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| French kisses all round |
As part of Queensland's 1959 Centenary Year celebrations it would not have been out of place for the Queensland Art Gallery to have run an exhibition of British paintings . After all , the state had been named after Queen Victoria .
Surprisingly enough , it organised an exhibition of French art , the worn catalogue for which , seen here , from the collection of our bowerbird art correspondent , Ponsonby Willis .
Surprisingly enough , it organised an exhibition of French art , the worn catalogue for which , seen here , from the collection of our bowerbird art correspondent , Ponsonby Willis .
The show contained paintings from diverse sources - overseas and within Australia , galleries and individuals . Nine , including an important Monet and two Picassos (described as being of the School of Paris, despite he being Spanish ) , were provided by an Australian living in Paris , Mrs Louise B. M. Hanson-Dyer . She arranged for friends , Monsieur and Madame Rene Varin , of the French Embassy , London , to lend a Monet , London Bridge .
The ALP federal leader of Australia at the time , Dr H. V. Evatt , and his wife, of Canberra, contributed a mixed bag - two heads of a girl by Marie Laurencin ( 1885-1956 ), her work described as unashamedly feminine , proud of being born in Paris, a lover of luxury,who disliked long speeches and compliments. Asked to describe herself , she responded : " Eats quickly, walks quickly , lives quickly . Paints very slowly ."
A Modigliani portrait of American artist Morgan Russell (1886-1953), a founder of synchronism , a style of abstract painting that contributed to the rise of Modernism, also came from the Evatts . Russell, a cross dresser , twice married , who studied at Matisse's art school , frequented Gertrude Stein's salon and mixed with Picasso and Rodin , held exhibitions in Paris and New York .
Lady Elisabeth Murdoch , of Melbourne , Rupert Murdoch's mother , provided an oil on panel , Holiday, by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) , influenced by Degas, Lautrec and Japanese painters . Her husband , Sir Keith Murdoch (1886-1952) , as a trustee and then chairman of trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria and editor of the Melbourne Herald , did much to promote visual arts in Australian.
Lady Lloyd Jones and her son , Charles , of the David Jones department store fame , Sydney, lent a Utrillo painting and a canvas by Moise Kisling, who served in the French Foreign Legion in WWl and went to America and established a studio in Hollywood where he painted portraits of famous actresses and fashionable women .
Art dealer and speed demon Kym Bonython of Adelaide threw in a tapestry by naturalised French citizen Mathieu Mategot.
Of note was an early Still Life With Fish by Vincent van Gogh .
