Strapless by Deborah Davis

From Ivanhoe Library. 

A great book about one of the most iconic paintings, Madame X, by my favourite John Singer Sargent. 

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The worlds and work of Clarice Beckett

A great biography of the Australian painter by Edith M. Ziegler. 

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Anders Zorn - Sweden’s Master Painter

One of my favourite triumvirate (the others are John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla). 

This book is a great introduction to the work and life of the most famous painter in Sweden, with beautiful colour reproductions. 

It’s amazing to see how he created paintings with his famous limited ‘Zorn Palette’. I’m particularly fond of the way he painted water and reflection of lights. 

I didn’t know much about his water colours and etchings. They’re all beautiful. 

The comparison to Sargent is inevitable. He’s far much less well-known than Sargent, but equally important painter in my opinion. 

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‘A. M. E. Bale - Her art and life’ by Peter Perry

My friend Paul kindly gave me this book when we painted together in Kyneton last Sunday. 

She was one of Max Meldrum’s students, a tonal realism painter who was heavily involved in artistic, cultural and political movements in Melbourne and Castlemain. Although she’s not a household name, her legacy has been passed on as A. M. E. Bale Travelling Scholarship, one of the most prestigious art prizes in Australia. 

This book is beautifully organised with brief history of her life and brilliant colour reproductions. 

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‘The Masterpiece’ by Fiona Davis

When I found this is a historical fiction about Grand Central School of Art founded by John Singer Sargent in the 20s, I immediately decided to download from Audible. The reader is my favourite Cassandra Campbell. That helps. 

The author adapted a well-trodden dual timeline format. And I think it works very well here. 

The story itself is fascinating, very clever mixture of the fictional and the real. 

Although some subplots are too contrived, I enjoyed the book. As usual, it’s read brilliantly. 

I found the author’s interview on YouTube. 

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Kiffy Rubbo: Curating the 1970s

After an extremely fortunate chance encounter with Michael and Mark Rubbo in Clunes Booktown Festival in May, I was wanting to know more about their sister Kiffy. 

It’s great that Ivanhoe Library has a copy of this book. 

It must have been a difficult task to convey the energy and atmosphere at George Paton Gallery in the 70s as a book form without much photographical/video materials. 

I’ve been to the gallery many times, but had no idea about this wonderful history. 

I must admit, there’re very few artists I recognised who exhibited in the gallery under Kiffy’s directorship, except Bill Henson and Carol Jerrems. 

However, thanks to passionate writings by contributors, we can feel how much influential she was with regards to contemporary art scenes in Melbourne and beyond, especially for female artists. Also, a publication of Art Almanac. 

Her letters to ‘Mike’ in the latter part of the book were truly touching. 

I’m searching for a symposium of her legacy on which the book was based, but so far to no avail. 

I’ve found an interview though with Janine Burke, Bridie Carter and Mark in ABC Radio National. Worth listening. The link is here. 

Another one in ABC Sydney with Janine and Helen Hughes. The link is here. 

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Jacqueline du Pré: A Biography

This is a very touching life story by Carol Easton. Downloaded from AMAZON Kindle Store. 

The first time I heard her record was in high school. It was Elgar. I didn’t know anything about classical music, but, that particular cello concerto captivated me. And this very beautiful musician on the front cover with big, beaming smile. And awesome long hair. I was in love, well, sort of. 

I liked the author’s writing style. Very lucid and flowing narratives without too much musical technicalities kept me going. 

She succeeds here in recreating this remarkable artist as a human being through extensive interviews. 

The fact that her siblings and husband Daniel Barenboim declined to do so adds an extra poignancy to this story. 

It’s really heartbreaking towards the end of her life. 

One can only be thankful to think that this wonderful person ever existed, achieved highest standard of musicianship and lived a life to the fullest. Although it was cruelly cut short. 

It’s fascinating to know that she once lived in Chepstow Villas, near Notting Hill Gate. I was living a couple of blocks from there a decade later. 

This clip is another my favourite. Dvořák. Pure and subliminal. Lovely to see them together. 

The book tells us that he risked his life for this charity concert. 

His political stance on current Israeli-Palestinian issues and his friendship with late Edward Said are very interesting, too. 

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Painting trip to Majorca - Day5

After leaving Clunes Booktown Festival, I decided to do one more painting before going back home. 

I just wanted to be in a field without any noise, this spot was just perfect. It’s 5 minuets north of Clunes on Angus St. 

Watching huge clouds gracefully drifting across the vast autumn blue sky was something majestic. I really enjoyed this one, although I think somehow I lost darks in the foreground. I spent 2.5 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 14x18 in. 

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Michael Rubbo at Clunes Booktown Festival

In the morning, I drove to Clunes. I had absolutely no idea there’s a book festival over the weekend. 

First thing in the morning, I joined a historical tour. That was very interesting. 

Last night, I was looking at the program on their website, and found an author called Michael Rubbo giving a talk titled ‘Travels with my Art’ from 11am. 

Then, I googled him and found he’s a famous film maker and a plein air painter.

His brother Mark, owner of Readings bookstores, did an introduction. 

Michael’s life journey with his art is truly fascinating and very inspiring. I don’t want to go into details here, but, it was a great privilege attending this talk and having a chat with him. 

I bought his book and he kindly signed it along with a pencil drawing. 

I want to get hold of his film ‘Vincent and Me’, but, so far I haven’t been able to. He uploaded a snippet in his YouTube channel. It really looks lovely. 

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Max Meldrum & Associates

My client recently dropped in the salon and kindly asked me to have a look at this book at home. 

I saw the book at State Library a couple of years ago, but as you know, we can’t borrow books from there. So, I was super excited to have another look at it, spending as much time as I like. 

When I was cutting her hair, she told me a fascinating story. She knew I’m a painter and she asked me if I’ve heard of Archie Colquhoun. I was surprised that she mentioned his name, because very few people in Australia have heard of his name I guess. He’s not a familiar name as an artist. 

Obviously I wouldn’t have heard of him if I hadn’t have been studying with Greg. Greg often tells us about his teacher Graham Moore. Archie was his teacher. Max Meldrum was a teacher of Archie! 

Confused?

Ok. It goes like this. 

The founder of Australian tonal realism movement is Max Meldrum. The torch was passed on to Archie Colquhoun, then Graham Moore. Now, Gregory Smith. It’s an incredible heritage. 

So, going back to her story. 

She worked at a nursing home, and one of her patients was Archie. That’s how she got to know him. She told me lots of interesting stories about him and his family. She also told me she has some paintings by him and others. 

It was unbelievable. It’s such a fascinating life story. 

Well, going back to the book. I actually bought one from City Basement Books last Monday. I couldn’t resist it. 

Unlike books on Australian Impressionism or Heidelberg School, it’s very rare to find books on Max Meldrum and his influence on Australian tonalist painters. 

This book is a little treasure, a rare find. It’s another reminder that how privileged I have been to have the opportunity to study with Greg. 

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Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting

Written by John Carlson, a famous American landscape painter, this book was strongly recommended by a painter on Plein Air Podcast. 

 

I was reading it during my painting trip to Majorca. 

This is probably the best book on the subject I've ever read. It's an old book and all photos are black and white. There're many negative reviews in Amazon because of that. However, they're all missing the point. I'm sure it was the author's intention to let readers see paintings tonally.  

There're so many valuable passages in the book that I can't write them here.  Suffice to say that the chapters on trees and clouds particularly are the best.  I didn't know there's such a thing as aerial perspective, along with linear perspective.  

I've learned so much from this book. 

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Man with a Blue Scarf - On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud

Just finished reading this book by Martin Gayford, borrowed from a local library. 

 

It's an irresistible page-turner, describing the artist's painting process in a concise diary format. 

More than anything else, I enjoyed their conversations, particularly Frued's thoughts on other artists. 

The book includes many photos related to the texts. Also very well laid out. 

It's a great book to get into the artist's studio and his mind. Full of inspirations. 

"The only secret I can claim to have is concentration, and that's something that can't be taught."

And here is Martin talking about his experience.

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Breakfast with Lucian - A Portrait of the Artist

 

Another wonderful audiobook from Audible, written by Geordie Greig and narrated by John Standing. 

This is a fascinating insight into one of the greatest painters in the history of modern art. 

Unlike reading an exhibition catalog, this book offers very intimate accounts based on his interviews during a breakfast at Clark's, hence its title. 

The author used to see a daughter of his second wife, Caroline. Pure coincidence, he insists. 

Through all those intriguing stories in the book, we feel a bit closer to this otherwise ferociously private artist. I liked it a lot. 

"I sometimes looked so hard at the subject that they would undergo involuntary magnification "

"If I concentrated enough, the intensity of scrutiny alone would force life into the pictures "

This is a good interview of the author by none other than Lynn Barber. 

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A Painter's Progress: A Portrait of Lucian Freud

This is a gorgeous book, borrowed from a local library. 

A collection of very intimate moments photographed by Freud's assistant/model David Dawson. 

It's always fascinating to see painter's studios. You know, piles of crap everywhere, that kind of thing. 

But, I've never seen anything like his studio. Walls are covered with hardened oil paints which were added after cleaning a palette with a knife. 

It all looks like solidified lava running down the walls. 

There're very few texts in the book, which I liked. There's nothing to be explained here. Readers just see photos, and everything is there. 

I once attended a portrait class by Lewis Miller at NGV, and he explained Freud's painting approach. In this book, we can see how he developed his paintings, from an initial charcoal sketch, then gradually expands the area he works. In other words, he works in a small area until satisfied, rather than working in a whole canvas at the same time. It's very fascinating to see that. 

In his house, there are many paintings by Frank Auerbach (another my favourite). A sign of a great friendship between two giants in the history of modern British art and beyond. 

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'The Secret Lives of Colour' by Kassia St Clair

This is a very charming book. 

Its design and layout are well thought out. And very comfortable to hold it. Just right size and weight. One can see the creative talent behind this book's production. 

As for its contents, this is one of the best books I've read on the history of colours. 

After a brief introduction of science of colour, the author very cleverly and lucidly guides us through the whole spectrum of colours, from White to Black. 

Because the edge of each page is printed with its corresponding colour (very clever), one can easily pick up any page/colour and learn its history. 

I just love it. 

 

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Max Meldrum & Associates: Their Art, Lives & Influences

We went to State Library this afternoon. 

This place has been very alien to me until very recently, but thanks to Kate's recommendations, I started to go and read there with her. 

What a lovely place, it is. I just love this atmosphere in the reading room. 

Meldrum is a founding father of Australian tonalist painters. I'm very excited to be a very small student of this remarkable tradition of oil painting. 

First introduced by my painting teacher and mentor, Gregory Smith, I've been searching for Meldrum's life and works. 

Unfortunately there's not much materials. 

This book is really a rare find. It's very well researched, and his works printed in colours are all great. 

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Gerhard Richter

Four books from Book Depository.

He is one of my favourite contemporary artists alive. 'Contemporary' is, in his case, a slightly misguided word.

His focus is always painting, which has quite a long history. It's a traditional medium.
However, his works are extremely modern. I sometimes wonder why.

I think the reason is, the fact that he is a living artist, breathing the same air as we breathe, experiencing what's happening in the world at this time in history.
And he has this extraordinary visual creativity to be able to transform them into a piece of art.

At the end of the day, paint and brush are just tools to express our inner feelings. Paintings can be old-fashioned, or, can be modern.

What he demonstrates clearly is, as he once took on Duchamp, it's not dead yet.

'Panorama' is a catalogue of the exhibition at Tate Modern. Truly amazing retrospective, spanning well over five decades. Beautiful book that offers a lot of insights of his life and work.

'Portraits' is from the exhibition at National Portrait Gallery. This is a big book. His masterful technique is well documented.

'Large Abstracts' is, well, another big book. Staggering colors, layers upon layers...
Imagine standing in front of these monumental paintings. I particularly like his abstract works.

'Red/Yellow/Blue' is another abstract painting book, focused on the works for the lobby of the BMW headquarters in Munich.
'Details' series is a fascinating visual treat.

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