by Shiona Herbert
Art History Kids acknowledges the traditional custodians of Australia and recognizes their continuous connection to culture, community, and Country. We respectfully advise that this article includes works by, names of, and references to deceased people.
Art curriculum around the world requires learners to compare art created in their home country to art created from other countries and cultures. This provokes analysis of the similarities and differences in the art we view. It’s also an effective way to expose learners to A LOT of magnificent art that exists across the world to increase our knowledge and appreciation of art.
Australia recently celebrated NAIDOC Week (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee), which is an important time to appreciate Australian Indigenous art and examine how it is unique but how it can also feel familiar to art created by artists from other countries.
Richard Bell of the Kamilaroi/Kooma/Jiman/Goreng peoples; Queensland, created a work of art that is heavily influenced by the Pop Art creations of American Roy Lichtenstein. I love how the traditional dot painting, characteristic of Australian Indigenous art, can experience a sense of connection with a modern art style. Indigenous art is sometimes governed by a set of rules about what is appropriate to paint based on language group and geographic location, but Modern Art is free to copy, sample, reinterpret existing images.
Through his huge-scale comic book scenes and abstract paintings, Lichtenstein created fine art interpretations of common, everyday items and popular graphic art. This shows us that both Bell and Lichtenstein created reinterpretations of previously created artforms.
Take the time to compare the colors, lines, and background of these two works of art.
Left to Right: Richard Bell, Big Brush Stroke, 2005. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 240 x 270cm. Roy Lichtenstein, Yellow Brushstroke I, 1965. Oil on canvas, 172 x 139cm
French artist Paul Cezanne’s numerous paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire (southern France) revealed his obsession with the mountain and the features of its landscape: trees, rocks, mountain contour, cloud shadow…etc. Albert Namatjira of the Western Arrarnta people, Hermannsburg, Northern Territory, also painted striking landscapes, but of central Australia. Namatjira loved trees so much that in his paintings of them they feature more like the subject of a portrait rather than being an unassuming feature of the landscape.
Both artists experienced criticism for their style of art.
For a time Cezanne exhibited work with the Impressionists, but he soon tired of ‘capturing a moment’ as the genre was noted for. Cezanne was more motivated to compose geometric styled still-life’s and landscapes that created a sense of seeing an image from above and front-on simultaneously. This use of perspective was initially criticized but has since been noted as exceptional. Cezanne’s skill in using perspective defined the foreground from the imposing form of the mountain in his landscape paintings.
In contrast, Albert Namatjira’s first exhibition in Melbourne was very well received with all his works of art sold out. While alive, he was a celebrated artist, but following his death, his body of work was criticized for painting in a style characteristic of conventional European landscapes rather than in the form of a personal connection with the land. Fortunately, this has since been refuted.
Even though these artists lived in completely different hemispheres and climates, both Cezanne and Namatjira had a great love of the land and brought it to life in their own artistic fashion even when their contemporaries did not approve of their approach.
How do these artists create a sense of foreground in their landscapes?
What is the focal point in each painting?
How different are colors between the two?
How similar is the skyline between the two?
Which painting looks more like a photograph? Why is that?
Left to Right: Albert Namatjira, Mt Hermannsburg, Finke River, 1948. Water color over pencil on paper, 36.7 x 53.8cm. Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-06. Oil on canvas, 57.2 x 97.2 cm
Lin Onus of the Yorta Yorta people, Melbourne Victoria admired the ability of native wild dogs in Australia called ‘dingoes’ to adapt to harsh environments and survive the negative perceptions held by colonial (white) Australia who in the past saw dingoes as pests and actively set traps to reduce their population.
Onus created an installation called Dingoes featuring fiberglass sculptures of these native creatures in poses that mimics their way of life. The photograph below reveals only a small portion of this installation, but the striking colors and simplified dog like shape reminds me of the giant fiberglass sculptures of polka-dotted dogs by Japanese minimalist Yayoi Kusama.
Kusama’s dogs seem to look you in the eye and invite you to play with them, whereas Onus’ dingoes appear to be cautious and indifferent. What gives off these contrasting ‘energies’ even though they are both installations of fiberglass dog-like creatures?
Onus employs dingoes to represent the mistreatment and disposition of Australian Aboriginal people while Kusama’s polka-dot four legged friends have featured in installations promoting happiness.
Compare the color and form of each installation.
How does the position of the eyes on the sculptures create a sense of connection or alienation with the viewer?
Left to Right: Detail of Dingoes, 1989 by Lin Onus. Synthetic polymer paint on fiberglass, wire and metal. Yayoi Kusama, Dog, 2013, fiberglass.
Now It’s Your Turn!
Are there works of art by two different artists that you feel are similar?
Does seeing new art sometimes remind you of artwork you have seen previously?
Feel free to let us know in our facebook group. Sharing thoughts about the similarities and differences in artwork produced across the world stimulates deeper exploration of the perspective and purpose of art.
Notes
1. Photographs present in this article (Big Brush Stroke and Dingoes) reflect art that has been or is currently part of the National Gallery of Australia collection.
2. Yayoi Kusama Dog installation image source: www.china.org.cn/travel/2014-03/14/content_31785155.htm