Rookwood - Part 2 - Angel of Resurrection

In my previous post I showed my rough clay model of the Dixson monument which I created to try to grasp the complexity of the original before I tried to paint it.
This post shows the canvas I have been painting as homage to the Dixson Monument. I am one of seven artists who are participating in an exhibition inspired by the Rookwood Necropolis. The exhibition "Spirited" will be held in the Peacock Gallery, Auburn Botanic Gardens in conjunction with the sculpture exhibition "Hidden" in the grounds of Rookwood itself.
"Spirited" will open on Saturday 18th August 11am - 1pm, and will continue until 30th September. The Peacock Gallery is open from Wed- Sun 11 - 4pm.

My oil painting  of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis
$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Unfortunately I don't even know who the sculptor of the Dixson monument was.
Whoever they were, they deserve to be famous.

My painting of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis
$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 The sculpture "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini in the Galleria Borghese. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A complex swirl of flowing drapery, links the angel to the soul yet separates them.  

 The arrangement of the 2 figures, entwined yet apart, reminds me of Bernini's   "Apollo and Daphne". I have seen this wonderful sculpture in the Borghese Gallery in 1997, but there were so many treasures in this gallery that it was hard to appreciate all of its qualities. I don't know whether the sculptor of the Dixson monument had any knowledge of Bernini or Baroque sculpture but I found strange resonances between the works .

 

My oil painting of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis
$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Both sculptors used line to force the viewer to move around the sculpture to determine its meaning, sort of like a puzzle. making any one viewpoint  incomplete. They both defy cohesion.

Flowing drapery creates large looping rhythms both linking the angel to the soul and separating them.

My oil painting of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis

$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

In the "Apollo and Daphne" Flesh turns to bark; Stone into flesh.

In the Dixson monument Stone turns to Flesh; Flesh turns into spirit.The sculptor attempts to capture the sublime.

The Dixson monument is sacred rather than pagan so it is less overtly erotic. However the sheer drapery of the rising soul clings to the gentle curve of her torso with a palpably sensual flourish.

My oil painting of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis

$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 There are spaces between them - you would not be able to "roll this down the hill", which was reputedly Michelangelo's test for a good sculpture. I don't think Bernini's idea of a good sculpture involved any "hill-rolling" as the energy in his works was expressed in bravura touches such as flying wisps of hair, windswept drapery and flesh turning into bark.

My oil painting of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood Necropolis

$11,000

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I am painting my view of the Dixon monument 'en plein air', but will keep the influence of Bernini in the back of my mind as I do so.

I kept noticing details of sculpture that were so very beautiful, where the feeling was concentrated in a gesture. The skyward pointing finger.

The angel gives a tender glance to the rising soul.

HOLY SONNET VII.

At the round earth's imagined corners blow

Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise

From death, you numberless infinities

Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go ;

All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,

All whom war, dea[r]th, age, agues, tyrannies,

Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you, whose eyes

Shall behold God, and never taste death's woe.

But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space ;

For, if above all these my sins abound,

'Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,

When we are there. Here on this lowly ground,

Teach me how to repent, for that's as good

As if Thou hadst seal'd my pardon with Thy blood.

John Donne

Related articles

• Rookwood- Part 1 "Spirited"

Rookwood- Part 1 "Spirited"

I have been asked to create some paintings inspired by the Rookwood necropolis
for the exhibition "Spirited - Impressions of historic Rookwood" at the Peacock Gallery in the Auburn Botanic Gardens which will coincide with the "Hidden" exhibition at Rookwood.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

At 700 acres, Rookwood is one of the largest burial grounds in the world and one of Australia's oldest cemeteries. Exploring its grounds can be overwhelming - a recipe for Stendhal's syndrome. 

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

 And if I do get Stendhal's syndrome  I could even get as  “'crook as Rookwood”. Old fashioned  Australian slang has almost completely  "gone to Gowings" - as now Gowings has well and truly gone to Gowings for good. The saying "Crook as Rookwood" in fact has very nearly died out.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

And at first I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Ideally, the best course would have been to join one of the tours, but I have had little time left over after a year with a brutal exhibition schedule - 5 solo exhibitions in 6 months and many group exhibitions and commissions. The tours have not coincided with the small amount of spare time I had left.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

So many wandering paths, so many sections, row upon row of headstones, so much ground to cover. From crisp and glossy  to sagging and neglected; which to notice and which to ignore. All seemed to deserve attention but which to choose? 
Everything beckoned, but nothing compelled. 
Lost in the city of the dead with no destination. 
I wandered at random and let chance be my guide. 

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

And by chance I  discovered one of the most beautiful sculptures in Australia, the Dixson Monument. I also discovered a true reason for creating a painting as not only did this sculpture commemorate a great unsung hero of  philanthropy, but one to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

Apart from its beauty, I have personal reasons for being attracted to paint the Dixson Monument. Sir William Dixson, collector, philanthropist and connoisseur, is one of my heroes. Although he died many years before I was born, he was my benefactor.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

Sir William Dixson had already funded numerous charities and educational institutions throughout NSW.  When he learned that the income from David Scott Mitchell's bequest to the Public Library of New South Wales was not able to be spent on pictures, he left a generous bequest to buy historical pictures.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

I am a present day recipient of his generosity, as the Mitchell Library now has a collection of 21 of my paintings. Without Sir William Dixson's bequest , the Library may never have decided to collect paintings at all.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

All the other sculptures look a bit lumpen and flatfooted in comparison to the Dixson sculpture. If any sculpture deserves the title "Spirited" it must be this.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

It is exuberant, joyous and full of energy. The keynote is exultation rather than mourning. It conveys passion, emotion and the humanity of the moment. 

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

I know that the sculpture is not just dedicated to Sir William, but the entire Dixson family, however it is a flamboyant monument for such a shy and reserved gentleman.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

My clay model of the Dixson Monument in Rookwood Necropolis

It is also an intricate and complex work. The figures are interlocked in a swirling vortex of drapery that seems to defy gravity.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

I circled it slowly for hours, looking at it from every angle and started a few tentative sketches. Finally I decided that I would need to create a rough model in clay before even attempting to paint it.
My clay model is not intended to be a sculpture, but part of the process of understanding the complexity of the original so that I can do it justice in my painting.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

This sculpture is so completely 3 dimensional. Every angle reveals another nuance.

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

My clay model of the Dixson Monument, Rookwood

The closest that I can think of to emotion and virtuosity of the Dixson monument is  the work of the Baroque sculptor Bernini and I have included below a copy of his "Apollo and Daphne" for comparison. The original marble sculpture is in the Borghese Gallery, Rome.

A statue of Apollo and Daphne after Bernini at Council Staircase in the Hermitage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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• Rookwood - Part 2 - Angel of Resurrection

Time for Safety

"It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought :
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue.
Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,
Unless she burn."
Michelangelo, Sonnet 59

I've finally completed my portrait of Chris forging chisels.

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm.

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

In Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the artist would often paint dark red velvet drapery fluttering behind the subject. The dye used for this colour was extracted from the murex shell.

It was prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain, so using it as a backdrop would emphasise the aura of aristocratic power. Think of the background to Van Dyck's portraits of the pre-Civil War English court or Titian's portraits of the Papacy.

My luxurious crimson curtain is actually the welding screen, but it does give a feeling of the lost glories of the past.

Detail from Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
 2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

"Time for Safety" detail from

 Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm 

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 A decrepit "Time for Safety" sign is propped against the arched window frame. It reminds me more of a late Victorian moralizing wall plaque than an early example of Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

"Time for Safety" detail from
Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

These days people have become risk averse to a ridiculous degree. In doing so they lose the chance to turn their fear into courage.

To paraphrase an old song, there is a time for safety and  there is a time for risk.

 Being an artist is risky. Doing anything interesting is always inherently risky.

Risks aren't always obvious.

The major risk to the blacksmiths isn't their hair catching fire, as they are too skilled. The real threat is that a combination of economic and political conditions could make their entire existence no longer viable.

"Blacksmith forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

I'm now touching up the background of this painting of a different stage of the chisel forging process. This painting shows Euan crouched in the centre as the Massey hammer pounds the point into shape.

I'm very happy with both of these paintings.

So happy that next week I'll enter the painting of Chris in the Archibald Prize and the one of Euan in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

I'm not famous and neither are they, so I haven't a prayer with either work.

I'll waste $60 and half a day delivering them, but I feel like entering just for a stir.

Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Unlike most of the entries, these haven't been whipped up just to enter a prize but are part of my normal work. I'm sick of the typical Archibald formula for prize winning entries - a  giant close up of a head, without context or content, painted from a slide projector.

Detail from portrait of
"Chris Sulis forging chisels" 
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 

I hadn't originally expected this to be a portrait, but one of a series of paintings of the process of chisel forging.

The previous painting showing Euan at the hammer is a very good likeness, but the figure is in the midground, although he is the focus of the whole work. The blacksmiths could not "pose" for me in any formal sense of the word, or even stay still for more than a few seconds as they were very busy working to their deadline. I took an immense risk painting a large full length figure dominating the foreground in a pose that he could not sustain for longer than a few seconds. I had to watch and wait whilst immersing myself in their world.  The more I painted Chris, the more his pose seemed to gather authority and purpose.

As I have painted Chris doing the work that he loves in the place that he loves, this painting will probably be tagged with the pejorative term "genre piece". Yet it tells you more about the thoughts and values of the subject than most Archibald portraits.

Related posts

• Irons in the fire
  

• Watching the forge fires fade
• Playing with fire
  

• Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
• Strike while the iron is hot

• Eveleigh- Industrial Heritage Artist at Work
  
• ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
•  Eveleigh paintings
• The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

• The slow return from the fire 

• The fire within 
• En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)