William Robinson

(Australia 16 Apr 1936– )

Title

Creation series - Man and the spheres

Other titles:

Creation landscape: Man and the spheres

Year

1991

Media category

Painting

Materials used

triptych: oil on linen

Dimensions

triptych: 182.5 x 730.5cm stretcher overall; 186.6 x 741.0 x 5.0cm frame overall:

a - Part a; 182.5 x 243.5cm

a - Part a; 186.6 x 247 x 5cm

b - Part b; 182.5 x 243.5cm

b - Part b; 186.6 x 247 x 5cm

c - Part c; 182.5 x 243.5cm

c - Part c; 186.6 x 243.5cm

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. corner [panel a], black oil "William Robinson 91". Signed and dated l.r. corner [panel b], blue oil "William Robinson 91". Signed and dated l.l. corner [panel c], brown oil "William Robinson 91".

Credit

Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1994

Accession number

593.1994.a-c

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

Though success came to William Robinson in mid-career, he seemed on course from the beginning for a kind of greatness. By no means ignorant of the major progressive movements of his youth and maturity, he chose from an early age to pursue what he saw as the inexhaustible possibilities of representational art. From the giddy temptations of Bonnard and the French domestic intimists, he moved to more robust and greatly more externalised passions - his farm and farmyard animals, his family environment and pastoral vicinity, and eventually the scrubby hills of his Queensland Arcadia depopulated of all but a pantheistic presence. Creation series - man and the spheres puts the case for Robinson's status as an artist of the romantic sublime. A more recent body of panoramic machines has tackled the coastal zone of Australian identity, reflecting the artist's own move from hinterland to seaboard.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999

Bibliography (11)

Julian Edmund and Tenison Woods, Symphony of Life, Australia, 1999, 2-3 (colour illus.), 34 (colour illus.). Image appearing on pg. 34 is part b.

Lynn Fern, William Robinson 1995, Sydney, 1995, 10, 203, 205, 207.

Deborah Hart, William Robinson: the transfigured landscape 2011, 'William Robinson's artistic development: an intimate and expansive journey', pg. 22-68, Brisbane, 2011, 35, 62-64 (colour illus.), 65 (colour illus.), 67, 109, 164. Titled 'Creation landscape: Man and the spheres'.

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Domain, 1999, 171 (colour illus., detail). Image is in detail.

Lou Klepac and William Robinson, William Robinson, Roseville, 2001, 84 (colour illus.), 85-87 (colour illus., detail of each panel), 201.

Barry Pearce, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Earth and paradise', pg. 283-284, Domain, 2000, 292 (colour illus.), 293 (colour illus., detail of right panel), 301.

Barry Pearce, Look: 1953-2003 celebrating 50 years May 2003, 'Presenting our own artists: how the AGS put balance into the Australian collection', pg. 42-44, Newtown, May 2003, 44 (colour illus.).

Barry Pearce, Look Aug 2009, 'Comparing artists: It can expand perceptions of their work', pg. 12-14, Newtown, Aug 2009, 14 (colour illus.).

Lynne Seear (Editor), Darkness & light: the art of William Robinson 2001, South Brisbane, 2001, 27 (colour illus., detail), 37, 110-111 (colour illus.), 156. plate no. 51

Judith White, Look Jul 2000, 'Olympians of Australian art', pg. 16-18, South Yarra, Jul 2000, 16 (colour illus.). detail right panel

Judith Wright, Look Apr 1999, 'Building the Collection', pg. 6-7, South Yarra, Apr 1999, 7 (colour illus.).

Exhibition history (2)

William Robinson: a retrospective:

Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane 30 Aug 2001–11 Nov 2001
National Gallery of Australia, Australia 07 Dec 2001–10 Mar 2002

William Robinson: the transfigured landscape, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, 17 Apr 2011–14 Aug 2011