Australian Decorative Arts 1900–1985

The extraordinary strength of the British Arts and Crafts Movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ensured that it continued to exert a considerable influence on Australian decorative arts well into the twentieth century. Similarly, the influence of the European art nouveau style, inspired by natural forms and characterized by an asymmetrical, undulating line, can be seen in Australian decorative art from around 1900 — in many instances a decade or two after it had faded from fashion in Europe. This style proved to be most prolific and significant in the decorative arts, finding in Australia its greatest exponents in the cabinet-maker Robert Prenzel (1866-1941) and the studio potter Merric Boyd (1888-1959).

Peculiar to Australia, however, was a strong interest in the use of specifically Australian floral and faunal motifs in the decoration of furniture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and architecture, and the use of unusual Australian woods in cabinet-making. This was encouraged by the 1888 celebrations marking the centenary of European settlement of Australia, and the nationalism associated with the movement towards federation and self-government, which culminated in the opening of federal parliament in 1901. There were even attempts — the most notable being that made in Sydney by the craftswoman and designer Eirene Mort (1879-1977) — to establish a national school of design. In her 1906 circular, Eirene Mort proposed an Australian Guild of Handicraft, whose aims were to produce articles of household use and decoration of a distinctly Australian Character, the designs to be based on natural forms and subjects typically Australian and the materials used to be, whenever possible, of Australian production and manufacture.

Although the guild was never established, Eirene Mort's enthusiasm led to the foundation of the Arts and Crafts Society of New South Wales in 1906. This was the second such group in Australia, following the formation of the Arts and Crafts Society of Tasmania in 1903. Other important societies were established in Victoria in 1908, and Queensland in 1912. These societies aimed to stimulate and promote various arts and crafts, as well as to encourage the use of Australian materials and motifs in work and design. Benefits to members included the provision of studio facilities, a specialized library for the study of the arts and crafts, and an annual exhibition. Such exhibitions were an important function of the societies, as they permitted the artists to exhibit the kind of work that would normally not be shown in the more established art societies for painters and sculptors. Until the 1950s, and before commercial galleries were as numerous as they are now in Australia, craft outlets were restricted largely to these annual exhibitions, and a few sympathetic shops and department stores. Even then only certain work — particularly that which could be kept in constant supply — was acceptable to the department stores. Few artists could afford to keep a studio other than in their own home, and even less a shop of their own. In the years following the first world war, the increasing numbers of single women living away from their family homes benefited particularly from the studio spaces provided by the recently formed societies.

Into this almost parochial atmosphere of arts and crafts and design came Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) of Chicago, a close associate of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), and a member of the Prairie School of American architecture. Having won the international competition for the design of a proposed federal capital city of Australia in 1912, Walter Burley Griffin, with his wife Marion Mahony Griffin (1873-1962), settled in Australia in 1914 as Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction. He held this position until 1920 when, after much difficulty and bitterness, his association with the Canberra project ended with his dismissal.

In association with Augustus Fritsch, Griffin's Sydney office, supervised by his wife, was responsible for the design of Newman College at the University of Melbourne, the largest building constructed to Griffin's design in Australia. Construction of the college began in 1915 and was completed in 1917. Griffin summed up the overall effect of this building very well when he described the relationships between the chapel and the spires and pinnacles adorning the dome of the rotunda as having 'general resemblances of the ecclesiastical structures of the romantic countries'. Overall, the college, which is more a group of connecting and interrelated buildings than a single structure, has a medieval quality, and the stone exterior walls and the low elevation enhance this effect.

In the interiors, the low ceilings, narrow corridors and quiet, darkened areas open out dramatically into large light-filled spaces, helping to emphasize the medieval qualities of the structure. Griffin made use of wood throughout to accentuate these qualities, incorporating natural, unadorned finishes and the simple shapes which he preferred. In an unpublished autobiography 'The Magic of America', written around 1920, Marion Mahony Griffin quoted her husband's essay Form, Texture, Colour, in which he wrote:

All materials in nature are beautiful, and structures will be beautiful if used frankly and treated according to their natural characteristics ...
(as quoted in David T. Van Zanten, Walter Burley Griffin: selected designs [Palos Park, Illinois: Prairie School Press, 1970], p.70).

Along with the Capitol Theatre in Melbourne (sadly now largely destroyed), some domestic architecture in Melbourne and particularly Sydney — including the residential community at Castlecrag developed between 1920 and 1935 — and an extraordinary series of incinerators begun in 1929, Newman College stands as a monument to the appearance in Australia of a brilliant architect and designer and devotee of the crafts. Unfortunately, the challenge and example Walter Burley Griffin offered was not taken up. The man and his work remain an isolated phenomenon in the history of Australian architecture and interior design.

Although the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, had a great influence on all manner of decorative arts in Europe and to some extent the United States, this was not the case in Australia, where artists wanted to establish a peculiarly Australian style. The painter and printmaker Margaret Preston (1875-1963), was a vocal advocate of an Australian style, looking especially to Aboriginal art for inspiration. She best expressed her enthusiasm for this subject in an article entitled 'The Indigenous Art of Australia' published in the magazine Art in Australia, in March 1925. The article begins:

One of the most difficult things there is to do in life is to change one's ideas quickly, and continues:

In wishing to rid myself of the mannerisms of a country other than my own I have gone to the art of a people who had never seen or known anything different from themselves, and were accustomed always to use the same symbols to express themselves. These are the Australian aboriginals, and it is only from the art of such people in any land that a national art can spring. Later come the individual or individuals who with conscious knowledge (education) use these symbols that are their heritage, and thus a great national art is founded ... In returning to primitive art it should be remembered that it is to be used as a starting point only for a renewal of growth, and a gradual selection must take place to arrive at the culmination. Therefore I feel no loss of dignity in studying and applying myself to the art of the aboriginals of Australia.

In so writing, Margaret Preston become one of the earliest European artists to recognize the possibilities of a palette of colours that reflected the colours of the Australian landscape and its flora, and to make use of images drawn from Aboriginal art. These influences have remained strong throughout the twentieth century and have frequently been the vital qualities of decorative art in all media in Australia.

In 1929, the Burdekin House exhibition of antique and modern fine and decorative art included a small collection of furniture, designed and decorated by several Sydney artists including Roy de Maistre (1894-1968), Adrian Feint (1894-1971), Thea Proctor (1879-1966) and Hera Roberts. The lacquered and painted furniture made by Beard Watson & Co. Ltd of Sydney, such as a skyscraper bookcase, was a unique attempt to create a fashion for modernist furniture. Lamentably, it met with little success, and none of the pieces are known to have survived. The stock market crash and economic depression of 1930 appear to have been an almost cathartic end to luxury and indulgence, and those artisans who have been amateurs or hobbyists were forced to become competitive professionals.

The awareness of international modernism – most frequently British and Scandanavian – that developed in Australia in the early 1930s, was clearly seen in the simple furniture designs of Sam Atyeo (born 1910) and Frederick Ward (born 1900), and the textiles of Michael O’Connell (1898-1976). Melbourne was more economically buoyant than Sydney, and with a larger population and through a sophisticated patronage of the arts was able to support shops which showed and sold local and imported art and craft, furniture, textiles and examples of domestic design of a remarkable modernity. The Primrose Pottery Shop operated from 1929 until 1973, and an even more avant-garde shop was first run by, and named after, Frederick Ward in 1932 and 1933, and then by Cynthia Reed, as Cynthia Reed Modern Furnishings, in 1934 and 1935. Several artists also exhibited their paintings at Cynthia Reed’s shop, Interiors. It was there that Sam Atyeo exhibited his Organized line to yellow, 1934, reputedly the first abstract painting publicly exhibited in Australia.

In the late 1930s, two figures emerged whose work was to strongly influence Australian decorative arts for several decades. The artist/designer Frances Burke established Frances Burke Fabrics in Melbourne in 1937, where it flourished until 1967, and was the first registered textile screenprintery in Australia, producing a wide range of dress and furnishing fabrics. Earth colours and Aboriginal motifs, as well as abstract patterns in vibrant colours, were favoured. They represented an extraordinarily sophisticated taste and an awareness of the most modern design, and heralded the artist’s lifelong personal interest in the promotion of good design.

In 1947, Frances Burke was a foundation member of the Society of Industrial Designers, and in the following year she opened her shop, Good Design, in Melbourne to market products of outstanding design. The furniture of the sculptor Clement Meadmore (born 1929), and the designer Grant Featherston (born 1922), was shown in the shop. The Society of Industrial Designers hoped to pave the way for Australian product was effected by tariffs, taxes and the popularity of imported goods.

The interior decorator/patron Marion Best (1904-1988), through her Sydney shop – established in 1940 and flourishing until 1974 – and through her work, promoted the best of Australian and international design. She inspired and commissioned furniture and domestic objects of all kinds from Australian artists and designers, most importantly Gordon Andrews (born 1914), and Clement Meadmore, and imported furniture and textiles of extraordinary sophistication and modernity. Marion Best’s love of brilliant colour and unexpected combinations of colour make her work remarkable for its startling effect and striking individuality. She created some of the most important domestic interiors of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, fashion dictates change and few of her creations have remained intact, but the continuing influence – from the 1940s until the 1970s – of Australia’s most original interior designer is not to be underestimated.

Post-war prosperity and the confidence of the 1950s led to a renewed interest in the decorative arts throughout the western world. Australia was not expected from this trend, and the economic changes resulting from the mineral boom of the 1960s exaggerated this development. The establishment of individual state crafts associations, in many instances superseding the older arts and crafts societies, was an important phenomenon of the times. The first Crafts Association of Australia (New South Wales Branch) was established in 1964, coinciding with the 1st World Craft Council General Assembly, held in New York, to which the association sent a delegate. Other associations were established in 1966 (South Australia), 1968 (Western Australia), 1970 (Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland), and 1973 (Northern Territory). Later these were all to become the Crafts Councils of each state and territory.

In 1971, the Crafts Council of Australia was formed. The strength of this council was largely responsible for the establishment of the Crafts Board of the Australia Council, which held its first meeting in March 1973, chaired by the potter Marea Gazzard (born 1928). The Board had four well-defined aims in collecting and mounting exhibitions of Australian decorative arts: providing assistance to artists by purchasing their work; providing encouragement to state and regional galleries in acquiring Australia decorative arts and mounting exhibitions; establishing a counterbalance to the large number of exhibitions of contemporary decorative arts coming into Australia from overseas in the early 1970s; and supporting the Board’s long-range plan to develop a strong professional basis for activity in the decorative arts in Australia. In effecting these aims one of the Crafts Board’s most important functions was the initiation and support of exhibitions selected to be sent overseas.

The Crafts Councils and the Crafts Board encouraged exhibitions of decorative arts, and especially travelling exhibitions, many mounted with the assistance of state and regional galleries. In 1975, the Crafts Board’s first exhibition, Wood and Clay, selected by the board’s adviser, Marj Richey, toured Australia and New Zealand and later, as Australia Clay, it toured the United States. In recent years many other important exhibitions have toured Australia and other countries with the encouragement and assistance of the Crafts Board.

In national terms the most important and influential exhibition mounted by the Crafts Board was Australia Crafts: A Survey of Recent Work, which opened at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1978. Selected by the potter Bernard Sahm (born 1926), and mounted in associated with the Crafts Council of Australia, this was the first national exhibition of contemporary decorative arts in a wide range of media to tour Australia, and in 1979 it toured New Zealand.

Smaller touring exhibitions shown in regional galleries and community places have been an important result of the Crafts Board’s activity. In an attempt to reach audiences, particularly artists, in isolated communities, ten exhibitions were mounted, covering many and varied aspects of the decorative arts. Among others, Crafts in Gear and Miniature Textiles are well remembered for the way in which they stimulated enthusiasm and activity throughout rural Australia.

The National Gallery of Victoria figures prominently in this development of interest throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, for more than any other art museum it has been strongly committed to the decorative arts – Australian and international, historic and modern. The first Curator of Decorative Arts, Ken Hood, a devotee of Australian ceramics whose support and influence have been of great importance, selected one of the first exhibitions of contemporary decorative arts to be mounted by an Australian art museum. Australian and New Zealand Pottery, which toured Australia in 1963 and 1964, and New Zealand later, was an exhibition of seminal importance which reflected the great enthusiasm for the medium at the time. The H.R. Hughan Retrospective Exhibition, held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1970, again selected by Ken Hood, honoured one of Australia's greatest potters. Australian Ceramics, under the joint auspices of the Australian Gallery Directors' Conference and the Crafts Board, and selected by Ken Hood, toured Australian state and regional galleries from 1974 to 1976 and was certainly the most influential exhibition devoted to a single medium in recent times, as evidenced by pottery made from that time on.

Under the influence of Ken Hood, the National Gallery of Victoria's special concern for contemporary Australian ceramics produced a program, beginning in 1979, of exhibitions and catalogues that systematically documented the history of Australian studio pottery.

As awareness of Australian decorative arts increased throughout the 1970s, art museums around Australia began to take an active interest in this area. Exhibitions were mounted and acquisitions made, and eventually curatorial departments were initiated, revived or expanded. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, commercial galleries interested in and devoted to the exhibiting of Australian decorative arts were established in all state capitals and many regional centres. Periodicals especially concerned with Australian decorative arts were founded and have flourished in the past decade. Those noted for their concern with contemporary issues and work include Pottery in Australia, first published in 1962, and Craft Australia, first published in 1971. The aims of the Crafts Board were already being fulfilled; its role of stimulating activity relating to the decorative arts within the Australian community was coming to fruition. In 1987, the Crafts Board and the Visual Arts Board amalgamated to become the Visual Arts/Crafts Board of the Australia Council.

Since it opened in 1982, the Australian National Gallery has mounted displays on the history and development of Australian decorative arts in all media, alongside the more traditional fine arts of painting and sculpture. This has prompted a new awareness in Australia of the importance of the decorative arts, which, it is now being recognized, are capable of reflecting the most vital artistic, social and political concerns of contemporary life. Many traditional boundaries and barriers in the arts are being questioned and broken down, and artists from every discipline are exploring the possibilities of many different media in ways previously thought impossible, or improper.

Ceramics

A revival of interest in studio ceramics occurred in the 1950s, and since the 1960s pottery has been the most visible and mature decorative art form in Australia. Besides the special interest taken by the National Gallery of Victoria, many other factors have contributed to its popularity and development. Pottery has been the dominant art medium in schools and colleges, as well as in the literature and in exhibitions and art museum acquisitions.

Most of those now recognized as the first modern studio potters working in Australia looked to the revived studio pottery movement in England. There Bernard Leach (1881-1979), with the influence and assistance of the Japanese potter Shoji Hamada (1894-1978), developed a style of work firmly based on a combination of English and Japanese folk traditions.

Leach's A Potter's Book (London: Faber, 1940), and the writings of the Japanese Soetsu Yanagi, who championed Japanese folk art and the unknown craftsman, had a profound effect on twentieth-century ceramics. The existence of an outstanding collection of Chinese ceramics in the National Gallery of Victoria, and Australia's links with Asian countries, particularly Japan, compounded the influence of Asia upon potters working in Australia. Many of these potters — including H.R. Hughan (1893-1987), Reg Preston (born 1917), Peter Rushforth (born 1920), Carl McConnell (born 1926), Milton Moon (born 1926), Les Blakebrough (born 1930) and Col Levy (born 1933) — worked throughout the 1970s, and their dedication, exhibitions and teaching have been major influences upon young potters and community expectations.

The first Japanese potter to visit Australia was Takeichi Kawai (born 1908), who worked at the Sturt Workshops at Mittagong, New South Wales, at the invitation of Les Blakebrough, in 1964. The following year Shoji Hamada, the famous Japanese potter and 'Living National Treasure', gave demonstrations and exhibited a group of ceramics at David Jones Art Gallery in Sydney. Several Japanese potters have come to live in Australia either permanently or for long periods of time, the most important of these being Shigeo Shiga (born 1928), who worked first at the Sturt Workshops from 1966 to 1968, and then in Sydney until he returned to Japan in 1979.

A younger generation of potters follows in individual ways various aspects of the Asian tradition. Some have lived and worked in Japan for long periods, others have become fascinated by the calligraphic techniques of brush decoration or by specific techniques such as raku. Often through experimentation these potters have brought a modern western sensibility to traditional techniques.

The size of the Australian continent and its unwelcoming and sometimes bizarre landscape have always fascinated its European immigrant settlers, who were less adapted to life in that environment than the Aborigines. The landscape itself has been the subject of much Australian painting, and pottery has paralleled this interest more than any other decorative art. Few of the early Australian studio potters used Australian clays and minerals for bodies, colour and glaze. The difficulties of preparation and the long experimentation necessary to establish known effects and predictable results daunted all but the most dedicated, and not many continued to pursue their original interest when the rewards were so meagre. A notable exception is the Western Australian potter, Eileen Keys (born 1903). Self-taught, from the late 1940s she experimented with local clays and minerals, at first from necessity, and later from enthusiasm and love. Her interest in and knowledge of a wide variety of clays, earths and minerals as sources of body and colour expressive of the landscape from which they came is most impressive. Eileen Keys's work combines the delicacy of colouring that is characteristic of the Australian landscape and its vegetation, and the ruggedness of the landscape itself, especially that of the north-west, to produce pots that are unique in the history of Australian ceramics.

Other potters have produced sculptural ceramics which evoke particular aspects of the landscape. Many choose as their subject or motif images that relate strongly to landscape, and especially the sea, the sea-shore and sea-life. Whereas there is a quality of wonder and awe in the work of the older generation of Australian potters, in the work of younger potters there appears an interest in minute and delicate detail which expresses a concern for the environment and an awareness of the precarious balance of earth's existence.

Although the Aboriginal people of Australia did not traditionally make pottery, the establishment of the Tiwi Pottery on Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, in 1970, has resulted in works decorated with some of the most delightfully observed images of Australian flora and fauna. The establishment of this pottery was guided by Ivan McMeekin (born 1919), and the English potter Michael Cardew (1901-1983), during the latter’s visit to Australia in 1968. It produces a ware decorated in a manner reminiscent of both Aboriginal bark painting and English slip-ware. Australia’s most established individual Aboriginal potter, Thanacoupie (born 1937), works in tropical Queensland, and produces pots decorated with images evocative of Aboriginal legend.

Although the tradition of sculptural ceramics is an ancient one, twentieth-century ceramics have been dominated by the Bernard Leach Asian aesthetic. American west-coast potters and the hippie generation rediscovered the sculptural ceramic form, and adapted it to the expression of their personal and political beliefs. An exhibition of non-functional ceramics at the Powell Street Gallery, South Yarra, Melbourne, in December 1972, including work by Joan Grounds (born 1939), Margaret Dodd (born 1941) and Lorraine Jenyns (born 1945), introduced Funk Art ceramics to Australia. A few months later, in February 1973, Marea Gazzard’s large-scale ceramics, sculptural in conception and execution, were exhibition in a dramatic environment with the woven textiles of Mona Hessing (born 1934). First displayed at the Bonython Gallery in Paddington, Sydney, this exhibition was later shown in the equally dramatic setting of the temporary exhibitions gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria. This exhibition heralded a new approach to ceramics in Australia. The functional versus non-functional, art versus craft debate began to rage, and has continued to dominate the thoughts of many Australian artists throughout the following decade.

Towards the end of the 1970s, a group of potters emerged who were concerned with delicacy and refinement of decoration and detail. They often worked in various forms of porcelain and usually rejected figurative imagery. Their bowls, boxes and other potentially useful objects were rendered useless by construction, decoration or extreme refinement. They produced objects to look at; their surfaces, often white, were sometimes capable of being damaged by handling. The delicate colours they used often rejected the long tradition of tasteful eastern glazes and the browns of much Australian pottery. A few adopted the commercially prepared glazes that allowed them to achieve brilliant primary colours and exotic effects.

In the 1980s, a movement towards large — and sometimes immense — ceramic forms, both sculptural and useful, became evident in the work of young potters. No longer so threatened by the art/craft debate, many of these artists work in media other than clay, and have as a result brought a remarkable freshness of approach to their ceramics.

Metalwork

Contemporary Australian gold and silversmithing and metalwork, including jewellery, largely derives from the influence of artists who have been trained in Europe. Helge Larsen (born 1929), who arrived in Australia in 1961, and Frank Bauer (born 1942) and Ragnar Hansen (born 1945), who both arrived in 1972, were trained overseas. Others such as Darani Lewers (born 1936) and Emanuel Raft (born 1938), furthered their studies abroad. Because there had been little activity in Australian silversmithing since the end of the nineteenth century, the artists who arrived from Europe were able to train their students and followers wholly in the European tradition, producing as a result some of the most impressive Australian silver objects.

Several silversmiths and jewellers have become fascinated by new and exotic materials, often of little or no intrinsic value; titanium, anodized aluminium, stainless steel, ivory, wood, plastic and a variety of found objects are often used. Sometimes these are combined with precious materials, although most often the artist is attempting to create jewellery that everyone can afford.

As in ceramics, a concern with various social and political issues has been increasingly evident in Australian jewellery. In some instances, taking the purpose of a protest badge to its most extreme end, artists have devised whole costumes to celebrate an idea, an attitude, or a cause. The most successful of the artists adopting this approach has been Peter Tully (born 1947), whose work, specializing in the use of non-precious and found materials, soon found expression in costume for theatre and street parades, which were not traditionally associated with jewellers.

For many jewellers, the Australian landscape has provided a source of inspiration for pattern and design. Sieglinde Karl’s (born 1943) work, first exhibited in 1983 upon her return from Europe, showed a remarkable response to the delicacy of scale and colour in the flora of the Australian bush. This work has influenced many, and greatly expanded the limits of jewellery design.

In the 1980s, jewellery experienced a revival similar to that experienced by pottery in the 1960s. This was the result of several exhibitions sponsored by the Crafts Board, surveys of Australian decorative arts that included contemporary jewellery, the establishment of several commercial galleries interested in or devoted to the promotion of contemporary jewellery, as well as the revival of the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia. Currently jewellery is one of the most vital areas of Australian decorative arts.

Textiles

Mona Hessing's textiles, exhibited with Marea Gazzard's ceramics at the Bonython Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria in 1973, were among the earliest in Australia to cross the boundary between usefulness and decoration. Her soft-sculptural weavings in natural-coloured fibre possess a discipline seldom previously associated with weaving. Rigidly observed geometric patterns make order of pieces that could otherwise be arranged in various ways. The impact of Hessing's work upon many Australian weavers was considerable, and its use of natural fibres and colour was characteristic of much Australian textile making of the period.

Few individual Australians have succeeded in taking up the challenge offered by the work of the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz (born 1930), when it was exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney in 1976. The economics of production have daunted most who have attempted, like Abakanowicz, to work with large-scale weavings of various kinds. Nevertheless, the establishment of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop, also in 1976, under the direction of Sue Walker and on the initiative of the state government, has proved to be one of the most successful ventures in the area of monumental textile art. The Workshop quickly became known for the quality and individuality of interpretation of its work.

In 1973, two clothes designers, Jenny Kee (born 1947) and Linda Jackson (born 1950), collaborated in establishing Flamingo Park dress shop in Sydney. Now well known for work which has done much to bring about the unprecedented popularity of Australian motifs in fashion, Flamingo Park and Bush Couture designs have greatly influenced Australian fashion and textile design. Both were the subject of a small exhibition, Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee, Flamingo Park and Bush Couture, held at the Australian National Gallery in 1985.

Linda Jackson's fabrics, and the fabrics of those she has inspired, have revitalized the art of painted and dyed textiles. The enthusiasm of Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson for the freshness of Aboriginal art has encouraged them to look for inspiration in that ancient culture, as well as to discover and encourage work by Aborigines which can be incorporated into their own designs.

Craft centres such as Utopia Batik, established in the late 1970s at Utopia Station in the Northern Territory, and Ernabella Arts and Tiwi Designs, have introduced Aboriginal women to a new craft form, and some splendid fabrics have emerged as a result.

The Art Clothes exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1980, was the first serious examination of the work of young Australian textile and clothing artists. This exhibition, assembled by Jane de Teliga, then the Gallery's Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, demonstrated the excitement and vigour of this new aspect of Australian art, and included work which greatly influenced the direction of contemporary costume and textile throughout the 1980s.

Woodwork and Furniture

The unusual and sometimes unique qualities of Australian timbers have long attracted Australian artists. Cedar (Toona australis), huon pine (Largarostrobus franklinii) and blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) have often been used for both furniture and useful and decorative wooden objects. In the 1970s, Australians became more interested in using local timbers in crafts as they became more aware of their environment and the unique qualities of certain parts of the landscape. (Huon pine was especially popular because of its extraordinary beauty when turned.) Anthropologists, botanists, zoologists, geologists and other scientists, as well as conservationists and artists, were amongst those who agitated for the preservation of forests and landscapes.

The most innovative Australian furniture of the 1970s and 1980s has been inspired by an interest in Australian rustic furniture and its associated traditions. The possibilities of furniture possessing expressive qualities far beyond its usefulness have only recently been explored, and offer a stimulating new direction for furniture design.

Glass

Studio glassmaking is the youngest of Australia's decorative arts. The first full-scale glass workshop was set up at the Jam Factory in Adelaide, in 1975, under the supervision of Samuel J. Herman (born 1936). The products of this workshop influenced many who have since experimented with this difficult medium.

In 1975, an exhibition of American glass organized by the Crafts Board toured Australia. It included the work of Marvin Lipofsky (born 1938), Harvey Littleton (born 1922), Dale Chihuly (born 1914) and Richard Marquis (born 1945), and played an important role in encouraging greater interest in the medium. Richard Marquis's Australian visit and workshops in 1975, and the exhibition which followed, showed further evidence of his skills. In 1982, the German glass artist Klaus Moje (born 1936) arrived in Australia to establish a glass workshop at the Canberra School of Art, and this development further excited the interest of artists in the medium.

The Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery's Glass Biennial, first held in 1981, has been a great incentive to glassmaking in this country. Its success in this New South Wales country town indicates that the Crafts Board of the Australia Council has succeeded in achieving the aims it first targetted in 1973.

In the twentieth century, the decorative arts have been a rich and vital part of the life of people throughout Australia. An increasingly wealthy and leisured population, with a growing respect for the place of artists within the community, has resulted in a greatly enriched society. Slowly, but with remarkable surety, Australians are looking to their own artists to produce for them not only works of art, but also objects for daily use. An awareness of the possibilities and benefits of a life informed by all the arts has steadily grown and points the way to the future.

John McPhee
Senior Curator, Australian Art