Cubism & Australian Art

Lesley Harding and Sue Cramer

Examines for the first time the impact of Cubism on the work of Australian artists, from the early 1920s to the present day.

About this Title

Cubism was a movement that changed fundamentally the course of twentieth-century art. It had far-reaching effects, both conceptual and stylistic, which are still being felt today. Described in 1912 by French poet and commentator Guillaume Apollinaire as 'not an art of imitation, but an art of conception', Cubism irreversibly altered art's relationship to visual reality. 'I paint things as I think them, not as I see them', Picasso said.

Cubism & Australian Art examines for the first time the impact of this transformative art movement on the work of Australian artists, from the early
1920s to the present day. The authors argue that by its very nature, Cubism
was characterised by variation and change, that the idea of a pure or original
Cubism was short lived, and that its appearance in Australian art parallels its
uptake and re-interpretation by artists internationally. In the words of French
artist André Lhote, mentor to several Australians who studied at his Academy
in Paris: 'There are a thousand defi nitions of Cubism, because there are a
thousand painters practising it'.

More than eighty international and Australian artists are showcased with over 300 works, featuring Sam Atyeo, Ralph Balson, Grace Crowley, Frank Hinder, Roger Kemp, Godfrey Miller, Stephen Bram and Daniel Crooks, as well as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger.

About the Author

LESLEY HARDING

Lesley Harding joined Heide Museum of Modern Art as Curator in 2005. She has curatorial experience spanning fi fteen years and is an art historian specialising in Australian modernism. She has a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts and English Literature, Postgraduate diploma in Art Curatorial Studies, and MA in Art History from the University of Melbourne. She is completing a PhD in the University's School of Culture & Communication which examines modernist mural painting in Australia for which she received an Australian Postgraduate Award.

Previously, Lesley was Curator then Senior Curator at the Victorian Arts
Centre Trust (1994-2003), where she worked on exhibitions of Australian
and international art and managed the Trust's Art Collection. Prior to joining Heide, Lesley was the inaugural Curator at the National Art School, Sydney, overseeing the development of the new NAS Gallery. Lesley has also worked as a freelance curator and writer and regularly publishes and lectures on modernist and contemporary Australian art.

SUE CRAMER

Sue Cramer joined Heide Museum of Modern Art as Public Programs Co-ordinator in 2005 and in January 2009 took up the position of Curator.
Following a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts and History at the University of Melbourne she has worked since the early 1980s as a curator and writer on contemporary art.

Sue began her career as a Curatorial Assistant at Heide Park and Art Gallery (as it was formerly known) from 1982-84. She was Exhibitions Co-ordinator/Curator and then Acting Director at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (1985-87). For three years she was Director, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (1987-89). In 1990 Sue was awarded a Professional Development Grant by the Australia Council enabling her to take up the one-year position of Visiting Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. She subsequently joined the MCA as a Curator (from 1991-2001). In 1984, Sue was Art Critic for The Age newspaper in Melbourne. In addition to writing exhibition catalogues she has contributed several articles to international and Australian journals.