A Most Satisfying Gathering

John Russell: Australia’s French Impressionist
edited by Wayne Tunnicliffe
Thames & Hudson and Art Gallery of NSW, 2018, 263 pages, $45
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It is now forty years since the impressive exhibition “John Peter Russell: Australian Impressionist” was seen at the Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh in Amsterdam, the University Art Museum at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, between January and June of 1978. That memorable travelling exhibition came soon after the publication of Dr Ann Galbally’s fine monograph The Art of John Peter Russell. Russell was not exactly unknown in the history of Australian artists, but he was less well known to the general public than many of his contemporaries who had travelled to Europe and studied and worked there briefly. Apart from such figures as the highly accomplished and admirable Rupert Bunny, they had not all lingered as long as Russell, who went to study at the Slade School in London in 1881, returned briefly to Sydney in 1882, only to return to London, thence to Spain and to Paris in 1884. Russell was to remain in Europe until 1921, when after a short time in Sydney, he settled in New Zealand. He returned to Sydney in 1924 and lived at Watsons Bay until his death in 1930 aged seventy-one. This is a review of both the exhibition “John Russell: Australia’s French Impressionist” and the effective and well-illustrated catalogue under the same title which accompanies this exhibition, which runs at the AGNSW until mid-November.

John Peter Russell had always enjoyed the admiration of a dedicated, though small, group of Australian art collectors who had quite early recognised the quality and great appeal of his works, especially his landscapes and seascapes painted in Brittany and elsewhere in France and in Italy. Prominent amongst these discerning collectors were Sir Leon and Lady Trout of Brisbane, who included numerous works by John Peter Russell at the centre of their impressive collection. Sir Leon was a trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery and he and Lady Trout gathered a significant group of Russell’s works. The major role of the Trouts in this regard is reflected in the credit-plaques for many of the works in the current exhibition. Russell’s inspired ability as a colourist and painter of light effects was displayed in several of his works collected and shown in the Trout Collection in 1989. It has been most gratifying to see once again works formerly with the Trouts featured in this new exhibition and taking their place in a fuller context.

The curators of this exhibition have gathered works from major galleries in Paris, Amsterdam and other overseas capitals, as well as many important works held in private collections around this country and formerly unseen by the Australian public. Hence, this exhibition achieves a most satisfying gathering of Russell’s works, and they are displayed with a delightful sense of continuity and development in the artist’s oeuvre. With the exception of one or two placements of pictures in positions of inadequate lighting (for example, that impressive picture which lives at the National Gallery of Australia, Russell’s Peasant Women at Monte Cassino, 1886, which was put in a corner) the exhibition had for me a warm and exciting atmosphere deriving from a thoughtful attendance to showing off to advantage Russell’s vivid use of colours and his deft technique of capturing the essence of a scene, and of a personality in the portraits.

The most familiar images are the Brittany seascapes, so reminiscent of Claude Monet’s—Monet and Russell painted together and were close friends—and then the sunny landscapes and studies of the white and pink blossoms of the European spring, particularly in southern France and in Italy. Among the landscapes, that 1886 view at Monte Cassino from the Canberra collection includes a remarkable evocation, with just a bar or two of white paint, of the great abbey there, which sadly was bombed to smithereens during the Allied advance in 1944, a reluctant but necessary decision by that great general the Earl Alexander of Tunis. The restored abbey, reconsecrated by Pope Paul VI in 1964, can often be seen from airliners nearing Rome at dawn. Another striking work in the exhibition is the brilliantly coloured oil on canvas The Terraces of Monte Cassino (c. 1889), loaned from a private collection.

This exhibition also features a number of less familiar works. These include the strongly coloured oil Regatta, Rose Bay (1922) and a similar Untitled, View of Rose Bay (1921-22) in watercolour, gouache and ink, whose brightness and in the case of the oil, thickness of paint application, remind me somewhat of Chaim Soutine or Oskar Kokoschka’s expressionist view paintings. There are also some sets of vibrant yet delicate watercolours and gouaches which are delightful evocations of places in France and Italy, such as Trees, Portofino (1915) and of Flame Tree and Sydney Harbour (1921) both from the NGA collection in Canberra.

Among the works loaned from Europe, particularly notable are The Red Sail, Port Goulphar (c. 1900) from the Musee d’Orsay Paris/Musee de Morlaix, as well as a similar oil, Fishing Boats, Goulphar (1900). Another important work loaned from Paris is the wonderful summer beach scene The Painter’s Sons Playing with a Crab (1904-06) a seascape with figures that is about the strongest and most impressive of the canvases shown in the Exhibition. Similarly, the opalescent quality of Russell’s renditions of Mediterranean light is seen in two familiar works from the NGA collection in Canberra, Landscape, Antibes (The Bay of Naples) (1891) and In the Morning, Alpes Maritimes from Antibes (1890-91) which are cognate with the Coral of the Alps (The coast road on the west side of Cap d’Antibes) (c. 1890s) from the QAG in Brisbane. In this regard, two small views are exquisite examples of Russell’s great skill as a colourist, namely View of Antibes (no date) in Kerry Stokes’s collection and Antibes (1890/92) in the AGNSW. Both of these exhibit powers of quick observation and rendition, with an exciting sense of colour juxtaposition which is at once reminiscent of Glasgow School Scottish Colourism and of some of the qualities we associate with Cezanne, Bonnard and late Renoir.

The exhibition also features several distinguished portraits by Russell, including his Madame Russell with Almond Trees  (c. 1887), the famous Dr Will Maloney (1887), painted in Paris and sent back to Australia by Russell as a tribute and an inspiration to his Australian artist colleagues, Portrait of Dodge MacKnight (1887/88), an American artist friend of Russell in France; and the Portrait of Fabian (c. 1888). As well, from Amsterdam comes Russell’s fine portrait of his friend Vincent Van Gogh (1886). These are an important grouping of Russell’s portrait depictions, which were less extensive than his landscape works. As a bonus to the exhibition, there are many drawings by Russell, notable amongst which is his superb nude pencil study of Marianna Mattiocco, who frequently posed as model for him and later became his wife, M.A.A.R. (1886). Another work of interest is Madame Sisley on the Banks of the Loing at Moret (1887). The exhibition includes a special view of some sculptures by Rodin including Madame Russell in plaster (1888), one in silver (1889) and one in bronze (1888-89, 1900-04 cast).

These sculptures attest to and illustrate the close friendship shared by Rodin with Russell and his wife over many years. The exhibition catalogue contains an informative essay by Jackie Dunn on the Rodin–Russell association, as well as an essay by Hilary Spurling, “Henri Matisse on Belle-Ile” on Matisse’s association with Russell. The leading essay on Russell’s work by Wayne Tunnicliffe is a substantial tracing of Russell’s background, his origins as a painter, his studies and his development through the various stages of his work in Europe and in Sydney.

Elena Taylor contributes a helpful essay on Russell’s friendship with Tom Roberts, a better-known artist, but also one we have learned even more of recently. Dr Ann Galbally’s contribution is an engrossing essay, “Amitie: Russell and Vincent Van Gogh”, exploring their friendship and personal and artistic association. Paula Dredge provides an examination of Russell’s “broken colour” effects and technical matters as to Russell’s use of various pigments and informs us, by way of example, about conservation analysis done on In the Afternoon (1891) (AGNSW) a significant oil on canvas. Anne Gerard-Austin’s essay on “A New Century in Paris” places Russell and his work in the periods before and after the turn of the century in Paris and Russell’s involvement with the centre of artistic life in France. This is followed by Anne Ryan’s discussion of “The Watercolours of a Colour Painter” which traces the development of this important part of Russell’s practice. It is illustrated by some wonderful examples from Australian public collections.

The final essay is Nick Yelverton’s “The Lost and Found Impressionist” which comments on how Russell’s long absence from Australia, and other factors, tended to obscure him to much of the Australian public, even including that portion of the public interested in the achievements of Australian artists. He discusses the steps by which a gradual awakening of wider interest in Russell occurred and ultimately resulted in the eager rediscovery of him as an artist, of which this exhibition and catalogue book are the latest manifestation. Lastly, the book includes a telling collection of Russell’s letters, some with sketches. One small cavil: I do not understand why it is deemed so necessary to call him “John Russell”, when he has so long been known by his full name.

Viewing this exhibition a couple of times this spring in Sydney has been a delightful experience and the catalogue book is one every John Peter Russell enthusiast and admirer will want to have alongside Dr Galbally’s 1977 study. I highly recommend both the exhibition and the book.