surface and self - Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery

Wall 1
Wall 2
JILLIAN GREEN
LEANNE EMMITT
Mind primaries (triptych) 2004
oil on canvas
86.5 x 16.5 cm each
CCWA 769
Black and white self portrait 2003-2004
oil on paper
35.6 x 30.8 cm
CCWA 876
Self portrait 2004
oil on canvas
86.5 x 16.5 cm
CCWA 778
Hanging mask 2004-2005
oil on board
45.5 x 45.5 cm
CCWA 877
The word 2004
coloured pencil on paper
76 x 57 cm
CCWA 794
Venetian mask with music 2008
oil on board
45.5 x 45.5 cm
CCWA 878
“My work is intended to reflect a
meditative and prayerful stillness at the
same time as being a means by which
I foster this stage within my own mind.
The rhythmic process of painting detailed
patterns and repetitive text is a valued
part of my life. I try to balance pattern and
intricacy with simplicity of composition.”
Artist quote, 2004
“I consider all of the images to be self
portraits as they were all painted from life
using myself as the model.” Artist quote
August, 2007
Wall 3
KIRSTINE SADLER
Rowan 2005
oil on board
90 x 120 cm
CCWA 846
“I try to find the confluence of what is real
and what is imagined, played out with the
paint, on the picture plane.” Artist quote
Lee Kinsella, Acting Curator of the Cruthers
Collection of Women’s Art would like to thank
the artists’ for their generosity.
Thanks also to Ted Snell, Felicity Johnston and
John Cruthers for their support of this project,
and the wonderful Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
staff: Lyle Branson, Donna Greenwood, Kate
Hamersely, Anthony Kelly, Clare McFarlane,
Murilla Measom, Eve-Anne O’Regan, Sally Quin,
Stewart Scrambler, Vyonne Walker and Baige
Zylstra.
All images Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art at The University
of Western Australia, used courtesy of the artists.
Published by Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art at The
University of Western Australia
ISBN - 978 1 876793 28 9
CRUTHERS
COLLECTION
OF WOMEN’S ART
SURFACE AND SELF
THE WORK OF LEANNE EMMITT, JILLIAN GREEN AND KIRSTINE SADLER
CRUTHERS COLLECTION OF WOMEN’S ART
Cover image: Kirstine Sadler, Rowan (detail), 2006, oil on board,
90 x 20 cm, CCWA 846 © the artist
CULTURAL PRECINCT
DR HAROLD SCHENBERG ART CENTRE
LAWRENCE WILSON ART GALLERY
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, Australia 6009
P +61 (0)8 6488 3707 F +61 (0)8 6488 1017
E [email protected] W www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au
10 AUGUST – 6 OCTOBER 2012
SURFACE AND SELF
THE WORK OF LEANNE EMMITT, JILLIAN GREEN AND KIRSTINE SADLER
The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art has a particularly strong holding of representational art, with portraiture
at its heart. The works included in Surface and self: The work of Leanne Emmitt, Jillian Green and Kirstine Sadler
were acquired by Lady Shiela Cruthers in the mid to late 2000s, and are recent examples of an ongoing tradition of
figurative art in Perth.
What is common to the work of the artists in this display is a high degree of technical proficiency and sureness of
hand in representing personal insight and reflection. The paintings and drawings allude to rich narratives that
exist beyond their sumptuous surfaces, and as such can be read as fragments or artefacts of larger narratives.
But while Sadler and Green’s work share an almost meditative calm, Emmitt’s three paintings capture energised
moments.
Green’s triptych Mind primaries 2004 depicts three religious vestments. The repetition of the simplified, elongated
forms, differing in hue and in the ornate patternation on the cloth, slow our gaze and call attention to what
differentiates each panel.
My work is intended to reflect a meditative and prayerful
stillness at the same time as being a means by which I foster
this stage within my own mind. The rhythmic process of
painting detailed patterns and repetitive text is a valued part of
my life. I try to balance pattern and intricacy with simplicity of
composition.1
Green’s formal study of both art and theology has served her well,
as these works forge a space of sufficient quietude and stillness to
encourage reflection and contemplation.
The rich colour and intensity of Green’s paintings are in stark
contrast to her drawings, an example of which is The Word. The
colour pencil drawing is a modern illuminated text, complete with
remarkable embellishment and detail. It is a study of unraveling
movement from the literal to the metaphysical, as letters become
secondary to the floral embellishment. ‘The Word’ within the
context of Christianity is God’s guiding instruction, so as to render
Green’s intricately worked surface a point from which evidence of
the larger, universal workings of God may be extrapolated.
The employment of surface detail is also an intrinsic part of Leanne
Emmitt’s trompe l’oeil practice. Emmitt utilises incredible detail,
heightened tone and sharp contours to define her portraits. And
her ability to seemingly render three-dimensional form necessitates
questions about the the relationship between art and perception. In
Hanging mask 2004-2005 and Venetian mask with music 2008, the
mask, gloved hands and swirling music notation operate as visual
devices that reference other vast fields of knowledge. Emmitt
has stated “I consider all of the images to be self portraits as they
were all painted from life using myself as the model”.2 In this
way, Emmitt’s self portrait is as revealing of another facet of her
personality as her mask paintings.
Yet another narrative that entwines these works is the relationship
that each artist forged with Lady Sheila Cruthers. John Cruthers,
her son, has written:
I think an element of self-identification drew Sheila to these
artists. They were young women trying to make their way in an
often hostile world, and she had a powerful urge to help and
encourage them, initially by purchasing their work.3
Lady Cruthers was supportive of emerging talent, and appreciative
of particular aspects in the practice of Emmitt, Green and Sadler.
Cruthers was both familiar with, and sympathetic to, the Catholic
iconography and world-view in Green’s work, from her childhood
and convent schooling. It was Emmitt’s remarkable facility in oil
paint, and her affinity with portraiture, that attracted her attention. The
particular challenges presented by a self-portrait, in terms of the artist
revealing how they see themselves, appealed to Lady Cruthers. True
to her collecting rationale, Cruthers acquired artists’ self portraits to
accompany other works held by that artist. Green and Sadler had self
portraits commissioned, while the self portrait by Emmitt had been
exhibited in Con·fig·ured: aspects of contemporary Western Australian
figurative art, curated by Kevin Robertson. Black and white self portrait
was acquired at the close of the touring exhibition.
Lady Cruthers first saw Kirstine Sadler’s work at exhibitions at Emerge
art space in May 2006 and at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in
Transience in June of that same year. Sadler’s atmospheric paintings
of images sourced from her personal and domestic sphere were much
admired by Lady Cruthers. Again, artist and patron forged a friendship
over time - each supporting the other in some way. “I think that the way
Sheila has been so open and honest with me and encouraging of me,
it has given me a confidence as an artist that I just would not have had
otherwise.”4
Sadler’s sensitively rendered observations crystallise significant
moments in every-day routines and rituals. In Rowan 2005, Sadler’s son
is depicted lying, largely obscured, amongst great folds of fabric. He
appears much like a Tibetan child-monk, in the persistent calm of the
gaze from his one visible eye. And beneath him, the sky is reflected in
the shiny surface of floorboards, untethering him from the ground and
making him appear all the more ethereal and other-worldly.
I attempt to honour the working materials (such as canvas, linen, paint,
thread, gesso) in a way that encourages the viewer to engage with the
interplay between the physical substance of the work and the illusion
projected onto it by the mind.5
And in doing so Sadler paints recognisable images that allude to
something more. Sadler’s reflections are able to evoke sensations,
recollections and pangs of recognition that seem to transgress the limits
of her media.
The ability of these artists to pause, reflect and extract significant
moments from the ‘white noise’ of our everyday lives speaks of their skill.
Their art practice demands the constraint and composure necessary to
contemplate and contextualise these touchstone moments - to recognise
the significance of these occurrences as they fall within larger patterns
and life cycles. This exhibition provides us with an opportunity to view
these works anew, and to consider the shared concerns of Emmitt, Green
and Sadler. It is also timely to recognise the important contribution made
by these local artists and the patron to the cultural fabric of Perth.
Lee Kinsella
Acting Curator
Curthers Collection of Women’s Art at The University of Western Australia
1. Artist’s quote, 2004
2. Email from artist, August 2007
3. While written in reference to the friendships between Lady Sheila Cruthers and Australian artists who were
visiting and/or working in America, during the time the Cruthers were living in New York - I believe that the same
is true of artists she befriended later in her life. Quoted in the forthcoming publication Into the Light, Cruthers
Collection of Women’s Art, edited by Lee Kinsella and John Cruthers, UWA Publishing, 2012
4. Email from artist, November 2006
5. Artist statement, http://www.kirstinesadler.com/
Left page, decending order:
Jillian Green, Self portrait 2004
Jillian Green, The word 2004
Jillian Green, Mind primaries (triptych) 2004
Right page, decending order:
Leanne Emmitt, Black and white self portrait 2003-2004
Leanne Emmitt, Hanging mask 2004-2005
Leanne Emmitt, Venetian mask with music 2008