An insight into the understanding of art in Australia is revealed in this 61 year old handbook , published by The Specialty Press, Melbourne, with subsequent updates . Designed for examination candidates and others , our copy contains the loosely inserted Edouard Manet painting of Nana , clipped from the British magazine, Lilliput.
Author Graham Hopwood was an art teacher, print maker and teacher, active in the 1930s.
Bearing the penned in name Maria Jones on the title page , it contains extensive underling of text, margin notes, mostly in pencil ,but some ink , a pasted in handwritten section with an associated diagram dealing with colour .
Aboriginal art received a mere 19 lines of text and an illustration of a stone Aboriginal Churinga from Central Australia . Illustrated Australian artists are Tom Roberts, Sir Arthur Streeton , Hans Heysen, Elioth Gruner ,Max Meldrum, William Dobell and Russell Drysdale.
There are handwritten comments about Cezanne and Van Gogh in margins and page heads . Well illustrated, it covers art in everyday life, commercial art , printing processes , with a glossary and index .
