Seek and ye shall find, so goes the saying . While ransacking files , drawers and cupboards looking
for an item of memorabilia , out
popped the long misplaced slim (16pp), illustrated, with map, volume ,
highlighting the art
of Robert Johnson , published by
Legend Press, Sydney, in the Australian Artist
series . He it was who painted the Heysen-like
framed print we recently
bought at an op
shop , the style criticised by late art
critic Robert Hughes . From the booklet
we discovered our painting is entitled River Gums in The Gap (Alice Springs ). Commenting on the landscape
of Centralia and Johnson’s paintings of
the region , it says the paintings by
Sir Hans Heysen of
South Australian country similar to that
of Central Australia before WWll had caused
a sensation in art circles of the day .
Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira had
said he would have enjoyed watching Heysen , his favourite artist, paint the Ghost Gum country of Centralia.
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| A Kiwi, Johnson painting near Alice Springs in 1950s. |
