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Collection

An image of The pool by Ian Fairweather

Ian Fairweather

(Scotland, Australia 29 Sep 1891–20 May 1974)

Title
The pool
Place of origin
Bribie Island → Queensland → Australia
Year
(1959)
Media category
Painting
Materials used
synthetic polymer paint on cardboard on hardboard
Dimensions

96.5 x 117.8cm board

Signature & date
Signed l.r. corner, black synthetic polymer paint "IF" [monogram]. Not dated.
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by the Cézanne Dinner Fund 1999
Accession number
134.1999
Copyright
© Ian Fairweather/DACS. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
Location
Not on display
Further information

'The pool' is one of Fairweather's masterpieces. It has clear references to Cézanne, revealing Fairweather's deep admiration for his work, with linear patterning derived from a fascination with Chinese calligraphy. His indebtedness to the famous bathing subjects of Cézanne is clearly signified by the figures, entangled mysteriously within the picture plane. It indicates the growing complexity of Fairweather's images from the late 1940s, juxtaposing positive over negative forms and painting in many accumulating layers. This is one of four major paintings from 1959 to 1962 in which Fairweather added the Chinese characters for the word 'auspicious' to his signature, indicating his own satisfaction with them.

Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000

Bibliography (10)

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2000 2000, 'Year in review', pg. 8-20, Domain, 2000, 5 (colour illus.), 8.

Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, 'Anak Bayan', pg. 141-157, Sydney, 2009, 155, 156 (colour illus.), 256. plate no. 133; cat.no. 164

Murray Bail, Mary Eagle, Drusilla Modjeska, Martin Armiger, Joanna Capon and Pierre Ryckmans, Fairweather 1994, Australia, 1994, 33, 107 (colour illus.), 143. plate no. 35

Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, Sydney, 1981, 154, 155 (colour illus.).

Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Mosaic and figure', pg. 213-214, Domain, 2000, 231 (colour illus.), 300.

Ross K Luck, A guide to modern Australian painting, Melbourne, 1969, 34 (colour illus.).

John Douglas Pringle, Australian Painting Today, London, 1963, 72 (colour illus.).

Queensland Art Gallery (Curator), Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition Jun 1965, South Brisbane, Jun 1965. cat.no. 37; not paginated

Laurie Thomas, Modern Australian painting and sculpture: a survey of Australian art from 1950-1960, 'Introduction', pg. 1-10, Adelaide, 1960, 49 (colour illus.). titled 'Pool'; Collection of Kym Bonython, Adelaide;

Whitechapel Art Gallery (Compilator), Recent Australian Painting 1961, London, 1961, 19 (illus.). cat.no. 23; plate no. XIX; titled "Pool".

Exhibition history (5)

Recent Australian Painting:

The Kim Bonython Collection, Museum of Modern Art in Australia, Melbourne, 1963–1963

Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966):

Fairweather (1994):

Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000