Anthony Albanese leads tributes for John Olsen
As more than 500 people attended a memorial service for John Olsen at the Art Gallery of NSW, it was the personal touches that spoke the most eloquently.
As more than 500 people attended a memorial service for John Olsen at the Art Gallery of NSW, it was the personal touches that spoke the most eloquently.
Berets were worn on several heads, a nod to the late artist’s preferred hats. A splash of fuchsia silk in his son’s suit pocket was a reminder that colour is emotion. His favourite pieces of music, including by JS Bach, were played by the Sydney Art Quartet.
Most precious of all was the poetry read by his grandchildren, recalling that Olsen took inspiration from the Australian landscape and also from the rich heritage of poetry and literature.
His granddaughter Georgia Blake read Kenneth Slessor’s meditation on time and loss, Five Bells, the poem which in turn inspired Olsen’s great painting commissioned for the Sydney Opera House, Salute to Slessor’s 5 Bells.
As Georgia read from the poem, the tiny voice of her daughter, John’s great-granddaughter, Aditi, chimed in: “Five bells.”
The Prime Minister led the tributes for Olsen at the memorial, with memories also shared by his children Louise Olsen and Tim Olsen, and friend and curator Lou Klepac.
Guests included the Governor of NSW, Margaret Beazley, Premier Chris Minns, and figures from the art world including Ken Done, Wendy Whiteley, Ben Quilty and Stuart Purves.
Mr Albanese said Olsen, who died on April 11 at the age of 95, was a “poet of the brush” who found a unique visual language to represent the Australian landscape in paint.
“He lifted himself even higher and delved even deeper – an explorer whose maps were traced with music, philosopher and poetry,” he said. “All of this just kept filling John’s inner richness to the point where it overflowed, pouring through his fingertips in the brush... such a perfect, intimate extension of the man.
“By the time he was done, that once blank stretch of canvas burst with life and emotion. The familiar exploded and reassembled into something remarkable in its newness.”
Olsen also ensured that future generations would benefit from his example and mentorship. The family asked that, in lieu of flowers, that donations be forwarded to the National Art School, where Olsen was a student and teacher, and where he met Tim and Louise’s mother, Valerie.
Mr Albanese said Olsen’s generosity to younger artists was as “bountiful as his charisma”.
“The education John gave went far beyond the intricacies of technique, helping them build a cultural hinterland for themselves,” he said.
“John understood that art is never just the picture, and that it needs rich soil to feed its roots. And how he kept replenishing it – like a grand old tree rising above the forest canopy, bestowing its leaves on the earth below, in a never-ending cascade of colour.
“Now the tree has fallen. John Olsen leaves a space but true to form, he saw to it that it would be filled with colour and a light as bright as that twinkle in his eye.”
Olsen’s granddaughter Camille Olsen-Ormandy read Emily Dickinson’s poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, and his grandson, James Olsen, read Poem in October, by Dylan Thomas.
Music was provided by didgeridoo soloist William Barton, the Sydney Art Quartet, soprano Aimee Skinner, and singer and artist Bertie Blackman and Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie.
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