Roland Wakelin

(Australia 1887–1971)

Title

Synchromy in orange major

Other titles:

Syncromy in orange red

Year

1919

Media

Painting

Medium

oil on cardboard

Dimensions

30.0 x 40.0cm sight; 41.4 x 51.4 x 4.0cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.l. corner, black ink "R.S.Wakelin 1919".

Credit

Bequest of Mervyn Horton 1983

Accession number

50.1985

Copyright

Location

20th and 21st c Australian art

Further information

What convinced the cautious Wakelin to embark on an interlude of avant-gardism around 1919 can only be surmised. In that year, with Roy de Maistre, he showed 'colour harmonies' - tiny chromatic experiments without precedent in Australian painting. Older by a few years than his co-exhibitor, Wakelin was feasibly fired by a spirit of competition and camaraderie. Synchromy in orange major is a landscape, but one in which the structural underpinnings of place have been extracted, stripped, and presented for pure aesthetic consideration, not for descriptive purposes. A rare handful of related studies survive, Wakelin having revoked the enterprise in 1920.

Art Gallery Handbook 1999

Bibliography (25)

Cubism & Australian art (2009), Sue Cramer (Author), Lesley Harding (Australia) (Author), Heide Museum of Modern Art (Australia, estab. 1999), The Miegunyah Press (Australia), Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

I blame Duchamp: my life's adventures in art (2009), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Author), Penguin Books Australia P/L, Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald (13 Sep 2008-14 Sep 2008), Paul McGeough (Australia) (Editor), John Fairfax & Sons (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Look (Jul 2008), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Modern times: the untold story of modernism in Australia (2008), Ann Stephen (Australia) (Author), Andrew McNamara (Australia) (Author), Philip Goad (Australia) (Author), The Miegunyah Press (Australia), Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Symposium papers: Colour in art - revisiting 1919 & R-Balson (2008), Nick Waterlow (Australia) (Curator), Annabel Pegus (Australia) (Curator), Ivan Dougherty Gallery (Australia, estab. 1977), Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Colour in art: Revisiting 1919 (2008), Annabel Pegus (Australia) (Author), Ivan Dougherty Gallery (Australia, estab. 1977), Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Look (May 2002), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection (2002), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art in the sun (2000), Joan Chambers (Australia) (Author), Sophia Watson (Australia) (Author), Educational Supplies Pty Ltd (Australia), Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2000), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Aspects of Australian art (2000), Ursula Prunster (Australia) (Author), Jonathan Cooper (Australia) (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook (1999), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian art collector (Apr 1998-Jun 1998), Susan Borham (Editor in Chief), Michael Hutak (Editor), Gadfly Media (Australia), Ultimo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

A Small Unsigned Painting (1998), Stephen Scheding (Author), Random House Australia, Milsons Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965 (1998), Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Queensland Art Gallery (Australia, estab. 1895), South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent (1992), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Patricia McDonald (Editor), Haruo Arikawa (Japan) (Author), Chikashi Kitazaki (Japan) (Editor), Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan), Tokyo, Japan.

Creating Australia: 200 years of art 1788-1988 (1988), Daniel Thomas (Editor), Ron Radford (Australia, b.1949) (Assistant Co-ordinator), International Cultural Corporation of Australia (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook (1988), Annabel Davie (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The art of Roland Wakelin (1987), Leslie Walton (Author), Craftsman House (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art and Australia (Vol. 21, No. 1) (Spring 1983), Elwyn Lynn (Australia, b.1917, d.1997) (Editor), Fine Arts Press Pty Limited (Australia), Killara, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Tribute to Mervyn Horton (1983), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art and Australia [series 5, vol. 4, no. 4] (Mar 1967-May 1967), Mervyn Horton (Australia, b.1917, d.1983) (Editor), Ure Smith Pty. Ltd. (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Roland Wakelin retrospective (1967), Douglas Dundas (Australia, b.1900, d.1981) (Author), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Exhibition history (11)

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, (01 Oct 2011–04 Dec 2011), at Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (Australia), 40 Lydiard Street North Ballarat Victoria Australia 3350.

Acquisitions from the Komon, Salkauskas and Horton Funds, (05 May 1987–31 May 1987), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Roland Wakelin retrospective (1967), (08 Apr 1967–30 Apr 1967), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, (10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012), at Newcastle Region Art Gallery (Australia), Laman Street Newcastle New South Wales Australia 2300.

Roland Wakelin retrospective (1967), (10 May 1967–13 May 1967), at Newcastle City Art Gallery (Australia).

Tribute to Mervyn Horton, (10 Oct 1983–14 Nov 1984), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain Sydney New South Wales Australia 2000.

Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, (14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992), at The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Japan), Enshoji-oho, Okasaki Sakyou-ku Kyoto, Japan.

Colour in Art - revisiting 1919, (21 Aug 2008–27 Sep 2008), at Ivan Dougherty Gallery (Australia, estab. 1977), Cnr Albion Ave and Selwyn St Paddington Sydney New South Wales Australia 2021.

Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, (22 Feb 2002–May 2003), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Colour in Art - revisiting 1919, (23 Mar 2009–12 Jul 2009), at Heide Museum of Modern Art (Australia, estab. 1999), 7 Templestowe Road Bulleen Melbourne Victoria Australia 3105.

Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, (28 Apr 1992–28 Jun 1992), at National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), Tokyo Japan.

Collection

Roland Wakelin