NewsBite

Let’s not risk the prestige of Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes

Illustration: Eric Lobbecke
Illustration: Eric Lobbecke

Something may be going on at the Art Gallery of NSW. Is it possible that its board of trustees is quietly applying the oppressive and divisive agenda of postmodernism to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, if not the whole institution? When trustees select an artist’s work to hang, do they first consider the gender, ethnicity, sexual or political orientation or, God forbid, the age of an artist, before deciding?

If you enter the prizes, exclusion is always a possibility. It always has been. You understand your portrait or landscape may not be up to standard on the day or simply doesn’t appeal to the trustees. It is not an easy job, as they have to select a relatively small number of works from hundreds of entries. In the end the decisions are subjective. If it becomes clear that your gender, age or ethnicity, etc, is a factor in your exclusion (or even inclusion) it becomes a very different and highly corrosive matter.

Tim Storrier. Picture: Justin Lloyd.
Tim Storrier. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

It has to be acknowledged that errors may have been made in the past, influenced by an artist’s gender or ethnicity, but that was some time ago. The decisions that are made are by their very nature exclusive. I would have it that judgments have been substantially based on aesthetic and formal values intrinsic to good paintings. If artists and the wider community believe the judging of the prizes has been compromised by a politically correct postmodern agenda, the broadly accepted prestige of these historic prizes will be irreparably lost.

Last Sunday I went to have a look at the Archibald and Wynne prizes and the major exhibition of the work of Sir Arthur Streeton.

I knew the trustees had chosen a very diverse group of portraits but I was not prepared for the preponderance of Indigenous work, both traditional and Western. I can only applaud this inclusion; however, it raises difficult and sensitive problems.

The trustees have made selections in past years that appear erratic and confusing even when judging paintings in the Western idiom, and certainly not guided by any sound aesthetic principles. Traditional Indigenous work can only be truly understood by Indigenous people and even then probably only by members of the artist’s clan. So what criteria is this board basing its decisions upon?

I believe it is impossible on traditional and cultural grounds to attempt to compare the two traditions.

Is it about time the board of trustees became more transparent about what qualities are required to be hung? Most trustees don’t have an art background and tend to be guided by the artists on the board. It may be helpful if the chairman of the board, or the longest-standing artist trustee, should perhaps be required to explain to the public the major cultural changes that appear to have been imposed upon the Archibald and Wynne prizes by this board.

The prize winners this year both work in a non-Indigenous Western tradition (as did Namatjira’s grandfather, Albert). Sir William Dargie won the Archibald Prize eight times, notably with a splendid portrait of Albert Namatjira in 1956. There is a lovely historical symmetry in Vincent Namatjira being awarded the prize in 2020 — good luck to him.

And to Streeton … Wayne Tunnicliffe, who is head curator of Australian art, has done a superb job curating the Arthur Streeton exhibition at AGNSW.

Streeton’s paintings are in a way “artist’s” paintings. By this I mean each work has an infinite number of brushstrokes, large and small, little ticks and scratches and smudges, bringing the image together.

Arthur Streeton’s Land of the Golden Fleece, 1926, oil on canvas, 92.3 x 146cm Private collection, Sydney Photo: Jenni Carter, AGNSW
Arthur Streeton’s Land of the Golden Fleece, 1926, oil on canvas, 92.3 x 146cm Private collection, Sydney Photo: Jenni Carter, AGNSW

Streeton is very thorough with his compositions and if you look carefully every rock, tree, bird or cloud, every object is placed with great precision. This is one reason a lot of his paintings have a beautiful still quality. Streeton certainly caught the light of Australia; hazes over the harbour, distant hills, grasses and baking gravel. Streeton’s use of blues is truly beautiful.

In all these pictures I feel a nostalgia for an Australia long gone, with the buggy and the horse. Streeton (1867-1943) lived through a period of great cultural and technological change – many of the works in the exhibition were painted more than a century ago. His work has influenced many Australian artists, including me.

What I don’t understand is why the walls in the Streeton exhibition are painted in the bright colours you would expect to find in an ice cream parlour in Havana. The colours are very bright and fresh and, yes, hip but they conflict with the tonal qualities of Streeton’s work, making it look rather dull and a bit grimy. The walls are much brighter than the paintings. It should perhaps be the other way around to highlight the sensitivities of Streeton’s colour palette.

After viewing the Archibald and the Streetons, I worry that modernism and now postmodernism have dragged visual culture into a sullage pit of mediocrity, politics and transitory fashion, which could lead to a confusing cultural oblivion; what a mess.

Tim Storrier has won the Sir John Sulman Prize, Archibald Prize and Archibald Packing Room Prize.

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/lets-not-risk-the-prestige-of-archibald-wynne-and-sulman-prizes/news-story/98479bc40c4a38433f367ada40d6f0bc