Schoolgirl in a Lane c1953

CHARLES BLACKMAN born 1928

Schoolgirl in a Lane c1953

oil on composition board
59.5 x 79.0 cm
signed upper right: BLACKMAN

Provenance:
Acquired from the artist
Dr. Harold Hattam, Melbourne
Thence by descent, private collection, Melbourne
Private collection, Melbourne
Deutscher-Menzies, Sydney, 6 December 2006, lot 23
Private collection, Sydney

Estimate: $120000 - 160000

A master of figuration, Blackman belonged to the group known as the Antipodeans; the inheritors of a strong Melbourne figurative tradition associated with the 1940s modernist school of poets, the Angry Penguins. In part friendship and shared history lay behind their formal grouping, but the catalyst was Bernard Smith, the University of Melbourne art historian. The artists were Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, David Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval and Clifton Pugh. Most of the Antipodeans had established local reputations, and were active members of the Contemporary Art Society during the 1950s. Recognising themselves as representative of Australian cultural identity, they shared a commitment to the figurative image. 1 

Blackman commenced the series of Schoolgirl paintings in 1952, following his move to Melbourne the year before. He was initially inspired by the local Hawthorn schoolchildren; a daily sight whilst travelling to and from his studio. More specifically, the notorious recent murder of a schoolgirl near the old Melbourne markets might perhaps help to explain why the series resonated with an underlying sense of isolation and fear: ‘the jagged, savage image that childhood is alone’. 2 These influences, later combined with a keen interest in the work by writers like John Shaw Neilson (in particular his poem Schoolgirls hastening through the light) came to shape the future of Blackman’s art: ‘...it wasn’t until I started painting schoolgirls that Sunday Reed showed me John Shaw Neilson’s poetry about school girls; they were full of a kinship, the sort of thing that I was painting fitted in with it perfectly.’ 3

The Schoolgirl paintings were first exhibited at the Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne, in May 1953; a seminal exhibition that pushed Blackman’s unique vision to the fore. In response to the exhibition art critic Alan McCulloch wrote: ‘…in the hands of merely a competent painter such a subject would be ludicrous. In Blackman’s hands, John Shaw Neilson’s schoolgirl becomes a creature of endless aesthetic possibilities. With literally nothing in the way of subject matter to help him, this young artist has created a series of paintings which are at once exciting and extremely stimulating. This then – the degree of inspiration that an artist can wrest from his subject – must surely be the test of an artist’s powers.’4

Schoolgirl in a Lane, c1953, is a key example of Blackman’s defining figurative style; it eloquently demonstrates his ability to convey the fears and delights of childhood through the individuality and sensitivity of his imagery. 

Footnotes

1. Clark, D., Art on View, issue no. 20, Summer, 1999, pp. 4-8

2. Blackman cited in Amadio, N., Charles Blackman: The Lost Domains, A.H. & A.W. Reed Publishing, Sydney, 1980, p.14

3. Blackman cited in Maslen, G., ‘Blackman’s Wonderland’, The Age, Melbourne,
15 March 2002

4. McCulloch, A., The Herald, Melbourne, 12 May 1953

Tracy Le Cornu BA (Hons)