Title

Flowers in sunlight

1940

Artist

Adrian Feint

Australia

29 Jun 1894 – 25 Apr 1971

Details

Other Title

Flower piece

Date

1940

Media category

Painting

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

Location

None

Accession number

7001

Copyright

© Estate of Adrian Feint
Reproduction requests

Artist information

Adrian Feint
Works in the collection

45

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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.
Exhibition history
Shown in 7 exhibitions
- 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
Bibliography
Referenced in 12 publications
- 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'
- Paula Dredge, Margaret Sawicki, Steven Miller and Lindsay Parker, S.A. Parker Framing Works, 'Works in the collection with known Parker frames', pg. 27-68, Sydney, 2004, 54 (illus.).
- 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, Art and Australia (vol. 32, no. 1), 'The art of Adrian Feint', pg. 78-83, Sydney, Spring 1994, 80 (colour illus.), 81.
- 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.
- Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries, 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
- Ursula Prunster, Seeing is believing: the art in photography, 'Art Deco & Modernism', Sydney, 1985, (colour illus.). cat.no. 18; not paginated
- Bernard Smith, 100 years of Australian painting, 'Foreword', pg. 2-4, Sydney, 1948, 9. cat.no. 45; titled 'Flowers in sunlight'
- Sotheby's Australia, 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.
- 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
- Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney morning herald, 'Lively picture exhibition: Society of Artists. Three bought for Gallery', pg. 9, Sydney, 05 Sep 1940, 9.