‘degenerates and perverts’

Artist, art commentator, newspaper critic and one time director of the National Gallery of Victoria, J.S. MacDonald had clear opinions on GOOD art. When the Herald and Weekly Times exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art arrived in Melbourne in October 1939, he described the exhibition as: “putrid material … [with] the great majority of the work called ‘modern’ the product of degenerates and perverts … that the public has been forcibly fed with”.

The otherwise much-praised exhibition included works by Braque, Picasso, Vlaminck, Utrillo, Matisse, Signac, Valloton, Derain, and Van Gogh. Only two works were subsequently purchased for the NGV Collection – a painting by Derain – Roses au picket bleu – (secured with public funding) and the still ‘contentious portrait’ by Van Gogh – Tête d’homme – (from the Felton Bequest), which will be discussed in a forthcoming post.

In 1934, MacDonald, soon to take over the reins of the NGV from 1936-1940, railed against modern art in print. He was particularly damning of female artists and ‘pansies’ calling for ‘real painters [to] speak up for themselves and for right art, [as] the women and their near-men abettors will ruin both’.

Unsurprisingly, MacDonald was not supportive of the acquisition of female artists during his tenure at the NGV.  However, he was not unique in his rejection of female creatives, and I was thinking about this while reading Clem and Therese Gorman’s fascinating book ‘Intrépide – Australian Women Artists in Early Twentieth-Century France’ (Monash University Publishing, 2020). The Gorman’s research resulted in an exhibition: ‘Intrepid Woman’ at the National Trust’s S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney in 2018.

In the foreword to the book, artist Wendy Sharpe points out that while ‘art’ was considered a desirable accomplishment for a young woman, along with piano, dancing, sewing, and a foreign language, it was definitely NOT seen as a profession. The women who left Australia to pursue ‘art as a profession’ were adventurous, independent, determined and at odds with the prevailing norms in patriarchal Australian society.

Many of these women, who had studied alongside their male counterparts at the National Gallery School or other art schools in Australia, were seduced by the lure of Paris. For some it was an opportunity to explore and develop their practice in THE art capital. For others, as Paris was a haven of sexual freedom in the nineteenth century, it was also a place to live an alternative lifestyle with a same sex partner. These risk-taking and bold-spirited women exhibited in Paris salons and in private galleries on the Left Bank; they taught; they were well-regarded; and they received awards.

As Midsumma (Victoria’s annual celebration of the LGBTIQ+  community) has just ended and WorldPride begins in Sydney, it is opportune to remember McDonald’s female ‘perverts’ whose contribution to early twentieth century Australian art is increasingly being recognised and valued. The National Gallery of Victoria has at least nine artists who fit the bill: Grace Crowley, Bessie Davidson, Agnes Goodsir, Mary Cockburn Mercer, Kathleen O’Connor, Margaret Preston, Ethel Spowers, Janet Cumbrae Stuart and Eveline Syme. In the next series of posts, I will look at each artist and remember their contribution to the story of Australian art.

Finally, I was reminded of MacDonald’s bigotry and vitriol while exploring the extremely comprehensive catalogue of the National Gallery of Australia’s recent two-part exhibition ‘Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now’ from 2020-22. Showcasing art by more than 150 Australian women creatives, the exhibition is part of the ongoing gender initiatives and Gender Equity Plan released early last year (see: https://nga.gov.au/knowmyname/events/australian-women-artists-1900-now/). The NGA’s policy is to acquire 40 percent of works by women, 40 percent by men and 20 percent by gender diverse practitioners. This national and international recognition and celebration of the creativity of women artists and the LGBTIQ+ community would have appalled and horrified MacDonald.

PS: Featured image is: Jeune fille au miroir (detail), 1914, Bessie DAVIDSON, Courtesy: Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.