world as ‘young women with fish tails’. In this Aboriginal story the mermaids are associated with the Rainbow Serpent, Ngalyod, as they share the same sacred water holes. One of the stories is that the Ngalyod surprised some women when he sneaked up and frightened them. The women escaped by jumping into a nearby waterhole. This caused them to develop fish tails. It is also said that the Ngalyod is the protector of these mermaids. The Rainbow Serpent, besides being the creator spirit, is also the law giver and controls the seasons, particularly the monsoons. Consequently, he is given due honour and respect. The Aboriginal people are very careful not to break his taboos, as they fear his revenge.

Yawk yawk (mermaid figures)1994, Barridjowkkeng, Arnhem Land, Northern TerritoryOwen YALANDJAAustralia, born 1960Gift of the Friends of the Art Gallery of South Australia 1995

Gallery 7



Here is a portrait of a wealthy woman from the time of Queen Elizabeth I. In that period portraiture was the most acceptable form of painting. This portrait demonstrates the cult of women followers who wore clothes similar to the Queen’s.

Lady Reynell’s dress is very ornate, and is made from very expensive brocade which is decorated with pearls, gold and enamel. Her ruff is edged with lace, her hair is raised on a wire support, and her face is made up with white powder. A pale complexion could only be achieved by upper class women. Lower class women were expected to work outside, and so acquired a suntan! The pale complexion was therefore a sign of wealth and nobility. This portrait is thought to have been painted when Lady Reynell’s husband, Thomas Reynell, was knighted.

Frances, Lady Reynell, of West OgwellDevon, c1595, LondonRobert PEAKEBritain, c1551-1619Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 1998

Focus• Is the name Reynell familiar to you? This lady was of the same family as the people who settled in Reynella.• Do you think Lady Reynell looks comfortable? Do you think she wore clothes like this all the time? • Appearances were very important at this time, and make-up was used to hide the signs of ageing. The favoured application of the upper classes was a make-up called ceruse - a mixture of white lead and vinegar. It was poisonous! • Does the painting tell you anything about the lifestyle of the Reynell family at the time it was painted?• Is it like any other painting you have looked at recently?

Gallery 12



The story of this violent drama comes from the Aeneid, an epic written by the Roman poet Virgil.

Helen, according to the story, was taken against her will, to Troy. The Greeks fought a long war to avenge Helen’s abduction. They won the war by using a trick - the famous Trojan horse - which enabled soldiers to enter the gates of the city of Troy. Aeneas, on finding Helen during the fighting, decided that she was the cause of the war and grabbed her angrily. Venus, the goddess of love, can be seen saving Helen of Troy.

The Aeneid is a long but lively story full of mortals and gods tangling their fortunes. In the 17th century, when this painting was made, many people knew this story well and could appreciate such a painting without having to be told what was happening.

Venus preventing her son Aeneas from killing Helen of Troyc1650, Reggio EmiliaLuca (Luca da Reggio) FERRARIItaly, 1605-1654Elder Bequest Fund 1951

Focus• Find out more about the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan horse. • The artist has used light and dark, like a stage director, to add to the drama of the action. • Discuss the use of contrasts in light and dark in any film or video you have seen recently.• Look at other paintings nearby which demonstrate similar contrast.

Gallery 13



King George III commissioned his own portrait. Most portraits painted in this era were meant to display importance, wealth and power.

The complete outfit was made out of the same material. The enormous cuffs remained in fashion for around 70 years. This long coat, held in place by buttons, evolved to become the 20th century suit coat. The silk stockings are similar to stockings worn in earlier Tudor times. From 1735 men wore a stock, a stiff neckcloth made from linen, tied or buckled behind the neck. The stock grew over time in height and stiffness. The King’s wig is short. Wigs came into fashion around 1700 and developed throughout the century in very spectacular ways. They came in all shapes and sizes, and often indicated social class. They had all kinds of names: the adder, the bob-cut, the she-dragon.

The King loved the painting and refused other requests to paint his portrait. This was the best known painting of King George III in England and America at the time. During this King’s reign, the American colonies broke away from England and declared themselves independent.

(detail) King George III in coronation robesc1765, LondonAllan RAMSAY and studioBritain, 1713-1784South Australian Government Grant 1924

Focus• The light shines on the King to make him even more splendid. The heavy column and pink drape are symbols of power and authority.• What does this painting make you think about the person portrayed? • The King is wearing his Coronation robes. The fur is ermine. But there are some aspects of his garments which relate to fashions of today. Create a list of items that you see in today’s clothing.

Later• Choose a figure from history who you feel is important. The person could be an athlete, entertainer, politician, artist, or any other figure you admire! Research your historic figure and write a story that re counts important details of the person’s life. Create a portrait.

Gallery 14



Focus• People often believed in those days that if you were born into a lower class you shouldn’t try to rise above it. Others thought that being poor was God’s will. What do you think of this idea?• Make a list of things that show that this family is in poverty.• What are the main colours used by the artist in this work of art? How do they make you feel?

Later• Research the life and times of people living during the Industrial Revolution in England. Charles Dickens wrote about the fate of such families and of children forced onto the streets in ‘Oliver Twist’.• Write a poem that tells a story about the family in this painting.

This painting is from the time of Queen Victoria, late in the 19th Century.

The painting describes the desperate situations which often faced poor people struggling to survive in England. Sometimes people like these were lucky, and managed to make a new life in a new country. The family in ‘Pinch of Poverty’, however, is begging. The mother has a wedding ring on her finger and wears widow’s clothing. The ‘breadwinner’ is dead, and there is no social security support or possibility of enough work to help this family.

The family has been forced to leave their home and beg in the city square. The little girl who looks directly at us is trying to make money by selling flowers. In this era there was much poverty as people left farms and country villages to work in mines, mills, and factories that had increased in number because of the Industrial Revolution. Working conditions were very bad.

(detail) The pinch of poverty 1889, LondonThomas Benjamin KENNINGTONBritain, 1856-1916Gift of Charles Drew 1889

Gallery 14



Circe Invidiosa 1892, London J.W. WATERHOUSEBritain, 1849-1917South Australian Government Grant 1892

Waterhouse enjoyed painting stories taken from classical mythologies. Much of his inspiration and ideas came from reading the works of the great storyteller Homer.

In this story, Circe had become jealous of another woman, Scylla, a beautiful mermaid who had attracted the sea god Glaucus. Here, Circe is pouring poison into a swimming pool. Soon after, Scylla plunged into this pool and was turned into a dog-like monster with six heads. Some say that she lives on as the Scyllan rocks which bite the bottoms out of passing fishing boats! FocusViewers of this painting a hundred years ago would have known the story of Circe, and picked up on all the clues. See if you can locate them in the painting. Spooky setting – Gloomy colours are used to present the island as dark and threatening. Circe’s mood – The eyes are large, fierce and focused totally on the bowl; her figure is in a dramatic pose as if transfixed or in a trance. Jealousy – The acid green of the liquid gradually changes the colour of the sea at Circe’s feet. Circe’s power – Surfing on a sea monster, her long hair snakes out like tentacles as she almost floats above the water.

LaterResearch Circe and learn more about this amazing woman. Has this painting made you curious about stories from ancient Greece?

Gallery 15



When Duane Hanson was a teenager he made sculptures using any materials he could find, such as logs of wood and broom handles.

The body casts for this sculpture were made from the artist’s wife. She was expecting a child at the time. Don’t be fooled by the realism of this sculpture. It’s not actually a ‘real’ person: the head ‘belonged’ to a neighbour. The artist made a number of moulds by putting wet plaster onto someone’s body and making plaster casts of all the limbs, the torso and the head. Once these moulds of body parts were made the artist filled each with fibreglass, which eventually sets very hard. Then the fun began, joining all the fibreglass pieces to make up the body.

Back in the early 1970s colours such as burnt orange and acid green were very fashionable. Why is she wearing hair rollers and a hair net? Does this give you a clue about how her day is shaping up?

Focus• Are there any monuments to individuals in your local area? If so, who are these people? Are any of them ordinary workers? Do ordinary people deserve monuments? If Duane Hanson was working in today what kinds of people might he choose for his sculptures?

Later• At home or at school, you could dress up and try becoming a statue.• Travel back in time and check out how well-dressed housewives look.

Woman with a laundry basketUnited States and Germany, 1974Duane HANSONUnited States, 1925-1996South Australian Government Grant 1975

Gallery 16



Blue spots indicate the location of art works included in this trail.

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Australian galleries 1-5 closed for display and lighting upgrades

Small Talk 2010-2011 Lighting - Art Gallery of South … · SMALL TALK EDUCATION RESOURCE EDUCATION...

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