He is one of Australia's greatest living artists and unique in being the only one with a public gallery dedicated to his work. Now, a new exhibition at QUT's William Robinson Gallery delves into the dark side of his landscapes.
William Robinson: Nocturne opens 17 September 2021 and highlights the rarely explored theme of the night which pervades the 85-year-old artist's decades-long practice. It includes rare preparatory studies, privately-owned works, as well as artworks not previously seen by the public.
Gallery director and curator, Vanessa Van Ooyen, said it was the 11th exhibition to be mounted since QUT's William Robinson Gallery opened at Old Government House in 2009. Each has celebrated the internationally-acclaimed, multi-award-winning artist in different ways.
"There has never been an in-depth survey of Robinson's work touching on the night skies, but with more than 320 of his artworks in the QUT Art Collection, there was no shortage of rich material to display in this exhibition," said Ms Van Ooyen.
"The passage of time is a major theme in Robinson's practice and many of his paintings from the mid-1980s onwards incorporate both day and night simultaneously. In several of these works, the night sky is depicted as a reflection, in rivers of stars or pools mirroring the moon, yet equally, they rely on capturing a mood or atmosphere that the vantage point of the twilight hours afford.
"Robinson has won the Archibald Prize for portraiture twice (Equestrian self-portrait in 1987 and Self-portrait with stunned mullet in 1995), and the Wynne Prize for landscape in 1990 and 1996," said Ms Van Ooyen.
"That first Archibald win hinted at his fascination with the night sky. We see Robinson on his bow-legged horse, trailing a rising sea of shimmering stars as the figures are engulfed by a magnificent coral sunset. This painting won't be included in our exhibition as it is on loan to the Art Gallery of NSW for its 100-year Archibald Prize survey.
"Nocturne will deliver a few surprises including the first public showing of Creation landscape: The dome of space and time (Study) 2003, a precursor work to Robinson's acclaimed 2003-2004 major painting of the same title which concluded the artist's seven-painting Creation series (1988-2004).
"The beauty of these more experimental and exploratory studies is that they provide some insight into the artist's intellectual and practical processes. Unfortunately, such works are often discarded by the artist, destroyed or lost to time."
Ms Van Ooyen said the nocturnal hours had been a significant subject of artists for centuries.
"Robinson has followed in the footsteps of past great masters who took inspiration for those hours between dusk and dawn — from Rembrandt's The night watch to Van Gogh's The starry night, or the atmospheric paintings of America's James Whistler or Edward Hopper," she said.
"I would say Robinson's nocturnal works present something in addition to capturing a mood or atmosphere — he has approached the subject through a philosophical lens, exploring the duality or multi-temporal aspects that drive our understanding of time and movement, how we navigate our bodies or self through our environment or landscape.
"These nocturnal works really uncover Robinson's primary theoretical enquiries; his singular vision that has driven his practice for years and it moves beyond the painted surface itself, to somewhat of a treatise or world-view.
"It's a great privilege to work with artists but even more so when you have the opportunity to revisit and immerse yourself in their practice over a number of years. In a world where we move quickly from one project to another, there is something hugely rewarding in this — it's truly the slow art movement at its best."
William Robinson: Nocturne opens 17 September 2021 and runs for 12 months until September 2022.
In addition to the exhibition at QUT's William Robinson Gallery, Lyrical Landscapes: The Art of William Robinson opened at the Gold Coast's new HOTA Gallery on 31 July and runs until 3 October in Gallery 1, featuring ten artworks borrowed from the QUT Art Collection.
William Robinson Artist Biography:
- William Robinson is a distinguished Australian contemporary artist best known for his landscapes and self-portraits, born in 1936 in Brisbane.
- A QUT alumnus and teacher, he graduated from Brisbane's Central Technical College in 1962, which was an early forerunner of QUT's Gardens Point campus. He had a lengthy career teaching art at several of the University's predecessor institutions.
- Robinson left teaching in 1989 to work full-time on his art.
- Robinson is critically acclaimed for his striking compositions of south-east Queensland rainforests and seascapes of northern New South Wales. His work has changed the way we perceive the local landscape through his distinctive and signature multi-viewpoint perspective.
- Robinson's work has achieved national and international prominence, awarding him prizes that include the Archibald Prize and the Wynne Prize.
- Robinson's work is represented in all major Australian public art museums, as well as in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Vatican Museums, Vatican City; and the British Museum, London.
- In 2007, Robinson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his outstanding achievement and service to the arts.
Main image: William Robiinson, Out of the dawn 1987 oil on linen (cropped)
