Painted Ladies

Paintings after conservation treatment

Many years ago there used to be an Antiques Shop opposite the Queen Victoria Market in Elizabeth Street that had many beautiful things for sale. After doing my market shopping I was wont to drop in to the shop and browse their wares. The owners of the shop were a mother and son who were lovely people and knew their trade well. They also grew to know my taste in antiques and I rarely resisted buying the objects they tempted me with.

I purchased many items from them over several years, antique glass vases, a Japanese kimono, a mahogany writing box, an embroidered silk scarf to name just a few items I acquired at the time.

This blog entry however relates to my acquisition from the said antiques shop of a pair of small (7” x 5”) portraits painted on cigar box lids.

Initially I had them hanging in the hallway of the Northcote house, but took them down for some reason and stored them away in a cupboard. And there they stayed for decades.

Paintings in original state before conservation treatment

However, they were never far from my mind as after watching the ABC TV show The Repair Shop, and observing the rejuvenation of various objects brought in to the shop, especially the paintings that had been cleaned and touched up, I wondered if my old paintings could be given the same treatment, as they were dark and yellowed with age and a bit chipped. In my reckoning they are over 100 years old.

A search on Google for ways to clean old oil paintings convinced me that if I attempted such a process I would be sure to stuff it up, especially as the paintings were very old and reportedly can be tricky to clean.

Though the paintings are probably not that valuable, I did a further search on Google to see if there was a painting conservator in Melbourne who could do the work. There are a few, but I settled on Helen Gill who has a studio in Brunswick and by all appearances knew a great deal about the process and had years of experience in conserving old paintings.

Helen had just reopened her studio after the Covid lockdown, so I took the paintings to her and she completed the conservation work in a surprisingly short time. I must say that she did a wonderful job on cleaning the old paintings, and also rehoused them in their original old frames.

Though the cost for this service was quite expensive, I was happy to see my old yellowed paintings restored to their original colours and thought it was money well spent.

Who knows who these young women are, but I suspect they were painted by John Mather, a Scottish born artist who was active in Australia at the same time as the famous Heidelberg School.

The paintings are signed with the initials JM, and by chance some years ago I bought a card that had a painting by John Mather on its front and included a signature that looked remarkably like the signature on my paintings – a stylised JM.

John Mather also was acquainted with Louis Abrahams, – indeed painted a portrait of him - art patron and tobacconist associated with the Heidelberg School, who supplied the artists with the cigar box lids on which they famously painted and displayed in the 9 x 5 Impression Exhibition of  1889. The back of my paintings contain the name of an obscure cigar brand  - Chiamosta - that were manufactured in Dusseldorf.

Whether my speculations are correct will only be solved by having the paintings valued by an expert.

Japanese Modernism–A Short Break Before Lockdown

Toraji Ishikawa– Resting (Woodblock print)

Here we are in Melbourne forced again to stay home for the next six weeks in a second lockdown.

But, just before this second constraint on liberty occurred, I visited the National Gallery of Victoria ostensibly to see the current exhibition featuring Japanese art from the 1930s – Japanese Modernism.

You had to pre- book your visit online, nominating a date and time, as visitors to the gallery were limited to around 450 persons at a time.

I opted for July 8th and it’s lucky I selected that day as the lockdown came into effect from 9 July and the Gallery is closed again for visitors.

It was like having the gallery all to yourself; so few people being in attendance at the same time made the outing pleasant with not having to cope with other attendees hogging the exhibits.

One of my favourite old calendars is that for 1989, Prints of the Dark Valley which features the woodblock art of Japan in the 1930s. I was smitten back then with Toraji Ishikawa’s  series of prints titled The Ten Beauties (AKA Ten Types of Female Nudes).  They were so stylish -  sort of oriental Art Deco with an unusual composition aesthetic.

So I’m delighted to discover that NGV acquired the series for their permanent collection in 2014 and are currently featuring them in their Japanese Modernism exhibition. I can go back and see them anytime when I am not as distracted as I was last Wednesday due to Bingo being unwell. (More about that later)

The Japanese Modernism period is described in the exhibition notes as follows:

During a brief window between the destruction caused by the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 and the calamities of the Pacific War (1942–45), the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka developed into some of the world’s most vibrant and modern metropolises. Bustling streets filled with glamorous department stores, fashionable cafes, popular movie theatres, swinging dance halls and high-tech transportation catered to a new generation of confident and financially liberated youth, who challenged conservative views and delighted in disrupting the establishment by making their own lifestyle choices.

Playfully known as moga and mobo – modern girls and modern boys – this new generation represented the arrival of modernity in Asia and in turn spurred the inspiration, iconography and dynamism behind a creative movement that energised Japanese creativity and innovation during the early twentieth century. This exhibition investigates the increasingly socially liberated status of women in Japan at the time. Japanese Modernism also features fashion of the 1920s and 1930s, including women’s and men’s kimonos, and related accessories. Decorative arts objects include beautifully crafted glassware, lacquerware and bronzeware, and popular culture is represented by street posters,
magazines and graphic design.

Not being entirely sure as to where the exhibition was situated in the gallery, other than knowing it was on the first floor somewhere, I headed that way and came upon the NGV’s collection of Asian Art.

The first object that caught my eye was this amazing metal motor scooter, the creation of Indian artist Subodh Gupta.

Cow by Subodh Gupta

Cow (back view)

Also in this area were various Buddhas…

Dainichi Buddha – Japan Kamakura Period 1185 to 1333

…and Guanyin – Chinese Goddess of Compassion

Guanyin – China Jin Dynasty 1115 to 1234

I was also taken by these contemporary Japanese artworks in the Japanese Design – Neolithic to Now exhibition

Bag by Issey Miyake 2016

Fan by Taro Yamamoto -Green maple and boat on flow (2012)

Up In the Clouds  by Wei Guan – bronze sculpture 2012

Also exhibited in the Japanese Design section were Noh Theatre Robes of elaborate design…

Noh Theatre robe

…and the following exquisite lacquer bust

Lacquer Bust by Ah Xian

Eventually, after wandering around the Asian Art collection and failing to find the up ramp which led to the Japanese Modernism Exhibition I asked one of the Galley staff for directions. The gallery is a maze – a Chinese Mystery Box of rooms within rooms within rooms.

The Japanese Modernism exhibition encompassed not only woodblock prints but clothing and other objects such as this lacquer box…

Lacquer Box with horses and hand printed gift envelopes to the left

…and small animal sculptures in bronze.

  Polar Bear by Junmin Yamamoto

There was a wall of woodblock prints of  young Japanese modern women enjoying various activities.

and another wall of popular music scores.

Music scores

The Toraji Ishikawa series of nudes also occupied its own wall.

Toraji Ishikawa display

Toraji Ishikawa – The Sound of the  Bell

Toraji Ishikawa – Reading

Toraji Ishikawa – The Blue Parrot

As opposed to traditional kimono design, those of 1930’s Japan have a thoroughly contemporary look that would be attractive and unusual even today.

Kimonos

Kimono design detail

Kimono design detail

Kimono design detail

Even the modern (1930s) Japanese male had interesting modern undergarments decorated with such things as planes, cars, record albums etc.

Man’s undergarment with records

Men’s undergarment with planes and cars detail

As you will have ascertained that there was a lot to see in the Japanese Modernism Exhibition, and truth to tell I did not view the whole in as much detail as I could.

However one cannot move on from the exhibition without posting two quite famous pictures.

Shunko Saeki – Tea and coffee Salon

Hisui Sugiura – The First Subway in Asia – Ueno to Asakusa

The Japanese Modernism Exhibition  is on until 2 October 2020. It’s a refreshing, colourful and unusual look at Japanese society before World War II changed everything.

Before leaving the Gallery I decided to go and have a look at Liquid Light- 500 Years of Venetian Glass. It ranged from exquisite creations to over the top excess.

Venetian Glassware

Candelabrum C 1880– not really to my taste

Wine Glass -  more my thing

Wine Glass

Goblet

Of course I couldn’t leave the Gallery without visiting the NGV Shop. It being a Wednesday, my Seniors Card permitted me to claim a 10% discount on purchases. The NGV Shop has quality items at various prices. I generally buy a few postcards for my collection and greeting cards to send to friends on their birthdays.

Back to the cause of my distraction, Bingo the cat was very unwell last week, refusing food from Monday and looking quite poorly – listless and quite unlike his usual self.  We took him to the vet on Tuesday. who had no idea what was ailing the cat, other than that he had a fever, but gave him an antibiotic injection as a precaution. Bingo was slightly brighter on Wednesday but refused food again, which meant that he had not had any solid food since Sunday evening, though had been drinking water. Back to the Vet he went and spent the day there on a drip.  He was extremely distressed when we got him home that night, but he eventually settled and even nibbled on some leftover sausage. I left a small  portion of said sausage in a bowl over night and he ate it. On Thursday he had improved and even managed some breakfast of sausage. Today he is back to normal, thank goodness, but he certainly caused a great deal of fret and worry to his human companions last week.

The Vet gave us some pills to boost his appetite and a liquid painkiller that seemed to zonk him out. Described by the Vet as cat heroin, we’ve discontinued administering it over the last few days.

Curiously, at pretty much the same time last year he had a similar episode of not eating for a week. Coincidence?

Pictures & Pages–Elise Hurst Signing in Coburg

Pictures & Pages Bookshop in Sydney Road Coburg

I would not normally venture out to the north western suburb of Coburg - in fact I can’t remember the last time I was there - but the special occasion of local artist  Elise Hurst signing copies of her recent collaboration with famed writer Neil Gaiman, an illustrated edition of his novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, drew me thence.

 
Illustrated edition of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

It was actually quite easy to get to Coburg from Ivanhoe via public transport, the convenient 510 (Ivanhoe to Essendon) Bus allowed me to alight at the corner of  Sydney Road and Moreland Road and take a short tram trip north that got me to the venue, a specialist Children’s Bookshop called Pictures & Pages, in a little over 30 minutes.

Elise Hurst is a remarkably talented Melbourne artist whom I first discovered in December 2017 when a friend gifted me with her 2018 Calendar for Christmas.  I’ve been a great fan since and have met Elise several times at the Brunswick Sisters Market and purchased her cards, books and prints.

As well as being dazzingly talented, Elise Hurst is a lovely person, sweet, unaffected, friendly and easy to talk to.

Elise Hurst signing books at Pictures & Pages

Naturally I bought a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane and got Elise to sign it. She also had prints of illustrations from the book for sale, but I resisted the temptation to buy the perfectly composed skulking  Fox  print. I may yet cave in and buy a copy before they sell out.

The Fox – an illustration from The Ocean at the End of the Lane

As I haven’t previously read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I’m looking forward to reading this beautiful edition, a handsome hard covered book that is highly collectable if you’re a bibliophile who appreciates beautiful books.

It was an interesting excursion to Coburg,  a mini adventure of sorts for a Sunday afternoon.

A Thousand Blog Posts

Though no doubt many other weblogs have celebrated (or not) one thousand posts, I’m pleased to have achieved this milestone in the almost thirteen years I have been maintaining this blog.

To celebrate I will write about the Escher X Nendo Exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria, which I finally attended last week.

Sign outside Gallery

Subtitled “Between Two Worlds”, the exhibition is a masterful blending of the remarkable mind bending graphic art of Dutch artist M. C. Escher and Japanese design studio Nendo, the art being displayed within a  physical space created by Nendo.

It worked a treat.

Escher’s art was very popular in the 1960s and 70s and indeed was used in a number of record covers at the time.  I have a large paperback edition of The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher published in 1973 (third printing) which I acquired during that time.

Many of the graphic works in the book were on display at the exhibition.

Hand with reflecting globe

Three Worlds

Rippled surface

Depth

Bond of Union

Belvedere

The exhibition was comprehensive, detailing Escher’s development as an artist and master of his craft (wood engraving and lithography).

The Nendo installations scattered throughout did indeed give a dizzying version of what was on the walls. I took some photographs in the Nendo Transforming House installation which turned out remarkably well; even the blurred photo looks mysterious and out of this world.

Transforming House installation

Section of installation

Section of installation with silhouette

Installation section – blurred with silhouette

There was a lot to absorb, and it grew quite disorienting by the end, the brain ( a heavy cold didn't help) growing tired of optical illusions. You’d need a few days (with breaks in between) to take in the whole exhibition.