Dogs in Australian Art

9 781743 050170
COVER by Lahn Stafford Design, Adelaide
Dogs in
Australian
Art
STEVEN MILLER
ISBN 978-1-74305-017-0
Dogs in Australian Art
Dogs in Australian Art looks at
Australian art through the lens
of dog painting, showcasing
over 150 masterworks that
illustrate the deep bond between
Australians and their best friends.
Steven Miller’s whimsical text
argues that all the major shifts
which occurred in Australia art,
and which have traditionally been
attributed to the environment or
historical factors, really occurred
because of dogs. His book is also
a study of how the various dog
breeds have been depicted from
colonial times until the present.
Steven Miller
Dogs in
Australian Art
A New History of Antipodean Creativity
Steven Miller is head of the Research Library and Archive of the
Art Gallery of New South Wales. He has published widely on
art, with his book on Australian culture between the two world
wars (Degenerates and Perverts) winning the NSW Premier’s
Australian History Award in 2006. He lives in Sydney and is the
proud owner of Finbar, a Welsh Terrier.
By the same author
Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition
of French and British Contemporary Art
The Face — Brent Harris
The Sydney Camera Circle
The Art and Life of Weaver Hawkins
Dogs in
Australian Art
A New History of Antipodean Creativity
Steven Miller
Wakefield Press
1 The Parade West
Kent Town
South Australia 5067
www.wakefieldpress.com.au
First published 2012
Copyright © Steven Miller, 2012
All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing
for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without
written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
Cover painting by David Welch (see page 45)
Inside cover artwork by Ron McBurnie (see page 139)
Title page artwork by Geoff Harvey (see page 119)
Designed by Lahn Stafford Design, Adelaide
Printing and quality control in China by Tingleman Pty Ltd
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author:
Title:
Miller, Steven.
Dogs in Australian art: a new history of antipodean
creativity / Steven Miller.
ISBN:
978 1 74305 017 0 (pbk.).
Subjects:
Dogs in art.
Dogs--Australia.
Dewey Number: 743.69772
FOR RHONDA
The wolf lived two years at Gubbio;
he went familiarly from door to door without harming anyone,
and all the people received him courteously,
feeding him with great pleasure,
and no dog barked at him as he went about.
At last, after two years, he died of old age,
and the people of Gubbio mourned his loss greatly;
for when they saw him going about so gently amongst them all,
he reminded them of the virtue and sanctity of St Francis.
The Little Flowers of St Francis
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been written without the support of the many
artists featured. Not only did they allow their work to be reproduced, they
also showed great enthusiasm for the whole project. My first thanks goes to
them. I hope that the book will contribute to an increased interest in their
work. I would also like to thank the galleries which represent them.
As I am no expert on dog breeds, I often had to rely on those who are
when researching this book. I am indebted to them for the assistance they
gave. Any errors or ambiguities are my own. Early on in my research I
realised that dog breeders are experts in their area and that I would need
to take care with what I wrote. One example will suffice. When I contacted
the Borzoi Club of Victoria to ask about the dog in Violet Teague’s Cynthia
and Count Brusiloff, I was told that the National Gallery of Victoria must
have made a mistake with the titling of the work, as the dog was known as
General not Count Brusiloff. I was also given the dog’s entire pedigree.
I would also like to thank friends and colleagues for their ideas and
support. Special mention should be made of those who read the text, or
various parts of it. Gillian Varley in London was a great help in focusing
and correcting early versions of the book. Here in Sydney I am particularly
grateful to my sister Christine, my colleague and regular co-author Eileen
Chanin and to Vi King Lim.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Australia Council. This book
would not have been finished without the support of the Council. During
2007 I was the B.R. Whiting Fellow in Rome. Although it had not been
my intention to work on this book during the residency, much of it was in
fact completed over a few glasses of Italian red, overlooking the rooftops
of Trastevere.
The Untold Story of Australian Art
1
AiredALe
Mervyn Napier Waller
Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills 1932
26
American Cocker Spaniel
William Dobell Self portrait 1968
28
American Foxhound
Terry Batt Double Happiness: The Year of the Dog 2006
30
American Pit Bull Terrier
Cherry Hood Daisy 2005
32
Australian Cattle Dog
Hilda Rix Nicholas The fair musterer 1935
34
Australian Kelpie
Clifton Pugh Rounding sheep 1968
36
Australian Shepherd
Louise Hearman Untitled # 820 2001
38
Australian Terrier
Lucien Henry Australian Terrier on a packing crate in garden 1890
40
Basset Hound
Rachel Fairfax Basset pups 2007
42
Beagle
David Welch The artist’s dog 2010
44
Bedlington Terrier
Adrienne Doig Hamish and Max 2005
46
Bichon Frisé
Gabrielle Martin Celeste and Lenny 1999
48
Black and Tan Terrier (Miniature)
Arthur Murch Suzanne Crookston 1935
50
Blenheim Spaniel
William Dexter Lady’s pet 1855
52
Border Collie
Eric Thake The weekly train departs, the dog goes back to sleep 1971
54
Contents
Border Terrier
Joanna Braithwaite Diggers 2005
56
Borzoi
Violet Teague Cynthia and Count Brusiloff c. 1917
58
Boston Terrier
Louise Hearman Untitled # 999 2003
60
Brussels Griffon
Joanna Braithwaite The ancestors 2005
62
Bull Terrier
Peter Booth Painting c. 1977
64
Canaan Dog
Cherry Hood Bedouin Canaan Dog (No. 6) 2002
66
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Melissa Egan The wife of Bath in her new hat 2006
68
Chihuahua
Anne Leisner Brutus 2006
70
Chinese Crested
Justin Spiers and Yvonne Doherty
Andrea, Tristan, Valentino & Tatiana 2006
72
Chow Chow
Basia Sokolowska Manchuride and Manchuhill 2008
74
Collie
Kristin Headlam Burns family portrait 2007
76
Corgi (Pembroke)
Rew Hanks King Billy Waiting for the Missing Monarch and King Billy Fetch Me My … 2003
78
Dachshund
Stephanie Monteith Young Sausage Dog 2005
80
Dalmatian
William Casey Devil dog 2006
82
Dingo
Lin Onus
Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute 1992
84
English Bulldog
Grace Cossington Smith Krinkley Konks sleeping 1927–28
86
English Cocker Spaniel
Harold Septimus Power Cocker Spaniels c. 1935
88
English Foxhound
George Stubbs A couple of Foxhounds 1792
90
English Pointer
George Perrottet Bookplate for Carlyle S. Baer 1934
92
Fox Terrier (Smooth)
Rupert Bunny Mrs Bunny and her terrier 1902–05
94
Fox Terrier (Wire Hair)
William Dobell Conversation piece 1941
96
French Bulldog Margaret Preston Nude with dog 1925
98
German Shepherd
Chris Bruce Rex 2003
100
German Short-haired Pointer
Graeme Drendel The temptation and The players 2008
102
Golden Retriever
Matt Kelso Flying dogs over the Murrumbidgee River, NSW 1978
104
Gordon Setter
Arthur Streeton Brace of Gordon Setters 1892
106
Great Dane
Ivor Hele Woodley 1955
108
Great Swiss Mountain Dog
Viola Dominello Dog 2007
110
Greyhound
Tim McMonagle Cheese and Pickles 2005
112
Hungarian Puli
Janet Tavener Hungarian Puli 2006
114
Husky
Petrina Hicks Lambswool 2008
116
Ibizan Hound
Geoff Harvey Boris 1999
118
Irish Red and White Setter
William Strutt Dogs with flowers and game 1850s
120
Irish Terrier
Ron McBurnie Tobias and the angel 2009
122
Irish Wolfhound
Tom Roberts Blue eyes and brown c. 1887
124
Italian Greyhound
Rosslynd Piggott Dark sun, Tuscany 1993
126
Jack Russell
Noel McKenna Jack Russel 2001
128
Kangaroo Dog
Unknown artist Wallaroo and dog c. 1840
130
King Charles Spaniel
Norman Lindsay Dogs for comfort 1937
132
Komondor
Fred Cress Debate 2008
134
Labrador Retriever
Euan Heng Oskar welcomed 2005
136
Lakeland Terrier
Ron McBurnie Professional dog show 1983
138
Löwchen
Nicholas Chevalier Waiting for the ferry, Manila 1881
140
Maltese Terrier
James Guppy Between us 1991
142
Miniature Pinscher Marshall Claxton The Dickinson family 1851
144
Newfoundland
W.E. Kelly Nelson 1901
146
Papillon
Emmanuel Phillips Fox The green parasol 1912
148
Parson Russell Terrier
Douglas Fry My best friend 1910
150
Pekingese
Helen Stewart Portrait of Treania Smith
152
Pharaoh Hound
Edwin Russell Tanner Dog c. 1958
154
Poodle (Standard)
Gabrielle Martin Kate and Harry 1998
156
Poodle (Toy)
Richard Read Snr Julia Johnston 1824
158
Pug
Norman Lindsay Rose on ‘Bobs’ c. 1912
160
Pyrenean Mountain Dog
Robert Dowling Mrs Adolphus Sceales with Black Jimmie
on Merrang Station 1855–56
162
Saluki Fred Cress Too few lovers 1989
164
Schnauzer (Miniature)
Jim Birkett Max and the Boys 2006
166
Scottish Terrier May Gibbs Scotty 1941
168
Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier
Peter Spilsbury Böcklin 2001
170
(White) Spitz
Benjamin Edwin Minns The blue hat 1918
172
Staffordshire Terrier J.M. Crossland Staffordshire Bull Terrier belonging to
Rev. John Gower 1851
174
Weimeraner
Mclean Edwards Martin Browne 2007
176
Welsh Terrier
Adrienne Doig Finbar with Vi King and Steven 2006
178
West Highland Terrier
Jeff Koons Puppy 1995
180
Whippet
Vicki Varvaressos Portrait of Frank Watters 1994
182
Yorkshire Terrier Neil Evans Wilkie (Romantic Fool) Collins 2004
184
Index of Artists
187
The Untold
Story of
Australian
Art
Benjamin Duterreau (1767–1851)
The Conciliation 1840.
Oil on canvas, 121.0 x 170.5 cm.
Collection of the Tasmanian Museum and
Art Gallery, Hobart
The history of Australian art is conventionally told with reference to a
number of themes, such as the Australian landscape and its light, urbanisation, technological innovation or the impact of European art and ideas.
There is one theme, however, which has been entirely overlooked and it is
the subject of this book. Perhaps it has been overlooked because it seems too
commonplace to serve as a grand narrative of Australia’s artistic evolution.
Yet history has shown repeatedly that great events are often the result of
simple and unexpected causes. For centuries it was believed that the Roman
Empire fell because of dynastic rivalry and barbarian incursions, until it
was suggested that the real cause was probably much simpler: lead in the
drinking pipes. So it is with Australian art. The various stylistic shifts which
have occurred, the debates about abstraction and figuration, the rivalries
between schools and cities are attributed to sociological, historical and personal factors, when the real cause was all the while sitting under our table.
The untold story of Australian art is the story of dogs and how they came
to inspire and shape the art of a nation. The focus of this book is art since
colonisation, and its dog subjects are principally introduced and domestic
species. Yet there is a rich prelude to this story. Indigenous Australians believe
that the Dingo came here with their ancestors. It has been a part of their life
and art for at least 4000 years, featuring prominently in rock and bark painting.
Early European efforts to picture Australia’s native dog show how disconnected
the colonisers were from their new environment. An anonymous watercolour
found among the manuscripts of Joseph Banks is probably the first attempt. This
Dingo, however, is almost unrecognisable, resembling more an oversized fox.
Anonymous Canis familiaris dingo c. 1793.
Watercolour on paper, 20.5 x 31.8 cm.
Banks MS34.
Image courtesy of the Art Gallery of New
South Wales Archive
1
Pioneer dogs
Augustus Earle (1793–1838)
Australian native in his bark hut [1826?].
Watercolour on paper, 18.1 x 19.4 cm.
Collection of the National Library, Canberra
2
As is widely known, the First Fleet included a number of store ships, their
decks crowded with animal pens. The official register lists ‘puppies’ along
with Governor Phillip’s Greyhounds. These puppies and their offspring were
traded with local Aborigines and eventually interbred with the native Dingo.
Augustus Earle’s watercolour Australian Native in his bark hut shows a man
with two such puppies. In the early years of European colonisation, dogs
were one of the few things that Indigenous Australians took from the white
settlers that did not enslave or kill them.
Dogs are found everywhere in colonial art. Although their inclusion
might at first appear incidental, a closer look will show that they often
provide a key to interpreting the works. Alexander Schramm’s A scene in
South Australia c. 1850 is said to represent an ideal of how settlers and
Indigenous Australians could live together harmoniously. It was a popular
image, with a large number of copies being sold throughout Australia during
the nineteenth century. It shows ‘Old King William’ and his family visiting a
settler’s cottage on washing day. They are accompanied by their seven dogs, an appealing group of
various terrier and greyhound mixed breeds. The
tethered settler’s dog (and cat), on the other hand,
shows fear and aggression.
This is not the only painting in which dogs
function as a counterpoint to an intended
message. English artist Benjamin Duterreau,
who arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in the 1830s,
included three dogs in the foreground of his
large history painting The Conciliation. This
work – thought to be the first ‘epic’ painting in
Australia – shows George Augustus Robinson
persuading the remaining Tasmanian Aborigines
to cease warfare against the colonists and accept
settlement on Flinders Island. The native wallaby
and the introduced sheep dog in the lower right
corner are usually interpreted as symbols of conciliation. Their stand-off,
sadly, seems rather to prefigure years of hostility and misunderstanding.
The earliest artists in Australia were amateurs: convicts sentenced for
forgery, surveyors and naval officers. The number of dogs they included in
their illustrations and paintings is remarkable. They inhabit works which
depict the progress of settlements and city life, they are in topographical
views and in hundreds of portraits. Tasmanian artist William Buelow Gould is
typical. He can appear self-conscious and inept when attempting landscapes
and history pieces in the grand manner, but his animal portraits are different.
Alexander Schramm (1814–64)
A scene in South Australia c. 1850.
Oil on canvas, 25.7 x 31.8 cm.
Collection of the Art Gallery of South
Australia, Adelaide. South Australian
Government Grant 1982 (8212P30)
3
Mervyn Napier Waller (1893–1972)
The Hunt c. 1925.
Watercolour on paper,
34.5 x 62.0 cm.
Private collection
AIREDALE
26
Visitors to Napier Waller’s home in Melbourne recalled that the first sound
heard there was ‘Baldur’s deep bark and the scuttering of claws on the polished wood floor. And if, after he has tumbled in advance down the stairway
that leads to the studio, all thought of Baldur disappears from your mind
in the presence of what you find there, it will return later’. Baldur was one
of the three pet Airedales belonging to Napier and Christian Waller. Like
other artists of the 1920s, the Wallers were interested in theosophy and
various forms of spiritualism; hence the esoteric names of their dogs: Siren,
Undine and Baldur. Originally known as Waterside Terriers, Airedales are
the largest of the terriers and were popular in the Aire Valley. Victorians, like
the Wallers, were keen on the breed and it was in Victoria that the Airedale
Terrier Club was formed in 1929, one of the first pure dog breed clubs in
Australia.
In this painting the three dogs are depicted together for the first time.
The eldest had already been included in The Pastoral Pursuits of Australia,
Mervyn Napier Waller (1893–1972)
Christian Waller with Baldur,
Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills 1932.
Oil and tempera on canvas mounted on
composition board, 121.5 x 205.5 cm.
Collection of the National Gallery of
Australia, Canberra, purchased 1984
(49895)
a mural for the now-demolished Menzies Hotel in Melbourne. This portrait of
his wife was Napier Waller’s only major easel painting. After the First World
War, in which he lost the use of his painting arm, he confined himself to
murals, mosaics and stained glass. He said that this was because he realised
‘that modern painting is disconnected with life – that it exists in an artificial
hot-house … I sought for something that should touch life intimately’. Art made
for public spaces gave him this opportunity, and his pet Airedales found
themselves represented in various historical and allegorical works. With their
elegant proportions and clear lines, they seem strangely suited to Waller’s art
deco world.
In time this portrait became a poignant memento for the artist. Only five
years after it was done, his wife suffered a complete mental breakdown.
Advised by pseudo-mystics like the American Father Divine, she withdrew
from all human contact. In this portrait there is already a sense of her
fragility.
27
AUSTRALIAN
CATTLE DOG
34
When this painting by Hilda Rix Nicholas was shown in 1937, it was singled
out as ‘typically Australian in both subject and treatment’. By treatment,
the reviewer probably meant the artist’s choice of colours and the way she
applied paint. Ironically, these were influences of study in France and in the
light-saturated world of North Africa. The subject of the painting, a pastoralist out among livestock, is more typically Australian. However, by casting
a woman in this role the work departed from convention. Once again,
Nicholas took inspiration from French models, where women working the
land were routinely made a subject of art.
As curator Tracy Cooper-Lavery has noted, the works of Hilda Rix
Nicholas are unique, ‘because they approach the scenes from a female perspective. Often the figures are portrayed close-up, giving an intimacy that is
absent in masculine depictions of the landscape’. Like her male counterparts
among artists and writers, Rix Nicholas was interested in constructing a
mythology of the bush as a place where national identity is forged. Unlike
them, however, she inserted women firmly into this context. Henry Lawson
wrote of a ‘Land where gaunt and haggard women live alone and work like
men/Till their husbands, gone-a-droving, will return to them again’. In this
painting, it is the woman who has gone-a-droving and the atmosphere is
one of affluence rather than hardship. Even the sheep seem contented. So
much so that the cattle dog, which is normally pictured alert and at work, is
shown resting.
The model for The fair musterer was the governess on a property in
southern New South Wales, where Rix Nicholas and her husband established themselves in 1928. She gave birth to her only child in 1930, when
she was 46. This work was painted five years later. The ‘Blue Heeler’ was
a working dog on the property. Developed in Australia as a herding dog,
Australian Cattle Dogs have become a much-loved national breed, largely
because of their stamina, intelligence and loyalty to owners. Cattle dogs,
which occur in two colours, have a habit of nipping at the heels of stubborn
sheep and cattle – hence their popular name of red or blue heeler.
Hilda Rix Nicholas (1884–1961)
The fair musterer 1935.
Oil on canvas, 102.3 x 160.4 cm.
Collection of the Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane (1:1178), purchased 1961
35
AUSTRALIAN
KELPIE
Peter Corlett (1944–)
Casterton Kelpie 1996 (detail).
Bronze. Casterton Town Hall.
36
When she was not writing poetry, Dame Mary Gilmore was campaigning to
have the contribution which dogs have made to our national life recognised.
She encouraged the Commonwealth Bank of Wagga Wagga to celebrate
sheep dogs with a sculpture by Bim Hilder and she asked the police to erect
a memorial to Zoe: ‘We have no statuary to the dogs that did so much for us,
that brought the cattle and the sheep home, found lost children, and died of
snake bite saving the children they went out with, and, in the case of police
dogs, helped safeguard society individually and as a whole.’
This was not entirely true. Dog memorials can be found scattered
throughout Australia. The most celebrated is the ‘Dog on the Tucker Box’ at
Gundagai. In the Western Australian town of Dampier, ‘Red Dog’ recalls a
Kelpie who roamed the region hitching rides, erected by ‘the many friends
made during his travels’. In Queensland there is a war memorial to the
tracker dogs which supported Australian forces in Vietnam.
Two rural sculptures record a dog rivalry between Victoria and New
South Wales. Ardlethan is a small gold-rush town in the heart of the Riverina
district of New South Wales. Its major claim to fame is that it was the
birthplace of the Australian Kelpie. The Scottish immigrants who settled
the area – the town’s name means ‘hilly’ in Gaelic – are said to have mixed
strains of working Collies with the Dingo. To celebrate the event a Kelpie
Dog Festival is held each year, and in 1994 the town commissioned Charlie
Beltramie to create a commemorative sculpture for Stewart Park.
Two years later, however, the town of Casterton in Victoria’s Western
Districts made a counter claim. Jack Gleeson, who had bred a number of
working dogs near Ardlethan in the 1870s, had acquired an important bitch
(whom he named ‘Kelpie’) from the family of George Robertson of Casterton.
During Casterton’s 150th celebrations in 1996 the town celebrated its claim
that it was ‘the birthplace of the foundation bitch of the Kelpie breed’ by
commissioning Peter Corlett to make a statue for the front of the Town Hall.
Clifton Pugh (1924–90)
Rounding sheep 1968.
Oil on board, 121.0 x 90.3 cm.
Private collection
Image courtesy of the artist’s estate
37