Australian painting education kit:
Russell Drysdale
born Great Britain 1912, arrived in Australia 1923, died 1981
I"Our best-known unknown artist."
Max Harris on Russell Drysdale, the Bulletin, 8 April 1980, p.68.
The rabbiters 1947
oil on canvas
76.6cm x 102.5cm height x width
Accession no. 1762-4
Purchased, 1947
Historical Context
In 1947 Australia was governed by the Australian Labor Party with
Mr Ben Chiffley as Prime Minister. In general the late 1940s were a time
of social and economic consolidation following the end of the second world war.
The expressionist and social realist artists of the war years turned more to the
landscape for inspiration.
The drought, which had so influenced Drysdale in this and other paintings,
and which he was originally commissioned to cover for the Sydney Morning Herald
in 1944, had finished, but a massive rabbit plague sweeping Australia was a major
new concern. Two years later the Australian Government introduced the controversial
myxomatosis virus in an attempt to end the rabbit crisis, the effect of which (on crops
and erosion) was second only to the drought itself.
In 1947 Aborigines in South Australia also protested against a proposal to build
a British funded rocket range on tribal land.
Study for The rabbiters 1947
pen and ink
20.6 x 31.8 cm irreg. (image)
Purchased 1981
Background
On a trip to Europe in late 1932 Drysdale became impressed with modern art.
When he returned to Melbourne he studied at the George Bell - Arnold Shore
Art School between 1935 and 1937. This school, in contrast to the conservative
Gallery School, offered a modernist approach to art education. Between 1938 and
1939 Drysdale returned to England and France, continuing his studies.
In 1944, at the invitation of the Sydney Morning Herald he travelled through the
badly affected drought areas of western New South Wales, recording his
impressions of the devastation. This experience formed an important part of
his life-long fascination with the land and its people.
Russell Drysdale
Landscape - Rabbiter series 1947
pen and ink, crayon and coloured wash
27.2 x 36.2 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Influence
The sources of Drysdale's art are local and international. In Melbourne he discovered
modernism and the importance of drawing from memory from his teacher George Bell.
He was particularly influenced by the surrealist painting of fellow art student and
friend Peter Purves Smith. His international sources include the surrealist art of Yves
Tanguy and the simplified but revolutionary compositions of the School of Paris -
Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, etc. The feeling of landscape as form rather than
scenery was inspired by the art of Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland.
Technique and Materials
Drysdale was an excellent draughtsman and photographer, but he seldom used his
location sketches or photographs directly in his paintings. In his studio, through
his visual memory and experience, he would compose various sketches for his
paintings. Often he would square up the final drawing forming the basis for his
painting. He generally applied underpainting and then worked with thin glazes of
oil-paint, slowly building up rich layers of paint.
The Painting
In The rabbiters, Drysdale sets his two figures in an uncompromising and
shallow landscape. He conjures up an inland landscape of monumental cliffs and
boulders where nature is no longer benevolent.
The environment is full of contradictions and mysteries. The sky lacks natural
colouring in its greenness, although the cliffs do not reflect this strange light
source, for they maintain their natural earth-rich colours. Light emanates from the
whole scene, yet the rabbiters with their black shadows are illuminated from
another, almost theatrical, light source, off-stage to the lower left of the
painting.
The ancient eroded valley is dead and does not even support a blade of grass,
but the rabbiters and their dog seem convinced they will catch their living prey.
The menacing uprooted tree which dominates the painting, is suggestive of some
prehistoric life form, and dwarfs the rabbiters who innocently proceed with their
trapping. The rabbiters is not only concerned with the 'dead heart' of the
Australian interior, but also refers to the psychological alienation suffered by
humanity within this uncompromising environment.
Considerations
- Complete the visual analysis worksheet using The rabbiters.
- Compare this painting to the earlier work by von Guerard. It has been said
that Drysdale painted landscape as 'form' rather than landscape as 'scenery' - can
you explain the difference?
- Examine the use of colour in this picture, particularly that of the light greenish
sky. How much of this colour do you think is natural and accurate and how much
has been altered for possible dramatic effect?
- In this and other works by Drysdale it has been observed that the landscape
seems to take on a personality of its own. Can you see evidence of this in
The rabbiters? If so, how has this been achieved and for what possible reasons?
- Does the painting reflect a 'feeling' of natural reality or is there a feeling of it
having been 'stage managed'? Give reasons for your answer.
- In what ways does this picture indicate a shift away from the artistic and
political concerns of the artists of the Australian Heidelberg School?
