An Historical Novel. (An Archive of Found Histories)
2019
New England Regional Art Museum
5 July – 13 October
Curated by Belinda Hungerford
‘An Historical Novel’ short films
John McDonald review, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 August 2019
The exhibition, ‘An Historical Novel’ is subtitled (An Archive of Found Histories), and this refers to the importance of the research and creative sleuthing involved in this show. From the vast storehouse of archival material found at the NSW State Library (where I am currently artist-in-residence), as well as other institutions I have put together an ‘alternative’ history of some of the works collected by Howard Hinton over his lifetime and held here at the New England Regional Art Museum.
Although at times, irreverent, the works of the Hinton Collection I’ve referenced, represents a deep respect and affection for the man and his insight, vision and humanity. His collecting habits were not an even and dispassionate curatorial exercise but a heartfelt response to the paintings and processes that made them. He bought works by artists he’d come to know and whose painting he admired and sometimes simply because the artist may have needed the money. His sensibility was of the late 19th Century and Modernism was of less interest to him. R.H. Goddard in the Foreword to his book “A Memorial Volume to Howard Hinton, Patron of Art” said “Although Hinton bought generously, his patronage was free from any condescension. His discernment of latent talent in the young was keen”.
This show is a sort of paean to mainly Australian artists of this period and with apologises all round, an attempt to look at these paintings with a contemporary eye.
There is a particular poignancy and grace in reproducing works painted decades or even a hundred years ago. There is a sense of the continuity of the creative act and the artist’s gaze. It can even be an empathetic experience with the subject of that gaze and a sharing of that intensely observed subject with an individual long dead.
This sense of the continuity of experience that cuts through the intellectual divisions of fine art history is an important motivator. It may be seen as a conceit and I certainly don’t pretend to speak for these artists but I suspect that for some of them at least, this visual and textural reappraisal would be looked upon with a sympathetic eye – Streeton for his concern for the environment, Conder for his humour and visual jokes, Fred Leist for his historical fantasies and Maud Sherwood for her tenacity.
This exhibition has been challenging and enormously enjoyable at the same time and with the effort of research assistant, Pru Smith has been a fulfilling experience. I’d like to thank the New England Regional Art Museum for hosting this exhibition and the staff and volunteers who have over the years maintained this extraordinary legacy of the Howard Hinton Collection.
Hadyn Wilson, 2019
Walk through ‘An Historical Novel. An Archive of Found Histories’.
Paintings from ‘An Historical Novel. An Archive of Found Histories’
(All works are for sale)
Below are the interpreted works and a collection of the original paintings from which they were referenced which are part of the installation.
Howard Ashton’s ‘Dusk’ 1938 with Blue Moon cicada. 16h x 13w cm. Oil on board
Howard Ashton’s ‘The Eye of the Storm’ 1939 with Leaper. 2h x 19w cm. Oil on board
Howard Ashton’s ‘The Eye of the Storm’ 1939
Richard Ashton’s ‘Flight’ 1936 with non-biodegradable items. 13h x 15w cm. Oil on board
Richard Ashton’s ‘Flight’ 1936
Will Ashton’s ‘An Old Street, Concarneau, France’ 1932 with Yellow Vest protesters. 13h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Will Ashton’s ‘An Old Street, Concarneau, France’ 1932
Herbert Badham’s ‘Interior’ (also known as ‘Girl at the Piano’) 1937 with defiant Chebby. 18h x 12w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Clarice Beckett’s ‘Ranunculi with Beads’. 1929, with Evian bottle. 11.5h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Clarice Beckett’s ‘Still life with fish, plate, bottle and bag’. c. 1919 14h x11.5w cm. Oil on board
Sold
George Bell’s ‘The Green Turban’. 1926, with recovered ring. 13h x7w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Jean Beraud’s ‘La Danseuse’ 1873 with silver Glock. 15h x 9w cm. Oil on board
Stella Bowen’s ‘Interior, Paris’ c. 1931 with missing writer. 14h x 11w cm. Oil on board
Ernest Buckmaster’s ‘Rhododendrons’ 1930 with cracked glass. 16h x 13w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Charles Conder’s ‘Balmoral Beach’ 1888 with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s ‘Jane Avril leaving the Moulin Rouge’ (displaced). 12h x 19w cm. Oil on board
Charles Conder’s ‘Bronte, Queen’s Birthday’. 1888 with lost child 15h x 21w cm. Oil on board
Charles Conder’s ‘Smoke and Chrysanthemum’. 1890, with Barcroft Boake’s poem, ‘A Wayside Queen’ from his book ‘Where the Dead Men Lie’. 23h x31 cm. Box Framed
James Cook’s ‘The Bequinage, Brussels 1940 with Brexiteer’. 13h x 17w cm. Oil on board
James Cook’s ‘The Bequinage, Brussels 1940 with Brexiteer’
Margaret Fleming’s ‘The cockatoo’ 1895 with six-pack rings. 7h x 15w cm
A.H. Fullwood’s ‘Sydney Harbour Ferry’ 1893 with Airbus A380. 19h x 12w cm. Oil on board
18. A.H. Fullwood’s ‘Sydney Harbour, North Head from Edwards Beach’ 1899 with Approaching Tsunami (as predicted by Professor Edward Bryant in his book ‘Tsunami – The Underrated Hazard’), 2008. 14h x 20w cm. Oil on board
Harley Griffiths’ ‘Twilight (Beecroft, NSW)’ 1912 with minor incident. 14h x 17w cm. Oil on board
Harley Griffiths’ ‘Twilight (Beecroft, NSW)’ 1912
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Sunrise, Yass’ 1931 with sharpened corona. 11h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Sunrise, Yass’ 1931
Elioth Gruner’s ‘In the Orchard’ 1917 with battery hen day release. 13h x 18w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Near Nambucca Heads’ 1933 with Brian Cannell looking on. 14h x 14.5w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Near Nambucca Heads’ 1933
Elioth Gruner’s ‘The Wave’ c. 1913 with child paraglider. 24h x 13.5w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Along the Sands’ c. 1918 with Haydenshapes ‘Abysse Print Plunder FutureFlex’ board. 13.5h x 24w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Bondi Beach’ 1919 with rivals for the drowned 13.5h x 24w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Elioth Gruner’s ‘Fisherman Coogee Beach’ 1913 with Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 12h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Bernard Hall’s ‘Asleep’ n.d. with Howard Hinton’s landlady, Dorothea Sabiel. 11h x 15w cm. Oil on board
H.A. Hanke’s ‘Spring Day, Gunamatta Bay’ 1926 with picnic remnants. 13.5h x 15.5w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Jesse Jewhurst Hilder’s ‘Stableyard, Currency Lass Inn, Parramatta’ n.d. with Stihl MS170. 14.5h x 20w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Jesse Jewhurst Hilder’s ‘Stableyard, Currency Lass Inn, Parramatta’ n.d.
Polly Hurry’s ‘Still life’ 1940 with Annie S. Swan’s book ‘A Son of Erin’. 24h x33w cm. Box framed
Garrett Kingsley’s ‘Rita’ 1942 with lost and recovered earring. 22h x 14w cm. Oil on board
Vida Lahey’s ‘Burleigh Heads’ c. 1933 ‘My first day at Académie Colarossi, Paris’. 12.5h x 20w cm. Oil on board
Percy Leason’s ‘The Student’ 1921 and Clarice Beckett’s still life. 11h x 22w cm. Oil on board
Percy Leason’s Marjory Leason (Kuhfahl) in Studio c. 1920 with iPad. 20.5h x 13w cm. Oil on board
Percy Leason’s ‘Fog’ with emergency sea ditch n.d. 13h x 18w cm. Oil on board
Fred Leist’s ‘Silver and Blue’ 1929 with once missing brass cannister. 21h x 12.5w cm. Oil on board
Fred Leist’s ‘London Coster Girl’ 1912 with Sun Xun’s ‘Reconstruction of the Universe’. 18h x 14w cm. Oil on board. 2019
Sold
Fred Leist’s ‘Summer Moon’ with Drogon decending. n.d. 14h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Fred Leist’s ‘Summer Moon’ n.d.
Percy Lindsay’s ‘Pymble’ 1925 with Henry Lawson’s Spots of Red and White. 13h x 17.5w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Percy Lindsay’s ‘Pymble’ 1925
John Llewellyn Jones’ ‘Beach near Cheltenham, Victoria 1896 with worshippers’. 9.5h x 20w cm. Oil on board
Sold
John Llewellyn Jones’ ‘Beach near Cheltenham, Victoria’ 1896
Gother Victor Fyers Mann’s ‘Mill at Middleburg’, Holland 1926 with hybrid carbon:glass composite blades’. 20h x 13w cm. Oil on board
John Mathers’ ‘The Artist as his easel’ (Louis Abrahams) 1887 with R U OK? 19.5h x 13w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Max Meldrum’s ‘Interior passage Dantzig, Paris’ 1928, with L. Tipping, M.A.’s book ‘English Grammar for Beginners’. Exercise 87. Write 5 sentences with a Retained Object in each. 23h x 30w cm. Box Framed
Max Meldrum’s ‘Carnations’ n.d. with diagonal slash. 16h x 14w cm. Oil on board
Max Meldrum’s ‘Carnations’ n.d.
Girolamo Nerli’s ‘A Wet Evening’ 1888 with light rail inconvenience. 14h x 17.5 cm. Oil on board
Girolamo’s Nerli’s ‘Fishing Boats’ n.d. with string quartet. 14h x 14w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Girolamo’s Nerli’s ‘Fishing Boats’ n.d.
Girolamo Nerli’s ‘Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson’ 1892 while penning a poem for Nerli. 21h x 13w cm. Oil on board
A.E. Newbury’s ‘Under the trees’ and ‘Morning light’ 919, with’once only opportunity’. 17h x12.5w cm & 16h x 12.5w cm. Oil on board
Esther Paterson’s ‘The Yellow Gloves (also known as Portrait of Betty Paterson)’ 1938 moonlighting as Ronald McDonald. 18h x 14w cm. Oil on board
Emanuel Phillips Fox’s ‘The Butterfly’ n.d. with Ethel Carrick Fox painting Manly Beach. 20.5h x 13w cm. Oil on board
Emanuel Phillips Fox’s ‘The Butterfly’ n.d.
Tom Roberts’ ‘Study of Lean Brasch’ 1893 with the beginning of ‘An Eastern Princess’. 17h x 24.5w cm. Oil on board
Tom Roberts’ ‘The Paris Hat’ 1892 with Apple ear phones. 19.5h x 12w cm. Oil on board
Tom Roberts’ ‘self portrait’ 1889 wearing a Locus Non Consequensia t-shirt. 20h x 15w cm. Oil on board
Tom Roberts’ ‘Ms Isobel McDonald’ 1895 with nose ring. 10h x 8w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Maud Sherwood’s ‘The Dyers Shop, Kairanan, Algeria’ 1928 with potted history. 13h x 17.5w. Oil on board
Maud Sherwood’s ‘The Dyers Shop, Kairanan, Algeria’ 1928
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Travellers Rest’ (also known as the ‘Old Inn, Richmond, Hawkesbury River’) 1896 with Harry Stevenson helping Charles Conder down to the barn. 17h x 15w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Travellers Rest’ (also known as the ‘Old Inn, Richmond, Hawkesbury River’) 1896
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Canal Scene, Venice’ 1926 with sea rise consequence. 12h x 20w. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Gloucester Buckets’ 1894 with artist’s choice. 14h x 16w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Gloucester Buckets’ 1894
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sydney from the Artist’s Camp’ (also known as ‘Sydney Harbour from Sirius Cove’) 1894 with giraffe. 12h x19w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sydney from the Artist’s Camp’ (also known as ‘Sydney Harbour from Sirius Cove’) 1894
Arthur Streeton’s ‘South Head, Sydney’ (Also known as Sydney Heads’) 1913-14 with paraglider 8h x 24.5 cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sydney Harbour’ 1895 with swarm of jet-skiers. 14.5h x 19.5w. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sirius Cove’ 1890 with uninvited and unwanted intrusion. 12h x 19.5w cm. Oil on board
Portrait of Arthur Streeton 1895 (Talma Photographic Studios, Melbourne) sporting a rarely seen early example of the Greenpeace logo. 15h x 13.5w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sirius Cove’ 1895 with Crime scene tape. 23.5h x 6.5w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Blue Pacific’ 1890 with toy boat. 20h x 13.5w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Still Life with Chops and Eggs’ c. 1888 with fragment of Milk Glass vase found at Sirius Cove’. 10.5h x 12.5w cm
Sold
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Last of the Messmates’ (Dandenong Ranges, Victoria) 1928 with ‘job done’. 21h x21w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Sirius Cove’ 1895 with metal detector. 7h x 19w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Balmoral Beach’ (also known as ‘Sorrento, Naples’) 1897 with non-biodegradable item. 19.5h x 8w cm. Oil on board
Sold
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Near Streeton’s Camp at Sirius Cove’ 1892 with Smike tag. 17h x 12w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Near Streeton’s Camp at Sirius Cove’ 1892
Jane Sutherland’s ‘On the last tramp’ 1888 with unaffordable option. 13h x 24w cm. Oil on board
G.K. Townshend’s ‘Storm Beaten’ 1930 with gridded habitat. 15h x 14w cm. Oil on board
G.K. Townshend’s ‘Storm Beaten’ 1930
Portrait of Jessie Traill ‘Proofing an etching by subdued light’ c. 1920 by unknown photographer with ‘The Drinking Man’ 1914 tatt. 11h x 14w cm. Oil on board
Artist unknown. ‘Mosman Bay Falls with Picnic’ n.d. 13h x 15w cm
Artist unknown. ‘Taking ‘Fire’s On’ across the harbour to AGNSW’ n.d. 13h x 12w cm. Oil on board
Artist Unknown. ‘Tobacco tin with discarded smike’ n.d. with remnant Capstan tin found near tree at Curlew Camp. 13h x 24.5w cm. Oil on board
Artist unknown. ‘Head of a Man’ n.d. with quiescence awoken. 15h x 12w cm. Oil on board
Artist unknown. ‘Head of a Man’ n.d.
Anton Von Neogrady’s ‘The Water Mill’ n.d. with bonjour Monsieur Courbet. 12h x 18w. Oil on board
Anton Von Neogrady’s ‘The Water Mill’ n.d.
H.J. Weston’s ‘Evening, Mosman’s Bay’ 1916 with cosmic indifference. 15h x 13w cm. Oil on board
H.J. Weston’s ‘Evening, Mosman’s Bay’ 1916
Walter Withers’ ‘On the Beach’ 1917 with South Sea incursion. 13h x 18w cm. Oil on board
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Dolce far niente’ (how sweet it is to do nothing). 1894, with trees marked for removal. Diptych. 130 x 34.5 cm. (c)
Arthur Streeton’s ‘Dolce far niente’ (how sweet it is to do nothing). 1894, with trees marked for removal. Diptych. 130 x 34.5 cm. (b)
