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00:00A place of golden beaches and bodies, barbecues and bikinis, endless empty land.
00:18Sydney Harbour.
00:20But art and culture?
00:25Australia's been my home for over 30 years.
00:29And they've often thought about the first settlers who landed here on this fatal shore over two centuries ago.
00:38To these strangers, this place seemed utterly devoid of civilization.
00:46Of course, they were wrong.
00:49But how could these often reluctant arrivals make a new life?
00:54Let alone come to feel at home in an empty, disturbing and distant wilderness.
01:02I want to explore how art and artists play their roles in this unfolding drama.
01:09From early settlement till today, I'm taking a trip deep into the art of Australia.
01:18This is one of the great icons of Australian art.
01:23I'll be looking at the work of significant artists, both past and present.
01:28What is it with this lurid, lurid yellow?
01:33Their work reveals much about Australia's identity and how it's evolved.
01:40She's going up, she's going down.
01:42For me, Australian art has always been a big part of the quest to make sense of this vast continent and our place in it.
01:51Australian art reflects the development of a unique and incredibly diverse culture.
02:21It's a great story.
02:32This is my journey into how it all happened.
02:36The story of the art of Australia.
02:38The story of the art of Australia.
03:08When it comes to honouring its war dead, Australia is unique.
03:13Unlike Europe and America, the National Day of Remembrance is April the 25th, Anzac Day.
03:21The day in 1915, when the new nation went to war under British command.
03:28This was just over a decade after Australia's separate colonies had unified.
03:40Artistically, Australia's own brand of Impressionism had helped define the nation's identity.
03:47But proving itself as a country started with a terrible rite of passage on a faraway battlefield.
03:56Artist George Lambert produced a massive painting of what happened.
04:01It takes pride of place here in the Australian War Memorial, the landing at Gallipoli.
04:11Lambert was already a renowned portrait painter.
04:14But there's a grim sense of the anonymous in this painting.
04:21Soldiers crawling up these lethal cliffs like ants.
04:26As one critic noted,
04:27it has the uncanny lack of anything individual or personal in the scrambling, crawling, khaki figures.
04:36It's like these soldiers are being consumed by the landscape.
04:46This, such a defining moment in Australian history,
04:51has been captured by Lambert in a curiously objective way.
04:56Even visitors complained on first seeing the painting
04:59that there was a lack of action and the terror of war.
05:02I think this is a modern, unheroic image of war.
05:10Lambert was a flamboyant theatrical character.
05:14But now he was under orders to somberly record
05:18how Australian troops had scaled precipitous cliffs
05:22under relentless Turkish gunfire.
05:25Gallipoli wasted over 8,000 lives for no military advantage.
05:32It marked Australia's national coming of age.
05:43Even for such a dramatic historical moment as Gallipoli,
05:48Lambert painted a very dispassionate picture.
05:51Especially when compared to work by soldiers in the trenches.
05:55One of them was Napier Waller.
06:00He sketched the wall, not as an observer, but as a participant.
06:05In May 1917, his right arm, his painting arm, was blown off.
06:13Later, using his left hand,
06:15he drew himself being stretchered from the battlefield.
06:18It's just one example of an amazing visual record
06:22from ordinary soldiers.
06:30This is the Anzac book.
06:34It's the most wonderful collection of sketches and stories
06:38made by the soldiers in the trenches.
06:42Here, a wonderful drawing done in 1915.
06:48Luxuries for the Turks.
06:50Here's the luxuries.
06:52A box full of bombs.
06:56These drawings touched people deeply.
07:00Their mischievous humour defined the Australian response to war.
07:05It helped people deal with the loss of so many.
07:11Gallipoli, 1915.
07:13And underneath, written in pencil,
07:15at the landing and here ever since.
07:19It's a drawing that's full of poignancy and humour.
07:23A bestseller when it was first published in 1916,
07:28the Anzac books Rugged Egalitarianism and Rye Stoicism
07:32illustrates how war shaped the national character.
07:37Australia still has official war artists,
07:40and they now have more freedom to explore the realities of war.
07:45Hi, Ben.
07:46Looks great.
07:48Portrait painter Ben Quilty is one of them.
07:51A star on the contemporary art scene,
07:53he recently joined Australian forces in Afghanistan.
07:57The idea of a war artist seems sort of a bit archaic, doesn't it?
08:03It's funny, I thought that too.
08:04I thought, what can I do?
08:06What am I going to do?
08:06How can I fit in?
08:08I was in a navy blue uniform, so I'd be shot first.
08:11I'm sure of that.
08:13The Lamberts, they took a sort of view of the heroism of war.
08:17I mean, you've done almost the opposite
08:19and gone straight into the agonies of war.
08:23I think we see the heroism through the film footage
08:26that news cameramen take of men under fire.
08:30So I think the role back then was to tell the story
08:32that a news cameraman tells now.
08:35Contemporary art's more about the human condition
08:37than the great big panorama of life, I guess.
08:42Life and death in a war zone.
08:44You live under constant threat.
08:48There is nowhere safe on the base.
08:51The first night I was there, three rockets came in.
08:59This is a tortured soul.
09:01I mean, what have you done to these people?
09:03All three of these men have post-traumatic stress disorder.
09:06I asked them to pick the pose,
09:08something that summed up their whole experience.
09:11For Lance Corporal M, he just said,
09:13I'm just exhausted, and he just lay down.
09:15So these three...
09:17Yes.
09:17They all said, this is how I feel.
09:20Yes.
09:20Really.
09:22Quilty's work has the brutal honesty
09:25first seen in the Anzac book.
09:28Yet after World War I,
09:30there was an altogether contrasting artistic response
09:33to the suffering.
09:35Many craved a return to a world
09:37and before the mud and death of the trenches.
09:42The heroes in South Australian artist Hans Heysen's work
09:46are gum trees.
09:48He worked on this painting,
09:50droving into the light,
09:51throughout the war years.
09:53It would have been a comforting vision of home
09:56as tens of thousands were dying in France.
09:59People loved Heysen.
10:03Reproductions of his work
10:04hung in thousands of Australian homes.
10:07Ironically, while painting this ode to the bush,
10:11the German-born artist was treated with suspicion
10:13and racially taunted.
10:17Instead of conflict,
10:20artists painted rural scenes.
10:22Elioth Gruder made this picture in 1919.
10:25He called it Spring Frost.
10:31This is an immensely popular painting.
10:34Why?
10:35It's Arcadian.
10:37It's unconfronting.
10:39It's reaffirming.
10:41It takes no risks.
10:43It's a kind of retreat to certainty.
10:47Gruner painted it from life.
10:49It was so cold as he worked,
10:51he wrapped his legs in sacks to avoid frostbite.
10:56These paintings represent a desire
10:59to erase the horrors of the time.
11:02But war and the changes it brought
11:05would force art to move on.
11:08Getting over the war
11:09was a time for nation-building,
11:11for a celebration of our society,
11:14and for the great and the good.
11:16This was embodied in the creation of an event in 1921
11:29that would become the biggest day
11:32in the Australian art calendar,
11:35the Archibald Prize.
11:37It's awarded annually
11:40for the best new portrait painting
11:43of a man or woman
11:44distinguished in the arts,
11:46letters, science or politics.
11:49When it first began,
11:50there were a few dozen entries.
11:52Now there are hundreds.
11:54The prize was founded
12:07by an eccentric media proprietor,
12:10John Feltham Archibald.
12:15From the 1880s,
12:17he published the Bulletin.
12:18It reflected attitudes to race at the time
12:22and was quick to lampoon those
12:24who became too big for their boots.
12:27It's ironic, then,
12:29that the prize which bears Archibald's name
12:31was, and still is,
12:33such an unbridled celebration
12:35of Australian success.
12:40He loved all things French
12:42and even changed his name
12:44from John Feltham
12:46to Jules Francois.
12:50The Archibald Prize lives on.
12:55These days, it's more about fame.
13:00But the early winners were,
13:02like Australia,
13:03conservative,
13:04George Lambert,
13:06won the prize in 1927
13:08with this picture
13:09of Rupert Murdoch's grandmother, Annie.
13:25What a contrast
13:26these portraits of today are
13:28to those of the early 1920s.
13:31All those worthy citizens,
13:33so staid, so solid,
13:35so safe, so reliable.
13:38It was a reassurance.
13:41But thankfully,
13:43change was on the horizon.
13:49A small band of artists
13:51rejected stuffy portraits
13:53and embraced the European modernist movement.
13:57in the 1920s,
13:58in the 1920s,
14:00buoyed by a massive new migration scheme
14:02to bring people from Britain,
14:04Australia was growing.
14:07Artists were enthralled
14:08by progress brought about
14:10by mechanisation
14:11and mass production.
14:12But not all change was welcomed.
14:16Foreign influences
14:17were viewed with suspicion,
14:20as was the fact
14:21that many of the leading modern artists
14:22were women.
14:26Though she came from
14:27a highly respectable English family,
14:30her uncle,
14:30a private chaplain
14:31to Queen Victoria,
14:33when it came to modern art,
14:35Grace Cossington-Smith
14:36was something
14:37of a radical innovator.
14:39In 1917,
14:41she painted soldiers
14:42parading through Sydney's streets.
14:45It's one of Australia's
14:46earliest modernist paintings.
14:48By 1925,
14:51Cossington-Smith
14:52was celebrating
14:53the growing city,
14:54rising up
14:55to a luminous blue sky.
14:58And Margaret Preston
14:59made a print
15:00of Sydney's
15:01bustling circular key
15:02with vibrant lines
15:03and bold colours.
15:13In the late 1920s,
15:16these first modernists
15:17were given further inspiration
15:19with the rise
15:20of a man-made structure
15:21so modern
15:23and so massive
15:24it couldn't be ignored.
15:28Across Sydney Harbour,
15:31a giant archway
15:32was taking shape.
15:41I've got to admit,
15:43I don't have a great head
15:44for heights,
15:45so I've been avoiding this
15:47for ages.
15:49But it is spectacular.
15:52It is dramatic.
15:54And when I think
15:54of building this
15:5680 years ago
15:57with these workers
15:59and steel workers
16:00sort of flying around up here,
16:02treading carefully
16:03across beams
16:04and then swinging from beams
16:06and looking at this
16:07incredible structure,
16:08it is amazing.
16:10there's 39,000 tonnes
16:13of steel
16:14in this structure
16:15and over 6 million
16:17of these rivets.
16:19It is one of the great wonders
16:22of the modern world.
16:23paid for with British loans
16:30and built from British steel,
16:32this was nonetheless
16:33the great symbol
16:35of a modern Australia.
16:39You can imagine
16:40the impact
16:41that the building
16:42of this bridge
16:43had upon the people
16:44of Australia.
16:46At that time,
16:47there was a depression
16:48and here they were
16:49building this great
16:51steel leviathan
16:52reaching across
16:53Sydney Harbour
16:53and people looked
16:54at this thing
16:55and they said,
16:56if we can build this,
16:57we can do anything.
17:05So it's not surprising
17:06modernists were drawn
17:08to it like moths
17:09to a flame.
17:13For Grace Cosington Smith,
17:16the bridge
17:17touched the sublime.
17:19In the curve
17:20of the bridge,
17:21radiating arcs of light
17:23shine like
17:24glittering halos.
17:27In the bridging curve,
17:29the same exultant energy
17:31can be seen.
17:33But in 1930,
17:34the conservative
17:35Sydney Society of Artists
17:37declined to exhibit
17:38this hardly radical
17:40work of modern art.
17:44Her painting
17:45is more a picture
17:46of the imagination.
17:48It's bright,
17:49it's colourful,
17:50it's optimistic,
17:51it's modernist.
17:53I think the real drama
17:56of the construction
17:57of this great bridge
17:58was better captured
17:59not by painters,
18:01but by artists
18:02in another modernist medium,
18:04photography.
18:08French-born Henri Mallard
18:21climbed all over
18:22the bridge
18:23to document its progress
18:25and revel in its scale.
18:27his photographs
18:34bring alive
18:35the drama
18:35of construction
18:36and reveal
18:37a real eye
18:38for composition.
18:40There's a dynamic
18:41masculine energy
18:42in them.
18:46Mallard
18:46photographed the bridge
18:48from always exactly
18:49the same spot
18:50as Cosington Smith's
18:51painting.
18:52but he came up
18:54with a world
18:54of heavy industry
18:55and monumental
18:56construction.
19:06This energy
19:07wasn't limited
19:08to photography.
19:10The thrill of progress
19:11meant modern design
19:12of all kinds
19:13was increasingly
19:14fashionable.
19:15in the 1930s
19:17new styles
19:18including Art Deco
19:19were embraced
19:20by advertising
19:21and popular culture.
19:24As memories
19:25of the war
19:25began to fade
19:26the hedonism
19:28for which Australia
19:28is so well known
19:30emerged.
19:33Of course
19:34the most famous
19:34space for this
19:35was the beach.
19:38Bondi
19:39this is an absolute
19:41mecca
19:41for beach bunnies
19:42tourists
19:43surfers
19:43and swimmers.
19:45But way back
19:47in the 1930s
19:48the modernist
19:49photographers
19:50came down here
19:51for quite another
19:52reason.
19:53They saw
19:54these bodies
19:54as part of
19:55the modern world
19:56as components
19:57in a great
19:58construction
19:59a great composition
20:00not unlike
20:01the harbour bridge.
20:05George Caddy
20:06was a hedonist
20:07to the core.
20:09A prize winning
20:10professional dancer
20:11nicknamed
20:12the Bondi
20:13Jitterbug
20:14but he wasn't
20:15strictly ballroom
20:16when he wasn't
20:17dancing
20:18he was hanging
20:19out on Bondi
20:20beach
20:20capturing on
20:21camera
20:22the fad of
20:23beach-o-batics.
20:31These amazing
20:32pictures
20:33were only
20:34rediscovered
20:34in 2007.
20:37They reveal
20:38the figure
20:38as a sort
20:39of human
20:39Meccano.
20:44They're a celebration
20:46of Australian
20:47vitality
20:47a show
20:48of physical
20:49prowess
20:50with the beach
20:51the primary
20:52stage for this
20:53display.
20:56The beach
20:57was the literal
20:58embodiment
20:59of modern
20:59Australia
21:00and in
21:011937
21:02Max Dupain
21:03symbolised it
21:04most famously
21:05in this
21:06photograph.
21:08Max Dupain's
21:09Sunbaker
21:10is one of the
21:11great modernist
21:12images
21:12of Australian
21:13art.
21:14It all looks
21:15very natural
21:16but of course
21:17it isn't.
21:18It's a very
21:19studied composition.
21:21It's almost
21:21classical
21:22with the body
21:23shaped
21:24like a low
21:25pyramid.
21:25In Sunbaker
21:27Australian
21:29physicality
21:30is a monument
21:31worthy of
21:32celebration.
21:33Strong
21:34but relaxed,
21:35beautiful
21:35but safely
21:36avoiding
21:37the overtly
21:38erotic.
21:46Such
21:47was the
21:47pull of
21:48the beach
21:48that painting
21:49soon followed
21:50photography.
21:55Charles
21:59Mears
21:59beach
21:59pattern
22:00has a
22:01photographic
22:01quality.
22:03People
22:03are frozen
22:04like
22:05statues.
22:11It's
22:12an impressive
22:12but strange
22:14almost surreal
22:15painting.
22:17Grand
22:18statuesque
22:19posed
22:20heroic
22:20figures
22:21and these
22:22idealised
22:23bodies
22:23all
22:24marshaled
22:25into
22:25the
22:26intensity
22:26of
22:26a
22:27composition.
22:28I often
22:29think of
22:29it as
22:30some
22:30kind
22:30of
22:30modernist
22:31beach
22:31utopia.
22:33Certainly
22:34there's
22:34nothing
22:34natural
22:35about
22:35it.
22:37And
22:37apparently
22:37Mears
22:39when he
22:39was
22:39painting
22:39this
22:40never
22:40actually
22:40went
22:41near
22:41the
22:41beach.
22:43Beach
22:44pattern
22:44turned
22:45going
22:45for a
22:46swim
22:46into
22:46something
22:47almost
22:47heroic.
22:48It
22:49embodied
22:49how
22:50Australians
22:50saw
22:50themselves
22:51by the
22:52end
22:52of the
22:521930s.
22:53confident
22:54optimistic
22:55white.
22:58Everyone
22:59ready
22:59and
23:00action.
23:02This was
23:03a time
23:03when the
23:04immigration
23:04of anyone
23:05not white
23:06or British
23:07was heavily
23:08restricted.
23:09The era
23:10of the
23:10white
23:11Australia
23:11policy.
23:12It turned
23:13beach
23:13pattern
23:14into a
23:15potent
23:15symbol
23:16of the
23:16ideal
23:17Australian.
23:19Over
23:19time
23:20as
23:20Australia's
23:21makeup
23:21changed
23:22Mere's
23:22vision
23:23became
23:23open
23:24to
23:24parody
23:24and
23:25subversion.
23:26The work
23:27of leading
23:28contemporary
23:28photographer
23:29Anne
23:29Zahalka
23:30echoes
23:31this
23:31change.
23:32She
23:33first
23:33reinvented
23:34Mere's
23:35picture
23:35in
23:351989
23:36to comment
23:38on the
23:38changing
23:39ethnic
23:39makeup
23:40of
23:40Australia.
23:41And as
23:42this
23:42continues
23:43with wave
23:43after wave
23:44of migration
23:45she returns
23:46to it.
23:47In this
23:47latest
23:48version
23:48an ever
23:49more
23:49diverse
23:50group
23:50embrace
23:51the
23:51beach.
23:53Holding
23:53that.
23:54Excellent.
23:57People
23:58were not
23:59being
24:00represented
24:00within
24:01these
24:01dominant
24:02popular
24:03images
24:03of
24:04Australia
24:05so I
24:05wanted
24:06to
24:06inject
24:07kind
24:08of
24:08the
24:08new
24:08breed
24:08and
24:09blood
24:09into
24:10a scene
24:11like
24:11this.
24:12Hold
24:12that.
24:13Good.
24:13That
24:15now
24:15is a
24:16very
24:16democratic
24:17egalitarian
24:18image.
24:19It's
24:20terrific.
24:20Yeah.
24:21Well I
24:21think
24:21the beach
24:22is a
24:23great
24:23sort
24:23of
24:23leveller.
24:24I
24:25think
24:25it
24:25does
24:25allow
24:26us
24:26to
24:27kind
24:28of
24:28be
24:29equal
24:29and
24:30to
24:30share
24:31a
24:31space.
24:32Eve
24:33leaning
24:33back
24:34a
24:34bit
24:34more
24:34and
24:35Angel
24:35you
24:36can
24:36come
24:36forward
24:37a
24:37little
24:37bit
24:37more
24:37this
24:38way.
24:40It
24:41is
24:41one
24:41of
24:41the
24:41most
24:41popular
24:42images
24:42at
24:43the
24:43art
24:43gal
24:43of
24:43New
24:43South
24:43Wales
24:44I
24:44understand
24:44so
24:44people
24:45do
24:46somehow
24:46identify
24:47with
24:47it
24:47it's
24:48an
24:48image
24:48that
24:48strikes
24:49a
24:49chord
24:49with
24:49people
24:49it's
24:50sort
24:50of
24:50how
24:50Australians
24:51want to
24:51see
24:51themselves
24:52and yet
24:53it
24:53doesn't
24:53represent
24:54I
25:13nice
25:13brilliant
25:13brilliant
25:13thanks
25:14thank you
25:15the
25:24Aryan
25:24flavor
25:25of
25:25beach
25:25pattern
25:26points
25:27to
25:27the
25:27contrast
25:28in
25:281930s
25:29Australia
25:29there
25:30was
25:31the
25:31thrill
25:31of
25:31progress
25:32fun
25:32in
25:32the
25:33sun
25:33but
25:33also
25:34xenophobia
25:35extremism
25:36and
25:36the
25:37depression
25:37Australian
25:39modernism
25:40so far
25:41pretty safe
25:41and decorative
25:42failed to
25:43confront
25:44these
25:44contradictions
25:45this was
25:46about to
25:47change
25:47the
25:48turning point
25:49came
25:50when
25:50modern
25:50artists
25:51began
25:51to arrive
25:52from
25:52Europe
25:52where
25:53the
25:53dark
25:54clouds
25:54of
25:54war
25:55were
25:55gathering
25:55again
25:56these
25:57artists
25:58who
25:59had
25:59seen
25:59the
25:59worst
26:00of
26:00war
26:00and
26:00its
26:01aftermath
26:01in
26:01Europe
26:02went
26:03out
26:03into
26:04the
26:04streets
26:04to
26:05paint
26:05the
26:06darker
26:06side
26:07of
26:07urban
26:07life
26:08and
26:09they
26:09inspired
26:10and
26:10encouraged
26:11other
26:11local
26:11artists
26:12to do
26:12the
26:13same
26:13leaving
26:15Warsaw
26:16to
26:16escape
26:16antisemitism
26:17Jossel
26:18Bergner
26:19arrived
26:19in
26:191937
26:20aged
26:21just
26:2117
26:22he
26:26instantly
26:26related
26:27to the
26:28plight
26:28of an
26:29urban
26:29underclass
26:30Bergner
26:34painted
26:35the most
26:35challenging
26:36picture
26:36from this
26:37era
26:37Aborigines
26:38in Fitzroy
26:39this
26:41painting
26:41was among
26:42the very
26:42few
26:43to depict
26:44indigenous
26:44people
26:45since
26:45the
26:461860s
26:47but
26:48works
26:48of this
26:48kind
26:49didn't
26:49sell
26:50even
26:53more
26:54influential
26:54was a
26:55charismatic
26:56refugee
26:56from
26:57Soviet
26:57Russia
26:58Danilo
26:58Vasiliev
26:59instead
27:01of
27:02bronzed
27:02bodies
27:03he
27:03painted
27:04this
27:04picture
27:05poverty
27:05and
27:06prostitution
27:06instead
27:08of
27:08sun
27:08and
27:09sand
27:09he
27:10painted
27:10darkness
27:11and
27:11depression
27:12this
27:14encouraged
27:15a newer
27:16generation
27:16of Australian
27:17artists
27:17to make
27:18social
27:19comment
27:19beginning
27:20a trend
27:21that's
27:21alive
27:22and
27:22well
27:22today
27:27Melbourne
27:28is well
27:28known
27:28for its
27:29street art
27:29which is
27:30often
27:31dismissed
27:31as mere
27:31vandalism
27:32but
27:34that's
27:35nothing
27:35compared
27:36to the
27:36violent
27:37row
27:37that erupted
27:38in 1939
27:39over
27:40what
27:40counted
27:41as
27:41art
27:42it
27:46began
27:47when
27:47a
27:47media
27:48baron
27:48challenged
27:49the
27:49conservative
27:50art
27:50establishment
27:51head
27:52on
27:53rupert murdoch's
27:59father
27:59keith
28:00staged
28:01an
28:01exhibition
28:01of
28:02217
28:03paintings
28:04by the
28:05great
28:05european
28:06modernists
28:07the exhibition
28:08opened
28:08here
28:09at the
28:09melbourne
28:10town
28:10hall
28:11it was
28:12australia's
28:13first
28:13blockbuster
28:14art
28:15exhibition
28:15the impact
28:17was electrifying
28:18imagine
28:24walking around
28:25down here
28:26in 1939
28:28and seeing
28:29on the walls
28:30of this
28:30very room
28:31paintings
28:32by van Gogh
28:34matisse
28:35picasso
28:36dali
28:36little wonder
28:38that the younger
28:39generation of
28:40artists
28:40flocked to see
28:41these paintings
28:42on the first
28:44day
28:442,000 people
28:46were turned
28:47away
28:47and a
28:48staggering
28:4930,000
28:50saw it in
28:51the first
28:51week
28:52seeing these
28:53now famous
28:54works of art
28:54in the flesh
28:55had a powerful
28:56impact on
28:57young artists
28:58and further
28:59jolted
28:59australian art
29:00from its
29:00complacency
29:01but there
29:02was a
29:03fiery
29:03backlash
29:04js
29:06mcdonald
29:07the director
29:08of the
29:08national
29:09gallery
29:09of
29:09victoria
29:10dismissed
29:11artists like
29:12picasso
29:13as perverts
29:14and degenerates
29:15the big
29:17galleries
29:18overlooked the
29:19opportunity
29:19to buy many
29:20pictures
29:21today worth
29:23millions
29:23australia could
29:26have had one of
29:26the great
29:27collections of
29:28modern art
29:28but for a
29:30young country
29:30on the brink
29:31of another
29:31war
29:32it was the
29:33wrong time
29:34and the
29:34wrong place
29:35for this
29:35so-called
29:36radical art
29:37but the
29:39cat was out
29:40of the
29:40bag
29:40it increased
29:41the public's
29:42acceptance
29:43of modern
29:43art
29:44this gave
29:47artists
29:48the inspiration
29:49to be
29:49bolder
29:50just as
29:51war began
29:51a war
29:53that would
29:53see the
29:54bright optimism
29:55of the
29:55earlier
29:55modernists
29:56eclipsed
29:57australia followed
30:09britain into
30:10battle once
30:10again
30:11in 1939
30:12but this
30:13time there
30:14was an
30:14enemy on
30:15the
30:15doorstep
30:16japan
30:17and after
30:22the fall
30:23of singapore
30:23in 1942
30:24britain
30:25would not
30:26be there
30:26to protect
30:27australia
30:28at this
30:30time
30:31the australian
30:32war memorial
30:33was building
30:34its central
30:34shrine
30:35commemorating
30:36the sacrifice
30:37of the
30:38first war
30:38the sacred
30:40space
30:41decorated
30:41by none
30:42other than
30:43napier
30:43waller
30:43the soldier
30:45artist
30:45who after
30:46losing his
30:46arm
30:47had turned
30:48to mosaics
30:49and stained
30:49glass
30:50but if
30:51world war
30:52one
30:52had led
30:53to a
30:53retreat
30:54to safety
30:55and conservatism
30:56in art
30:56world war
30:57two
30:58was about
30:58to have
30:59the very
30:59opposite
31:00effect
31:00a new
31:02generation
31:02of artists
31:03were deeply
31:03affected
31:04by it
31:04not in
31:05any
31:05patriotic
31:06sense
31:06they were
31:07drawn
31:07directly
31:08into the
31:09terror
31:09and anxiety
31:10of war
31:11albert tucker
31:14was a follower
31:15of vasiliev
31:16in 1941
31:18he painted
31:19a bleak
31:19vision
31:20of urban
31:21poverty
31:21ironically
31:23titled
31:23spring
31:24in fitzroy
31:25a year
31:31later
31:31tucker
31:32was stationed
31:32at a local
31:33military hospital
31:34where he drew
31:37and painted
31:38the appalling
31:39wounds
31:40of injured
31:41soldiers
31:41following his
31:54discharge
31:55he returned
31:56to melbourne
31:56deeply
31:57affected
31:58he saw
31:59ugly
32:00moral decay
32:01all around
32:01him
32:02and neither
32:03his paintings
32:04nor his view
32:05of wartime
32:06australia
32:06were a pretty
32:07sight
32:07tucker's
32:11paintings
32:12like victory
32:13girls
32:13attacked
32:14the moral
32:14collapse
32:15he saw
32:15war
32:16bring
32:16drunken
32:18american
32:19gis
32:19with pig
32:20like faces
32:21groping
32:21women
32:22caricatures
32:24of prostitution
32:25wrapped in
32:25patriotic
32:26colours
32:26never had
32:28australian art
32:29been so
32:30angry
32:30so sarcastic
32:32so openly
32:33sexual
32:34it was
32:43hard to
32:43ignore
32:44especially
32:45for an
32:46unconventional
32:47couple
32:47john and
32:49sunday
32:49reed
32:50heirs to
32:51great wealth
32:52they had
32:52the money
32:53to nurture
32:54the first
32:54new art
32:55movement
32:55since
32:56australian
32:57impressionism
32:58throwing open
33:00their home
33:00making it
33:01a space
33:02where creativity
33:03was king
33:04this was
33:05heidi
33:06this beautiful
33:08tranquil
33:09benign
33:09house
33:10that was
33:10once a
33:11dairy farm
33:11this was
33:12to become
33:13an absolute
33:14hotbed
33:15of radical
33:16politics
33:17and radical
33:18art
33:18the passions
33:19and feelings
33:20and debates
33:21that were
33:21aroused
33:22in that
33:22house
33:23shaped
33:24modern
33:24australian
33:25art
33:25they called
33:35heidi
33:35an open
33:36house
33:37of table
33:37and mind
33:38in these
33:40rooms
33:40artists
33:40like
33:41vasiliev
33:41albert
33:42tucker
33:42and his
33:42wife
33:43joy
33:43hester
33:43immersed
33:44themselves
33:45in the
33:45cultural
33:46and intellectual
33:47trends
33:47of europe
33:48they were
33:49australia's
33:50homegrown
33:51bloomsbury
33:52set
33:52sunday's best
33:55friend
33:56the vivacious
33:57joy hester
33:57was the only
33:59other woman
33:59in the group
34:00her husband
34:04albert tucker
34:04photographed both
34:06joy and the
34:07vitality of the
34:08heidi group
34:08in their
34:09prime
34:09the energy
34:18unleashed
34:19was always
34:20intense
34:21and often
34:22dark
34:22joy hester
34:24expressed it
34:25in her
34:25evocative
34:26series
34:27of human
34:27faces
34:28her style
34:30was strongly
34:31influenced
34:32by vasiliev's
34:33quickfire
34:33methods of
34:34working
34:34she painted
34:36these
34:36on heidi's
34:37living room
34:38floor
34:38as the
34:39group
34:39socialized
34:40her work
34:42is about
34:42emotion
34:43the face
34:44a metaphor
34:44for the
34:45human
34:46condition
34:46heidi
34:48was no
34:49place
34:49for the
34:50faint-hearted
34:50it was not
34:52only a breeding
34:53ground for
34:53new ideas
34:54but also
34:55a sexually
34:56charged
34:57atmosphere
34:57where the
34:58status quo
34:59was challenged
35:00this was no
35:02place for
35:03voyeurs
35:03it was a
35:04place for
35:05participants
35:05one participant
35:09sydney
35:10nolan
35:11was just
35:1221 and
35:13newly married
35:13when he
35:14met
35:14sunday reed
35:15he already
35:19had a
35:20reputation
35:20for pushing
35:21boundaries
35:22in 1940
35:24in 1940
35:24his painting
35:25boy in
35:26the moon
35:26had been
35:27blasted
35:28by the
35:28conservative
35:29gallery
35:29director
35:30j.s.
35:31mcdonald
35:32he dismissed
35:33it as
35:34foreign
35:35a painting
35:36that fails
35:37to shock
35:37or amuse
35:39nolan
35:42nolan
35:42was agonizing
35:43over what
35:43direction
35:44his creativity
35:45would take
35:46when we
35:47became friends
35:48years later
35:49it amazed
35:50me to learn
35:50that syd
35:51might never
35:52have become
35:52an artist
35:53in fact
35:54i remember
35:55syd telling
35:56me once
35:56that he
35:57nearly became
35:58a poet
35:58and not a
35:59painter
35:59and it was
36:00here in the
36:01kitchen at
36:02heidi
36:02that he
36:03and sunday
36:03would share
36:04their love
36:05of poetry
36:05sunday and
36:14nolan
36:14were drawn
36:15together
36:16he to the
36:17charismatic
36:17older woman
36:18she to a
36:20singular young
36:21talent
36:21they began
36:22an affair
36:23in open
36:24view of
36:24the others
36:25nolan's
36:26marriage
36:27collapsed
36:27he was
36:29desperate
36:29for sunday
36:30to leave
36:30john
36:31but she
36:31wouldn't
36:32reluctantly
36:33john
36:34reed
36:34endured
36:34the
36:35affair
36:35however
36:36the war
36:37forced
36:38nolan
36:38away
36:38from
36:39heidi
36:39and sunday
36:40joining
36:42the home
36:42defense
36:43force
36:43nolan
36:44was stationed
36:44hundreds
36:45of miles
36:46inland
36:46from
36:46melbourne
36:47in the
36:47north
36:48of
36:48victoria
36:48nolan
36:50wrote
36:50being in
36:51the army
36:51i forgot
36:52about
36:52paris
36:53and
36:53picasso
36:54and
36:54completely
36:55identified
36:56with
36:56what i
36:57was
36:57looking
36:57at
36:58he
36:59was
37:00surrounded
37:00by
37:00flat
37:01dry
37:01farming
37:02country
37:02its
37:03endless
37:04skies
37:04pierced
37:05only
37:05by grain
37:06silos
37:07and in
37:08it
37:09nolan
37:09produced
37:09pictures
37:10like
37:10wimmera
37:11one of
37:12the first
37:12modernist
37:13paintings
37:13of the
37:14australian
37:14landscape
37:15kiata
37:22is another
37:23of my
37:24favorites
37:24in it
37:26nolan's
37:26innovative
37:27way of
37:28imagining
37:28the land
37:29evokes
37:30the feel
37:30of the
37:31place
37:31perfectly
37:32but this
37:33was just
37:34the start
37:34nolan's
37:36response
37:36to the
37:36landscape
37:37to his
37:38bittersweet
37:38love affair
37:39and the
37:40war
37:40would drive
37:41his creative
37:42journey
37:43onward
37:43the second
37:51world war
37:52was more
37:53directly
37:53experienced
37:54than the
37:54first
37:55Darwin
37:57was attacked
37:58and thousands
37:59were conscripted
38:00into bloody
38:01jungle conflict
38:02and Britain
38:04was in no
38:05position to
38:05offer support
38:06in 1944
38:16fearing he'd
38:17be sent to
38:18the front
38:18line in
38:19Papua New
38:19Guinea
38:20nolan left
38:21his post
38:22first he
38:23laid low
38:24in melbourne
38:25in early
38:261945
38:27he reappeared
38:28at heidi
38:29this period
38:31proved as
38:32much of a
38:32turning point
38:33for nolan
38:34as it did
38:34for australia
38:35as a whole
38:36which emerged
38:37from war
38:38needing to
38:39redefine
38:39its place
38:40in the
38:41world
38:41in a
38:45burst of
38:45intense
38:46creative
38:46energy
38:47nolan
38:48painted
38:4827 works
38:50on a
38:50single
38:50theme
38:51that addressed
38:52australian
38:52identity
38:53head-on
38:54he reinvented
38:56the art
38:56of australia
38:57he chose
39:03the story
39:03of ned
39:04kelly
39:04the outlaw
39:05who fought
39:06his last
39:07stand with
39:07the police
39:08in his
39:08homemade
39:09helmet
39:09and armor
39:10as early
39:12as 1906
39:13it was the
39:14subject of
39:15the world's
39:16first feature
39:16length film
39:17the story
39:18of the kelly
39:19gang
39:20nolan
39:22was forever
39:22curious and
39:23inventive
39:24and the
39:25outlaw
39:26ned kelly
39:27was the
39:27perfect
39:28metaphor
39:28for him
39:29and his
39:30mischievous
39:30spirit
39:31his kelly
39:33has become
39:34one of the
39:34most powerful
39:35symbols
39:36in australian
39:36art
39:37and identity
39:38nolan
39:40took kelly's
39:41helmet
39:41and framed
39:42it into
39:43an unforgettable
39:44symbol
39:45he said
39:46he got
39:46the idea
39:47from modern
39:48art in
39:48europe
39:49but his
39:50earlier
39:51painting
39:51boy
39:52in the
39:52moon
39:52had also
39:53been a
39:53prototype
39:54he placed
39:56it into
39:56the landscape
39:57because it
39:58symbolized
39:58kelly's
39:59alienation
40:00for nolan
40:04the ubiquitous
40:05australian
40:06landscape
40:07was not
40:08the objective
40:08for him
40:09it was
40:10the human
40:10drama
40:11nolan's
40:13great
40:13achievement
40:13was to
40:14use the
40:15australian
40:15landscape
40:16not as
40:16the subject
40:17but as
40:18the stage
40:19the backdrop
40:20for the
40:20human
40:21story
40:21this was
40:24unprecedented
40:25the paintings
40:26take us
40:27through the
40:27main events
40:28of the
40:28story
40:29among the
40:30many scenes
40:30he depicts
40:31constable
40:32fitzpatrick
40:32abusing
40:33ned's
40:34sister
40:34kate
40:35the kelly
40:37gang
40:37shooting
40:38police
40:38at
40:38stringy
40:39bark
40:39creek
40:40and the
40:43murder
40:43trial
40:43which ended
40:44in
40:45being
40:45sentenced
40:46to hang
40:46why did
40:55nolan
40:55choose kelly
40:56as his
40:56subject
40:56he wanted
40:57to interrogate
40:58what being
40:59australian
40:59really meant
41:00set against
41:02the bush
41:02the flat
41:03cut out
41:04shape of
41:04kelly
41:05represents
41:05being in
41:06the place
41:07but not
41:07entirely
41:08part of
41:09it
41:09it speaks
41:10of harmony
41:11with
41:12and alienation
41:13from the
41:14land
41:14nolan
41:17perhaps
41:17identified
41:18with kelly
41:19he too
41:20was a
41:21fugitive
41:21from the
41:21law
41:22until an
41:23amnesty
41:23in 1948
41:24the creation
41:27of the
41:27kelly
41:27paintings
41:28was also
41:29intertwined
41:30with his
41:30return to
41:31the emotional
41:32turmoil
41:32of
41:33heidi
41:33the
41:39paintings
41:40were made
41:40here
41:41at the
41:41dining room
41:42table
41:42at
41:43heidi
41:43nolan
41:44painted
41:45them
41:45with
41:46sunday
41:46virtually
41:47in his
41:47arms
41:48they were
41:48that
41:48close
41:49the
41:51ménage
41:52a trois
41:52had by
41:53this stage
41:54been going
41:54on for
41:55six years
41:56the tensions
41:57at heidi
41:58became too
41:59much to
41:59bear
41:59and after
42:00the war
42:01the scene
42:02imploded
42:03diagnosed
42:06with cancer
42:07and in
42:07love with
42:08another
42:08man
42:08joy
42:09hester
42:10left
42:10her husband
42:11albert
42:11tucker
42:12their young
42:15son
42:15was adopted
42:16by the
42:17reeds
42:17but
42:19syd nolan
42:19still wanted
42:20them to
42:20split up
42:21sunday
42:22refused
42:23nolan
42:26quit
42:27heidi
42:27his
42:28sudden
42:29departure
42:29devastated
42:31everyone
42:31he left
42:33sunday
42:33and all
42:34his kelly
42:34paintings
42:35behind
42:36when the reeds
42:42exhibited
42:42the 27 kelly
42:43paintings in
42:44melbourne
42:45soon after
42:45the response
42:46was muted
42:47only one
42:49sold
42:50never a fan
42:53js mcdonald
42:55said
42:55nolan
42:56has a
42:57second-rate
42:57boogie-woogie
42:58notion of
42:59depiction
42:59especially
43:00in these
43:01kelly
43:01daubs
43:02attacked
43:04by the
43:04critics
43:04painted
43:05by a
43:06fugitive
43:06it seemed
43:07unlikely
43:07that nolan's
43:08kelly
43:09paintings
43:09would
43:09ever
43:10become
43:10the
43:10acclaimed
43:11works
43:11they are
43:12today
43:12the story
43:24of how
43:25australia
43:25came to
43:26embrace
43:26nolan
43:27and modern
43:27art
43:28began when
43:29he and
43:29other
43:30artists
43:30turned their
43:31attention
43:31to a
43:32place so
43:33remote
43:33few white
43:34people
43:35had ever
43:35experienced
43:36it
43:36in 1948
43:40nolan
43:41married
43:42john
43:42reed's
43:43sister
43:43cynthia
43:44the
43:48newlyweds
43:49embarked
43:49on a
43:50life-changing
43:50journey
43:51by now
43:53it was
43:53possible
43:53to take
43:54a train
43:54deep
43:55inland
43:56to
43:56alice
43:56springs
43:57gateway
43:58to the
43:59remote
43:59outback
44:00thanks
44:07to this
44:07train
44:08artists
44:09could
44:09now
44:10leave
44:11the
44:11cities
44:11and the
44:12coastal
44:13fringe
44:13and travel
44:14inland
44:15to the
44:16real
44:17interior
44:17the red
44:18desert
44:18the outback
44:19and what
44:20they saw
44:21there
44:21would change
44:22the soul
44:23of australian
44:24art
44:24they entered
44:27a place
44:27of haunting
44:28beauty
44:29captivating
44:31and unsettling
44:32in equal
44:33measure
44:34nolan
44:38nolan
44:38nolan
44:38began to
44:39photograph
44:39what he
44:40saw
44:40nolan
44:42began to
44:42photograph
44:43he was not
44:51nolan
44:51he wasn't the only one
45:05painter russell drysdale came here to record the stark realities of outback life
45:12Sent out by the Sydney Morning Herald
45:25to cover a severe drought in New South Wales in 1944,
45:30his drawings of dead animals and eroded landscapes
45:34ended up on the breakfast tables of thousands of Australians.
45:39Drysdale's drawings inspired his painted landscapes.
45:44HIS WAS A SURREAL AND DESOLATE VISION OF THE OUTBACK,
46:02His was a surreal and desolate vision of the outback,
46:10a land populated by hardy and stoic survivors.
46:18The drover's wife stands impassive against the desiccated landscape,
46:24accepting the inhospitable surroundings.
46:27Drysdale said surviving the far regions of the centre
46:34demanded a different set of values.
46:42Sephala is among his most famous works,
46:45with its melancholic evocation of the heat in the stillness of an outback town.
46:51But however remote the place is depicted in these outback country scenes,
46:57these artists had only scratched the surface.
47:01From Alice Springs, Sid and Cynthia Nolan boarded a mail plane.
47:08It flew over the MacDonald mountain ranges,
47:11and for the first time Nolan saw the vastness of the dry interior
47:15from high above.
47:17The aerial viewpoint made him think hard about this land,
47:23about its scale and its ancient spirit.
47:25He raised the horizon line, thus emphasizing its vast and unending range.
47:34He said he wanted to know more about the true nature of the otherness
47:38into the landscape.
47:40He said he wanted to know more about the true nature of the otherness
47:44in the past.
47:46Cynthia Nolan recalled,
47:59Cynthia Nolan recalled,
48:01Our foreheads pressed against the glass windows.
48:04We found our own land and heard its voice alone.
48:08Works like Inland Australia were the result.
48:12The intense colour and eerie shapes evoke this otherness.
48:17Nolan painted it quickly, on a tabletop,
48:21using photographs he took from the plane.
48:23But it's not an actual place.
48:25It's a fusion of memories.
48:28What Nolan called a composite picture.
48:31And there was something else inspiring all this.
48:34For Nolan and Drysdale, being immersed in the outback
48:38meant more than painting the landscape or its white settlers.
48:41It meant an encounter with Australia's original people
48:45that was to have profound consequences.
48:58Nolan took hundreds of photographs of the Aboriginal people
49:02who lived and worked on the cattle stations he visited.
49:06At this time, the late 40s, they weren't citizens.
49:11Officially, they were wards of the state,
49:14with few if any rights.
49:17Aboriginal people couldn't vote,
49:20couldn't hold office,
49:22couldn't marry or travel without official permission.
49:27Their children were routinely taken from them
49:30and placed in institutions or with white families.
49:33their families.
49:34Permanent separation was rigorously enforced.
49:44Nolan and Cynthia became acutely aware of the yawning gulf
49:48between the white and Indigenous worlds.
49:51Nolan's view about white culture's place in Australia changed
50:02as he became more and more impressed with what he saw of Indigenous culture.
50:06He wrote to his friend, Albert Tucker, saying of Aboriginal people,
50:10They inform the landscape in an extraordinary way.
50:16The barrenness and harshness is all in our European eyes and demands.
50:21This was also true for Russell Drysdale.
50:27He painted Indigenous people with individuality and dignity.
50:34Shopping Day speaks of alienation and society's demand for assimilation.
50:39But Drysdale doesn't pity his subjects.
50:45In group of Aborigines, they stare back, firmly holding our gaze.
50:51Drysdale and Nolan championed both the Outback and its people.
50:59It inspired a huge outpouring of work, which at long last found favour back in the cities.
51:05In 1949, a predecessor of mine at the Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired this painting,
51:14Pretty Polly Mine, the first public gallery to purchase a Nolan.
51:20The Board of Trustees was so shocked, they banned him from buying any more pictures
51:25without their prior approval.
51:35But the tide was turning.
51:39Art reflected how post-war Australia was changing.
51:51The British-Australian monoculture began to broaden.
51:54The glaring inequalities and lack of Aboriginal civil rights began to be questioned.
52:00The work of another artist would embody these changing attitudes.
52:05He united the Outback landscape, its people and the moral and political issues facing Australia.
52:12Inspired by what he'd witnessed on this remote track.
52:22Painter Arthur Boyd had been associated with the Heidi scene.
52:30In 1951, he travelled to a mining town at Al Tunga, over 100 kilometres east of Alice Springs.
52:48The scenery here is remote and spectacular.
52:51But what captured Boyd's attention was in fact the plight of the Aboriginal people.
52:59On this road, he saw a truck go by carrying a wedding party.
53:07The white dresses, in bizarre contrast to the truck that usually carried cattle.
53:12It was an image that was to remain with Boyd, and out of it came his famous bride paintings.
53:22The bride series is among the most bewitching of Australian paintings.
53:27Today they fetch record-breaking prices.
53:31It's because they are both beautiful and incendiary.
53:34These pictures brought the most taboo of subjects glaringly into the light.
53:44Interracial love and violence.
53:47But the genius of Boyd is that he did so in a hauntingly poetic fashion that went way beyond social comment.
53:54There are 31 in the series, telling moments from a tragic story of the courtship,
54:03marriage and death of a mixed-race Aboriginal man and his white bride.
54:13Boyd lends the theme a surreal air.
54:16Reflected bride is a memorable image.
54:20The groom entranced by the reflection of his wife.
54:23A spectre in a haunting outback setting.
54:36The power of these paintings lies in their compassion.
54:40The depths of feelings, of love, of lust and anguish, are almost palpable.
54:46Boyd instils the human experience with an almost mythic dimension.
54:53Boyd, Nolan and Drysdale's art changed Australia's relationship to itself.
55:06They not only changed perceptions at home, but overseas.
55:13Boyd's bride paintings made his international reputation.
55:17And in the late 50s, he moved to London, where Sid Nolan and Russell Drysdale already had studios.
55:24They're work well received by critics and audiences.
55:33Modern art in Australia was finally recognised.
55:37But decades after Europe.
55:47The agony of the war, the comfort of tradition, and the suspicion modernism aroused,
55:53restrained its initial promise.
55:55More radical urges, greater darkness and maturity, finally enabled Australian modernism to find an independent voice.
56:13By 1960, in response to the great otherness of the outback, modern art in Australia had come of age.
56:21It's ironic that, having discovered the heart of this continent, three of the brightest stars of Australian art were so keen to leave.
56:38They had a real regard for the indigenous world and its culture that they'd encountered.
56:43But there remained a vast gulf between those two worlds.
56:59Artists had helped open Australian minds.
57:04By uncovering what lay at its heart, they had expanded Australian identity.
57:09Modern art was a white thing, but that couldn't last.
57:17Sid Nolan was among the first to grasp that there was no turning back.
57:22In 1949, after seeing some Aboriginal rock art on his trip to the outback, he made a bold prediction.
57:30He said,
57:32I feel sure that in the future the works of many other Australian artists will be hailed in Europe.
57:39But I'm of the opinion that the Australian Aborigine is probably the best artist in Australia.
57:52In the heart of the continent lay an artistic tradition that, while incredibly ancient,
57:58to Western eyes looked utterly abstract, and therefore stunningly modern.
58:03the art of Australia would be transformed by the revolutionary impact of the abstract,
58:11from both the Red Centre and from overseas.
58:15The next chapter would allow the art of Australia and the country itself,
58:20not only to shed the baggage of the past, but also to reach to the world.
58:26Acastle variable.
58:26In the� DUG
58:44Theombia
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