Collection
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Title
Flowers in sunlight
1940
Artist
Adrian Feint
Australia
29 Jun 1894 - 25 Apr 1971
About
His was an exquisite art that mirrored the tranquillity of his life and the refinement of his tastes … in his flower pieces, his imagination found an outlet in combining man-made objects from other lands with flowers and growths of the sandstone belt of our eastern seaboard. These are not flower pieces in the common-place and finite sense; they are flower arrangements meticulously designed, superbly painted, and set in a related environment of time and space.
Douglas Dundas, 1971
Adrian Feint was a student at the Sydney Art School under Julian Ashton and Elioth Gruner, his painting practice extending from his work as a modern designer. As his subject in 'Flowers in sunlight' suggests, Feint’s still lifes have also been noted for their surreal quality, achieved through a synthesis of an almost analytical realism and the subdued mood of expansive backdrops, creating worlds of pure aesthetic illusion.
Details
Other Title
Flower piece
Date
1940
Materials used
oil on canvas
Dimensions
50.5 x 45.5 cm stretcher; 70.6 x 65.5 x 6.0 cm frame
Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. corner, dark red (oil?) "Adrian Feint/ 1940".
Credit
Purchased 1940
Accession number
7001
URL / Share
Adrian Feint
Flowers in sunlight
Shown in 7 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1940), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], Sydney, 06 Sep 1940–25 Sep 1940
Art of Australia 1788-1941:
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 01 Oct 1941–26 Oct 1941
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 17 Nov 1941–31 Dec 1941
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa 15 Jan 1942–15 Feb 1942
- Yale University Art Gallery, United States of America 02 Mar 1942–23 Mar 1942
- Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh 03 Apr 1942–15 May 1942
- Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, Wilmington 01 Jun 1942–27 Jun 1942
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 10 Jul 1942–27 Aug 1942
- Toledo Museum of Art, United States of America 06 Sep 1942–27 Sep 1942
- Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester 05 Oct 1942–02 Nov 1942
- Cleveland Museum of Art, United States of America 09 Nov 1942–07 Dec 1942
- Detroit Institiute of Arts, Detroit 01 Jan 1943–29 Jan 1943
- The Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto 05 Feb 1943–28 Feb 1943
- Art Association of Montreal, Montreal 07 Mar 1943–28 Mar 1943
- Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indianapolis 08 Apr 1943–05 May 1943
- Fort Wayne Art School and Museum, Fort Wayne 12 May 1943–31 May 1943
- Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City 07 Sep 1943–08 Oct 1943
- Philbrook Art Museum, Tulsa 20 Oct 1943–17 Nov 1943
- Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Dallas 28 Nov 1943–26 Dec 1943
- Abilene Museum of Fine Arts, Abilene 10 Jan 1944–07 Feb 1944
- Heard Museum, Phoenix Fine Arts Association, Phoenix 21 Feb 1944–20 Mar 1944
- San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco 04 Apr 1944–07 May 1944
- Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum, San Jose 19 May 1944–16 Jun 1944
- Hamline University, St Paul 01 Dec 1944–17 Dec 1944
- Society Liberal Arts, Joslyn Memorial, Omaha 06 Jan 1945–27 Jan 1945
- Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, United States of America 06 Feb 1945–27 Feb 1945
- Quincy Art Club, Quincy 09 Mar 1945–30 Mar 1945
- Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City 13 Apr 1945–04 May 1945
- University of Oklahoma, Norman 14 May 1945–04 Jun 1945
- North Texas State Teachers' College, Denton 14 Jun 1945–05 Jul 1945
100 years of Australian painting (1948), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Apr 1948–17 May 1948
Travelling Art Exhibition 1953. Still life and flower paintings by Australian artists:
- Church of England Parish Hall, Grenfell 16 Mar 1953–30 Mar 1953
- Young Public Library, Young 14 Apr 1953–28 Apr 1953
- Bega County Council Exhibition Hall, Bega 19 May 1953–02 Jun 1953
- Wollongong High School Assembly Hall, Fairy Meadow 03 Aug 1953–15 Aug 1953
- Taree Council Chambers, Taree 15 Sep 1953–29 Sep 1953
- Dubbo Mechanics' Institute, Dubbo 13 Oct 1953–27 Oct 1953
Seeing is believing - the art in photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Dec 1985–19 Jan 1986
Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from Australian collections (2000), S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 15 Jan 2000–27 Feb 2000
The art of the picture frame, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 May 2003–12 Sep 2003
Referenced in 12 publications
Bibliography
Herbert Badham, A gallery of Australian art, 'Introduction', pg. v-vii., Sydney, 1954, xii, (illus.). plate no. 72
Herbert Badham, A study of Australian art, Sydney, 1949, (illus.). plate no. 80; titled 'Flower piece'
Richard Heathcote, Adrian Feint: Cornucopia, 'Chapter 1: Feint connections flourish: The Haywards, Adelaide and Adrian Feint', pg. 13-16, Kent Town, 2009, 13 (colour illus.).
Craig Judd, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'Adrian Feint: a safer modernism?', pg. 110-113, Sydney, 2013, 110, 111 (colour illus.), 313, 321.
Craig Judd, Art and Australia (vol. 32, no. 1), 'The art of Adrian Feint', pg. 78-83, Sydney, Spring 1994, 80 (colour illus.), 81.
Margaret Olley and Unknown, Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from public and private collections, Sydney, 2000. Catalogue entry appears in inserted list to printed catalogue: Selections by Barry Humphries
Bernard Smith, 100 years of Australian painting, 'Foreword', pg. 2-4, Sydney, 1948, 9. cat.no. 45; titled 'Flowers in sunlight'
Sydney Ure Smith (Editor), Art of Australia 1788-1941, New York, 1941, 42, 86 (illus.). cat.no. 97; asterix indicates work exhibited only in Canada
Paula Dredge, Margaret Sawicki, Steven Miller and Unknown, S.A. Parker Framing Works, 'Works in the collection with known Parker frames', pg. 27-68, Sydney, 2004, 54 (illus.).
Unknown, Seeing is believing: the art in photography, 'Art Deco & Modernism', Sydney, 1985, (colour illus.). cat.no. 18; not paginated
The Sydney morning herald, 'Lively picture exhibition: Society of Artists. Three bought for Gallery', pg. 9, Sydney, 05 Sep 1940, 9.
Sotheby's Sydney: Important Australian Art (31 August 2010), Melbourne, 2010, 160, 161 (colour illus.). RELATED WORK: 'Mixed flowers in the ram's head cornucopia vase' 1970, 42.5 x 37.5cm, private collection. This work is illustrated on page 160. It features the same ram head cornucopia featured in the Gallery's work.