156 Hargrave Street, Paddington NSW 2021 Australia Telephone 02 9327 8311website: www.savill.com.au email: art@savill.com.au

A Connoisseur's CollectionPaintings, watercolours and tapestries by major Australian artists

INDEX

01. Blackman, Charles - Chasing the Butterfly 1969

02. Blackman, Charles - Blue Blossom circa 1970

03. Blackman, Charles - Alice's Hand, Cup, Table and Flowers 1957

04. Blackman, Charles - The Reading Room 1979

06. Blackman, Charles - The Garden of the White Cat 1970

05. Coburn, John -Tree of Life circa 1974

19. Coburn, John - Late Afternoon Dreaming 1986

20. Coburn, John - Study for Monoliths 2002

21. Coburn, John - Flight of the Birds 1976

13. Crooke, Ray -Island Scene circa 1970

14. Crooke, Ray - Outskirts of Town circa 1966

15. Crooke, Ray - Afternoon Walk 1999

16. Crooke, Ray - Island Woman with Frangipani

17. Crooke, Ray -Islanders by the Sea

18. Crooke, Ray -Island Still Life

08. Pugh, Clifton - Trees with Apostle Birds 1959

09. Pugh, Clifton - Spring: Wrens 1976

10. Pugh, Clifton - Spring: Place of Little Birds 1976

11. Shead, Garry - Queen and Royal Procession Royal Suite 1997

12. Shead, Garry - Bacchanalian Marriage at Pokolbin 2012

24. Sherman, Albert - Australian Native Flowers circa 1930

07. Storrier, Tim - Starlight on the Plains (Night Coals) 2008

22. Whiteley, Brett - Towards Sculpture 8 1977

23. Whiteley, Brett - Lipstick 1981

See our website for additional works in this exhibition: www.savill.com.au

Front cover: Blackman, Charles (b.1928) Chasing the Butterfly 1969 oil on board, 37 x 47 cm signed lower right Provenance: Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney; Private Collection, Sydney

Back cover: Sherman, Albert (1882-1971) Australian Native Flowers circa 1930 oil on board, 58 x 63 cm signed lower right and inscribed verso Provenance: Bill and Eileen Cammack Collection, Sydney. Literature: Cammack, William F. J., Albert John Sherman: Cornish Australian Artist, Mini-Publishing, p.85 illustrated.

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SAVILL GALLERIES, SYDNEY 156 Hargrave Street, Paddington NSW 2021

T: 02 9327 8311E: art@savill.com.au

For further details and the entire exhibition, see our website: www.savill.com.au

15 November - 10 December 2014

EXHIBITION HOURSTuesday to Friday: 10.00am – 6.00pmSaturday: 11.00am – 5.00pmSunday closedMonday closed

Paintings, watercolours and tapestries by major Australian artists

A Connoisseur's Collection

CHARLES BLACKMAN (b. 1928) Chasing the Butterfly 1969 oil on board, 37 x 47 cm signed lower right Provenance: Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney; Private Collection, Sydney. 'When he paints the games of children, he only occasionally shows us the rough and tumble of childhood. His images speak of the watching and growing perceptions, the emotions and dreams of childhood. ' Ref: Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman, The Lost Domains, AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1980, p. 70.

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CHARLES BLACKMAN (b. 1928) Blue Blossom circa 1970 oil on board, 48 x 74 cm signed upper right 'Charles Blackman's girls are so often watching, waiting, listening, hearing inner songs. ... Some mysterious cycle of reaction is happening. It is another way of listening.' Ref: Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman, The Lost Domains, AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1980, p. 39.

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CHARLES BLACKMAN (b. 1928) Alice's Hand ,Cup, Table and Flowers 1957 crayon, pen and ink on paper 37 x 60 cm signed and dated lower right Provenance: Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne. Exhibited: Charles Blackman: Works on Paper 1948-1957, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, 8 - 29 September 1987, cat. no. 167 (as 'Hand Cup Table').

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CHARLES BLACKMAN (b. 1928) The Reading Room 1979 charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 150 x 182 cm signed lower right Provenance: Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, stock no. 5190, label verso. Literature: Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman, The Lost Domains, AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1980, colour illustration plate 3.22; Thomas Shapcott, The Art of Charles Blackman, Andre Deutsch, London, 1989, colour illustration plate 158. Exhibited: A Salute to Charles Blackman, Savill Galleries, Sydney, 12 August - 5 September 1998, cat. no. 8, illustrated.

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'For Charles Blackman, girls and flowers are an eloquent form for his personal poetry... Many of the girls and flower images were reflections of his wife. Barbara Blackman's increasing sight loss was a tragedy in both their lives and yet, both being creative people, it refined their sensibilities in other directions. This was a journey that they shared over many years and one that extended into certain areas of his painting... 'The Reading Room' is a direct likeness of her. In the shade is the reader, her gaze on a book of bright words. In the lit figure, the artist has captured that concentrated, receptive state of both the blind and the listener. This lucent state of open-minded receptivity is heightened by her sunlit face and the shimmering haze around the flowers that are almost part of her body.' Ref: Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman, The Lost Domains, AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1980, colour illustration plate 3.22 p. 44.

JOHN COBURN (1925-2006) Tree of Life circa 1974 wool tapestry, edition 2/3 183 x 219 cm woven signature lower left, monogram lower right PF (Pinton Frères workshop, d'Aubusson, France) label attached verso, woven edition number 2/3 Provenance: Judy and Peter Wolfe, Sydney. John Coburn's interest in tapestry stemmed from seeing a 1953 French exhibition that included one tapestry and then later in 1956 he saw an entire exhibition of tapestries. However it was not until 1966 when an exhibition of d'Aubusson tapestries was brought to Australia by the French firm, Pinton Frères who were looking for Australian artists to design for them and asked Coburn to do some designs. The Tree of Life tapestry was woven by the famous weaving centre at Aubusson, which had been operating since the 8th century. 'A French artist, Jean Lucart, revived the tapestry industry at Aubusson in the 1930s by designing for the weavers and encouraging his friends, Picasso, Matisse, and other great French moderns, to do the same. 'Tapestry is the ideal decoration for modern architecture,' John Coburn says, 'with the vast areas of glass, marble, and general starkness, it needs the warmth and richness of tapestry'.'1 From 1969 -72 Coburn went to live in Paris and travelled to Aubusson to oversee the tapestries, which included the Sydney Opera House Curtains. 1 John Coburn quoted in 'The Australian Women's Weekly, 2 August 1972, pp. 4 -6.

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{6} CHARLES BLACKMAN (b.1928) The Garden of the White Cat 1970 wool and cotton tapestry, edition 6 / 6 238 x 400 cm woven signature lower right, monogram lower right: MTP fino (Manufactura de Tapecarias de Portalegre) label attached verso: 1565 - 6 / 6 Provenance: Collection of the artist, Sydney; Savill Galleries, Sydney; Dr Jan Altmann, Melbourne; The Estate of the Late Dr Jan Altmann, Melbourne. Exhibited: Tapestries and Paintings by Charles Blackman, South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne, November 1971, (tapestry), no. 1 (another weaving); Tapestries and Paintings by Charles Blackman, Clune Galleries, Sydney, March 1972, (tapestry), no. 1 (another weaving) 120 Years of Australian Painting, Savill Galleries, Sydney, 6-30 September 2000, no. 27, illustrated. Literature: Sandra McGrath, A Botanist's Delight in Tapestry, The Australian, Sydney, 25 March 1972, p. 15; Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman: The Lost Domains, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney, 1980, dust jacket colour illustration, p. 86, plate 6.18 (another weaving); Thomas Shapcott, The Art of Charles Blackman, Andre Deutsch, London, 1989, colour plate 127, (another weaving); Felicity St John Moore, Charles Blackman: Schoolgirls and Angels, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, pp. 24, 105. See also: The huge diptych oil titled 'White Cat's Garden at Night' (oil on canvas, 175 x 275 cm) was sold by Savill Galleries in 2012 for close to $400,000 (see illustration in Nadine Amadio, Charles Blackman: The Lost Domains, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney, 1980, p. 85, plate 6.5).

Blackman reflected, 'During the late summer of 1965 I was on a motor tour of northern France and Flanders and happened to see at the Hotel de Ville in Beauvais an exhibition of Flemish tapestries…. I decided to spend a year in Europe in 1970 to see more tapestries and to design cartoons myself and supervise their weaving…' Four tapestries (an edition of six for each design) were woven from Blackman's designs by the workshop of Tapecarias de Portugal from pure Australian merino wool. Ref: Nadine Amadio, The Lost Domains, Reed, Sydney, 1980, p. 82 - 86, illustrated p. 96, cat. 6.18.

{7} TIM STORRIER (b. 1949) Starlight on the Plains (Night Coals) 2008 synthetic polymer paint on linen, 153 x 305 cm signed lower right and signed, dated and inscribed verso Provenance: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, label verso. Literature: Edmund Capon, Ken McGregor, William Wright, Jenny Zimmer, Tim Storrier - Moments, Macmillian Art Publishing, Melbourne, 2009, p. 12, double page colour illustration pp 14-15.

'Storrier has said that he follows an idea or theme, sometimes over several decades, because it intrigues him. ... Therefore, after Storrier's powerful epiphany of the 1980s which saw the introduction of his 'Firelines', or 'Blazelines', these have become a constantly revisited theme resulting in sublime and monumental paintings like 'Starlight on the Plains (Night Coals)...' Ref: Jenny Zimmer, Tim Storrier - Moments, Macmillian Art Publishing, Melbourne, 2009, p 13.

Starlight on the Plains (Night Coals) 2008 illustrated in Tim Storrier Moments, pp. 14-15.

CLIFTON PUGH (1924-1990) Apostle Birds and Swamp Gums 1959 oil on board, 68.5 x 91 cm signed and dated lower right Provenance: Warren and Bunty Bonython, Adelaide. Literature: Noel Macainsh, Clifton Pugh, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1962, p. 15. Related work: 'Meeting of the Apostle Birds' 1958, Noel Macainsh, Clifton Pugh, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1962, plate 25.

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CLIFTON PUGH (1924-1990) Spring: Wrens 1976 oil on board, 60 x 75 cm signed and dated lower right Provenance: Realities Gallery, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1977. Exhibited: Clifton Pugh: The Four Seasons, Realities Gallery, Melbourne, September 1977, cat. no. 8. These two 'Spring' paintings were painted four years prior to Clifton Pugh's famous portrait of Gough Whitlam that won the 1972 Archibald Prize.

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CLIFTON PUGH (1924-1990) Spring: Place of Little Birds 1976 oil on board, 65 x 44.5 cm signed and dated lower right Provenance: Realities Gallery, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1977. Exhibited: Clifton Pugh: The Four Seasons, Realities Gallery, Melbourne, September 1977, cat. no. 9. 'Towards the end of 1951, Pugh moved from the city area of Melbourne to rugged bush-land near Cottles Bridge, about thirty miles from Melbourne. He built a house out of materials on site - clay, stones and bush timber. For twelve months he did little painting, but day-after-day walked over the surrounding bush-land observing the appearance of his new environment, the fall of light in its unending variations of colour and intensity, the texture, line and volume of tree, animal and rock. He observed the endless visual inter-relations between things and, above all, unceasingly sensed the quality of life expressed in all that he saw. ' Ref: Noel Macainsh, Clifton Pugh, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1962, p. 4.

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GARRY SHEAD (b.1942)Queen and Royal Procession Royal Suite 1997 oil on canvas, 90 x 121.5 cm signed and dated lower right, inscribed with title verso Exhibited: Garry Shead, The Painter's Progress, Savill Galleries, 4-30 September 2001, cat. no. 1, cover image.

{11} GARRY SHEAD (b.1942)

Bacchanalian Marriage at Pokolbin 2012 oil on canvas, 90 x 121 cm signed and dated lower right

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Afternoon Walk 1999 oil on canvas, 56 x 139 cm signed lower left Exhibited: Ray Crooke: Journeys, 1 - 28 November 2000, Savill Galleries, Melbourne, cat. no. 31.

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Outskirts of Town circa 1966 oil on board, 60 x 45 cm signed lower right Ray Crooke: 'I have often settled at a convenient vantage-point at dawn and watched the sun rise in a clear sky and give life to the somnolent forms of a small mining-town. The town's awakening holds a strange poetry of great beauty. ... Living in northern Queensland one values and respects the misfit, the individualist - not that he does not exist in the city, but there our paths rarely cross. In the north he seems to come into his own. The poignancy about the old miner living in a humpy of iron-and-bark, his life dictated by the search for minerals in this terribly hard, brutal country.' Ref: Rosemary Dobson, Focus on Ray Crooke, University of Queensland Press, 1971, p. 39.

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Island Scene circa 1970 oil over synthetic polymer paint on canvas board 22 x 30 cm signed lower right 'The dark foreground establishes the tonal scale, and the eye travels back in space giving the mind a sensation of airiness, till it finds its true resting-place.' Ref: Rosemary Dobson, Focus on Ray Crooke, University of Queensland Press, 1971, p. 46.

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Islanders by the Sea oil over synthetic polymer paint on board 90 x 120 cm signed lower left Provenance: Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne. As in many of Crooke's renowned islander scenes, time is manifested in the form of shadows. The cool green and blue palette builds a sedate and mellow atmosphere. Outside, colour prevails and light dominates. The tonal relationships create such a reality that we can almost hear the waves cascade on the glistening shore. And then we realise we are but merely a voyeur to tropical life through Crooke's eyes.

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Island Woman with Frangipani oil on canvas, 60.5 x 75 cm signed lower left Exhibited: Diana Crooke and Ray Crooke, von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle, 29 June - 22 July 1984, label verso. Here, whilst the girl concentrates on the task of threading the flowers, her mind appears to be wandering elsewhere. Crooke has simply revealed the moment as it is allowing things to speak for themselves, naturally. As a result the symbols seem unconsciously placed. Here, the cleverly constructed, yet delicate frangipani embodies her femininity.

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RAY CROOKE (b.1922) Island Still Life oil on canvas, 75 x 100 cm signed lower left Provenance: Private collection, Qld.

JOHN COBURN (1925-2006)Late Afternoon Dreaming 1986 watercolour on art paper, 75 x 105 cm signed and dated lower right Provenance: The Adelaide Bank Art Collection, Adelaide.

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JOHN COBURN (1925-2006)Study for Monoliths 2002 acrylic on paper, 34 x 40 cm signed lower right Illustrated: Lou Klepac, John Coburn: The Spirit of Colour, The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2003, p. 187, plate 141.

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JOHN COBURN (1925-2006)Flight of the Birds 1976 synthetic polymer paint on paper on board 51 x 69 cm signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, NSW.

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BRETT WHITELEY (1939-1992)Towards Sculpture 8 1977 lithograph, edition 39/50, 90 x 63 cm signed lower right; inscribed lower left Provenance: Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney; Private Collection, NSW. Exhibited: Australian Artists of the Seventies, An Exhibition Presented by the Arts Council of New South Wales Ltd, Narrandera, 1980, no. 45, 'Nude'. Illustrated: Brett Whiteley Graphics 1961-1982, Art Gallery of Western Australian, 1982, see plate 43, p. 37 for another example of this image.

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BRETT WHITELEY (1939-1992)Lipstick 1981 colour lithograph, collage and hand colouring edition 19/50, 107 x 75.5 cm signed, titled and dated below image Literature: Brett Whiteley: The Graphics 1961-1992, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 1995, see cat. 62, p. 69 for another example of this image. 'In most versions the lipstick holder is made with collage. The red lips, lipstick (and sometimes finger and toenails) are hand painted with nail polish.' Ref: op. cit. Deutscher Fine Art, p. 113. This work is framed in a substantial custom hand-made, water-gilded, elegant gold frame.

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156 Hargrave Street, Paddington NSW 2021 Australia Telephone 02 9327 8311website: www.savill.com.au email: art@savill.com.au

Specialising in the buying & selling of classic Australian

paintings & sculpture