Crossing Paths: Women supporting women

Crossing Paths

Women supporting women 25 NOV 2023— 18 FEB 2024

CURATED BY AINSLEY GOWING & NARELLE RUSSO

Guelda Pyke, Nancy Grant, Dorothy Braund and Barbara Brash each forged their own course in the mid-century Melbourne art scene. Crossing paths through art school, social circles and travel, they formed lasting friendships and supported each other in a male-dominated art world.

Pyke, Grant and Braund all studied at the National Gallery School and Grant, Braund and Brash attended Melbourne Technical College (previously Working Men’s College, now RMIT), but it is likely that their passion for modernism was the strongest tie. All four artists attended the George Bell School between 1945 and 1950. Brash and Braund were friends since they were 6 years old.

Braund and Pyke shared the spirit of adventure, taking international trips together, with nomadic scenes depicted by both. In 1950, Braund and Brash explored England and Europe.

On one epic journey in 1961 Braund set off from Melbourne with Pyke on the freight ship Chadraka with a fully packed Kombi van on board. Arriving at Karachi, they drove the Kombi through Pakistan, Iran and Türkiye, and were met by their friend Nancy Grant along the way.

Their friendship extended to their artistic practice. Both Braund and Pyke collected works of art by their friends, with Pyke gifting works to Braund. The collecting and exchange of works and subsequent donating of their collections is an important part of how women artists supported each other at the time, with that legacy continuing to impact their visibility in collections.

Previous (cover): Dorothy Braund (Striped Jackets) 1980 gouache over pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010.

Left: Dorothy Braund and Guelda Pyke at Whistlewood, c. 1960 Photograph by and courtesy of Susan McCulloch

In 1973, Braund generously donated one of her most important paintings Dinner party to the new MPAC—now MPRG— Collection. A version of this painting won the 1966 Bendigo Art Prize. Two years later, in 1975, Braund and her friend Guelda Pyke each donated a drawing by Nancy Grant to the Collection.

In 2010 no longer able to work, Braund donated 44 of her works on paper to MPRG which features series of works from 1974, 1976 and 1980. This year, the Estate of Dorothy Braund donated a further five works by Braund and three works on paper by Grant.

If not for the donations in 1975 by Pyke and Braund, the work of Grant may not have entered the MPRG Collection. Quite possibly, Grant may not have had her exhibition at the Gallery in 1982 either, one of few solo exhibitions in her lifetime. Director Alan McCulloch’s opening speech provides insights into how women have often been overlooked in the history of Australian art: To track down information about the background of so modest and reticent an artist as Nancy Grant is no mean undertaking…

Nor is it any good consulting published records such as Past Students of the National Gallery School (which she reputedly attended), or any good trying to wade through the rolls of the Working Men’s College. The working women of the time didn’t get a mention in the nomenclature, but in fact when I went to the evening classes at the Working Men’s College in the 1930s the working women outnumbered the men 2-1.

Dorothy Braund Dinner party 1966 oil on composition board Gift of the artist, 1973

BARBARA BRASH b. Australia 1925; d. 1998

Sea fringe 1963 colour screenprint on Japanese paper edition 10/40 Gift of Mrs Betty Meagher, 1970 Kinetic Face-Scape (twice removed) 1981 collage of photocopied drawings, fibre-tipped pen and white ink on paper Purchased from the Spring Festival of Drawing, 1981

In 1989, Barbara Brash had a retrospective at Eastgate Gallery and her dear friend Dorothy Braund wrote the foreword. Summarising an exhibition of 56 works which ranged from 1947 to 1989 and included collages, oil on board, mixed media, screenprints, gouache, etchings and linocuts, Braund wrote: Barbara can use strong colour with the jewelled brilliance of the glass at Bourges, but such is the depth of poetry and understanding of colour she can do the most extraordinarily beautiful revelations with tertiaries, truly of the brotherhood of Gris and Braque.

She reveals nature in a new and unique pattern of her own – foliage, birds and insects – with an original and forceful synthesis. This is the artistic invention which engages the viewer in a new and totally arresting relationship.

– Dorothy Braund, Barbara Brash, exh.cat., Eastgate Gallery, 2—23 August 1989

Barbara Brash Sea fringe, 1963 colour screenprint on Japanese Paper edition 10/40 Gift of Mrs Betty Meagher, 1970

DOROTHY BRAUND b. Australia 1926; d. 2013

Glasses 1964 oil on composition board Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023

For a time [Braund] had a studio at the back of Maisie Newbold’s house. Mrs Newbold’s daughter Maisie was married to Russell (‘Tas’) Drysdale. After Mrs Newbold had a stroke… the Drysdales came often to visit. Tas used to bring his beer and cigarettes and talk, always gazing at a painting of mine of cushions on a divan.

He said ‘You don’t use tone’. Two years later… he sat gazing at it again, and said ‘You are clever. I couldn’t do that. I need rich bright colours’.

Dinner party 1966 oil on composition board Gift of the artist, 1973

– Jan a’Beckett, Dorothy Braund exhibition catalogue Eastgate & Holst 2009.

During a friendship spanning some 40 years, Dorothy Braund was a regular visitor to the home of art critic and founding MPRG Director Dr Alan McCulloch AO. While still an emerging artist, Braund’s work was included by McCulloch in the 1953 Herald Outdoor Art Show, with the clear purpose of introducing contemporary art to the general public. McCulloch keenly followed Braund’s rise in the artworld writing many reviews of her work.

In the 1950s, Braund’s work in group exhibitions received rave reviews. Often, she would be the only woman in the show. Alan Warren, for instance, wrote that ‘With its almost savage brightness and sound patterns, Dorothy Braund’s composition shows definite maturing of a very personal style’ and McCulloch referred to her work as having an ‘almost purist simplicity’. (Dorothy Braund Retrospective, Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum, 2006, p.23).

In July 1976, Braund produced a series of nine small-gridded gouache drawings featuring well known Melbourne businessman, artist and art dealer Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, with six friends at Florentino’s restaurant. Each of these small drawings depict the group around a circular table, five men in suits and two women (one is possibly Braund). This sheet of drawings is in the collection of the NGV and is believed to be the precursor to Braund’s drawings depicting three directors in the MPRG’s collection which were made in September 1976.

Joseph Brown was a regular donor and early supporter of the MPRG, gifting 50 works of art over a nearly 30-year period. During that time, he donated 4 works of art by women: Hilda Rix Nicholas (1972); Dorothy Braund (1976); Anne Hall (1994) and Violet Teague (1997).

Divan 1971 oil on composition board Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023 (Dinner party) 1974 gouache and pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010 The three directors 1976 gouache over pencil on paper Gift of Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, 1977 (Board of Directors 2) 1976 gouache over pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010 (Bathers) (c. 1970s) gouache over pencil on paper Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023 (Striped Jackets) 1980 gouache over pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010

Dinner Party Award, 1966 Newspaper clipping courtesy of Bendigo Art Gallery

NANCY GRANT b. Australia 1911; d. 1998

(Two women with children) (c. 1970-75) brush and ink, crayon and pencil on newsprint Gift of Dorothy Braund, 1975

In 1998, the MPRG displayed a small Collection exhibition curated

by Dorothy Braund which included Nancy Grant’s drawings. The exhibition concept was to invite an artist to select works they engaged with and provide a view into an artist’s thinking and further insights into the Collection.

(Two figures) (c. 1970-75) charcoal, brush and ink and pencil on buff wove paper Gift of Guelda Pyke, 1975

As a viewer I am excited anew each time I look at a [Godfrey] Miller, in the same way as in a drawing by Nancy Grant whose line is concerned with enclosing and sharing with the viewer the WEIGHT of the figures. Looking at her drawings makes one quite breathless, and this is universal with all Grant admirers. An artist who had admired and envied her work for many years and was of similar age once proclaimed in triumph – “Ah, now I’ve got the secret of her work. She just stops too soon!” To a certain extent this is true. Many artists rub out, change and ‘tidy it up’ till it is a dead thing, overworked and lifeless.

– Dorothy Braund, 1998, MPRG archives As has often been the case with other female artists, little documentation and archival material about Grant’s work was created during her lifetime, making research difficult and adding to the cycle of invisibility for female artists in general. To have Christopher Heathcote’s extensive essay accompanying Grant’s exhibition at McClelland in 1994 seems nothing short of miraculous given Alan McCulloch’s difficulty in extracting much from Grant when preparing an opening speech for her exhibition at MPRG in 1982.

Given such a context, having a label on the reverse of this work confirming the provenance by Eastgate & Holst is a welcome addition. The label records that this drawing by Grant was one of a number of works collected by Braund between 1960 and 1980.

Braund’s collection of Grant’s works were exhibited in 2010.

(Seven figures) (c. 1971) pen and ink, and ink wash on printed letter Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023 (Seven figures with birds) (c. 1970s) pen and ink on newsprint Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023 (Two figures) (c. 1970s) brush and ink, crayon and pencil on newsprint Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023

Nancy Grant (Two women with children) (c. 1970-75) brush and ink, crayon and pencil on newsprint Gift of Dorothy Braund, 1975

GUELDA PYKE b. Australia 1905; d. 1994 Guelda Pyke was an artist of independent means with the ability to travel extensively, both on her own and with friends. She and her sister Polly lived at ‘Stella Park’, an orchard in Templestowe, along with sisters Valerie Albiston and Yvonne Cohen (both artists). The four women commissioned architect Alistair Knox to build them houses which would allow the outside to come inside. Pyke lived and worked there from 1952 until 1980.

Lady and bird is one of Pyke’s numerous figurative works with birds, and it appears to be especially reflective of her domestic sanctuary. The colours used in this work resemble a detailed description by Dorothy Glasscock of Pyke’s home and furnishings in an article in The Herald (9 March 1954): The Pykes’ house is painted celadon green, with white trim… The deep blue sometimes seen in the distant Christmas Hills has been chosen for the ceiling and walls above the big open, stone-faced fireplace… The pink of the peaches, and the earth is repeated in the three Indian rugs on the polished floor. The room’s other walls are a soft, lighter blue-green blending, with outside foliage. Painted hessian… gives a wonderful matt texture and tone to the walls….

The kitchen has grey-green walls and cupboards, pinky-red ceiling, yellow lino arranged in squares on the floor and pale yellow muslin curtains.

This work is one of 139 works that were donated to MPRG by Clem and Nina Christesen in the 1980s. The founding director of Meanjin, Clem was renowned for encouraging Melbourne emerging artists between 1940s to 1960s, a period subsequently termed as the Heroic Years of Australian Art. The Christesen Collection was self-described by Clem as “almost haphazardly acquired”. Alan McCulloch acknowledged the significance of the Christesen Collection as “giving prominence to a few forgotten artists and others who might have faded into obscurity”.

Lady and bird (after 1952) oil on canvas on cardboard Gift of Dr and Mrs C. B. Christesen, 1986

Guelda Pyke Lady and bird (after 1952) oil on canvas on carboard Gift of Dr and Mrs C. B. Christesen, 1986

Dorothy BRAUND Barbara Brash 1967 oil on Masonite board 91.5 x 122.0cm Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia

Dorothy BRAUND The picnic c. 1956 [depicting Braund with a friend] oil on Masonite board 55.0 x 81.0cm Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia

Dorothy BRAUND Nancy Grant 1955 oil on Masonite board 81.0 x 54.0cm Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia

Dorothy BRAUND Guelda Pyke 1955 oil on Masonite board 82.0 x 55.0cm Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia

Reproduced with the permission of Ralph Rennard. Images courtesy of Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

CROSSING PATHS INSTALLATION VIEW Left to right: Guelda Pyke Lady and bird (after 1952) oil on canvas on cardboard Gift of Dr and Mrs C. B. Christesen, 1986.

Nancy Grant (Two figures) (c. 1970s) brush and ink, crayon and pencil on newsprint Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023.

Barbara Brash Sea fringe 1963 colour screenprint on Japanese paper edition 10/14 Gift of Mrs Betty Meagher, 1970.

Dorothy Braund (Striped Jackets) 1980 gouache over pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010.

Left to right: Dorothy Braund Glasses 1964 oil on composition board Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023.

Dorothy Braund Dinner party 1966 oil on composition board Gift of the artist, 1973.

Dorothy Braund (Dinner party) 1974 gouache and pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010.

Nancy Grant (Two women with children) (c. 1970-75) brush and ink, crayon and pencil on newsprint Gift of Dorothy Braund, 1975.

Nancy Grant (Two figures) (c. 1970-75) charcoal, brush and ink and pencil on buff wove paper Gift of Guelda Pyke, 1975.

Dorothy Braund Divan 1971 oil on composition board Gift of the Estate of Dorothy Braund, 2023.

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Crossing Paths An MPRG Exhibition

Curated by Ainsley Gowing & Narelle Russo

25 November 2023 to 18 February 2024

Artists: Guelda Pyke, Nancy Grant, Dorothy Braund and Barbara Brash

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au Civic Reserve, Dunns Rd Mornington Victoria 3931 11am-4pm, Tuesday-Sunday FREE ENTRY

Catalogue published by Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Photography by Mark Ashkanasy unless otherwise stated.

©2023 Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, the artists and authors.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright but MPRG welcomes any information that clarifies the copyright ownership of any unattributed material.

Mornington Peninsula Shire acknowledges and pays respect to the Bunurong / BoonWurrung people, the traditional custodians of these lands and waters.

Dorothy Braund (Dinner party) 1974 gouache and pencil on paper Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Dorothy Braund, 2010.