James Gleeson

(Australia 21 Nov 1915–20 Oct 2008)

Title

Study for 'The arrival of implacable gifts'

Year

1985

Media category

Drawing

Materials used

charcoal on white wove Arches paper

Dimensions

56.8 x 76.5cm sheet

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.l. corner, charcoal "Gleeson 31.1.85".

Credit

Gift of the artist 1985

Accession number

407.1985

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

"We often wish for things, that if the wish were granted, it would be detrimental for us. The gift would overawe us. If we get the gift it could dominate or wreck our real life. It occurred to me that this idea was linked up with the Cargo Cult. Primitive people thought gifts would come from the sky, dropped from silver-winged birds. These gifts would make life easy, fulfil their heart's desire. So often these gifts turn out to be anything but beneficent. So I thought of a sky like a stormy sea where incoming gifts are deposited like wreckage on people underneath, including me - right under the fallout. The sea deposits all these things that were longed for, that turn out to be things that bind us or even destroy us."
- James Gleeson 1986

Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2000

Bibliography (5)

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia) (Author), James Gleeson: drawings for paintings, Domain, 2003, 23, 86 (colour illus.), 87. cat.no. 35

'Revealing drawings: ideas that were turned into monumental paintings' by Hendrik Kolenberg, pg. 22-26., Look Mar 2003, Mar 2003, 26 (illus.).

Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 280 (illus.), 300.

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Domain, 1997, 126 (illus.). cat.no. 124

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Contemporary Australian drawings: from the collection, Sydney, 1992, illus.. cat.no. 22

Exhibition history (8)

Contemporary Australian Drawings - from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 11 Jan 1992–17 Feb 1992.

Contemporary Australian Drawings - from the collection, Nolan Gallery, 01 May 1992–08 Jun 1992.

Contemporary Australian Drawings - from the collection, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 12 Jun 1992–12 Jul 1992.

Contemporary Australian Drawings - from the collection, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 14 Oct 1992–08 Nov 1992.

Great gifts, great patrons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994.

Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 Dec 1997–15 Mar 1998.

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

James Gleeson: drawings for paintings, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 12 Apr 2003–15 Jun 2003.

Collection

James Gleeson