Clarice Beckett - Low-powered Painting: High-powered Art

Of the huge crowds of well-heeled visitors from Sydney and Melbourne that attended the comprehensive exhibition ‘Clarice Beckett: the Present Moment’ at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2022, the majority were women. Having followed John MacDonald’s advice in the Sydney Morning Herald that at least three days were necessary to take in this highpoint of 1930s and ‘40s Australian modernism, Richard Read presents a Tresillian audience with the opportunity of meditating the subtle mysteries of this humble, formerly neglected but now iconic Australian woman artist who produced universal significance from intensely local visions of her beloved, Beaumaris suburb. 

Wringing widely different emotional effects from scenery that ranges from tranquil suburbs and tempestuous storms to the latest forms of modernist technology (trams, cars, telegraphs, naval destroyers, Sydney Bridge), we consider how her tonalist art ensures the simultaneous clash and coexistence of passive optical realism and wildly original abstraction. The increasing if begrudging recognition of her work in the male-dominated art world of her day and its role as a lodestar for contemporary female interest in the arts makes her an ideal subject for the celebration of International Women’s Day.

Richard Read is Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Perth. He is widely published and presents art lectures in an engaging and informative way for all audiences.

Hosted by Tresillian Arts Centre.

Image Credit: Clarice Beckett, Morning Shadows, c. 1932, Beaumaris, Melbourne.