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Modernism

Inspired by early European avant-gardes, the modernist movement permeated many forms of artistic and commercial endeavour. While the interpretation and expression of modernism in each of these forms was different, the common thread was a rejection of traditional representations of the world, and privileging form over content and style over subject matter. The modernist approach was enabled, in part, by advances in science and technology.

Modernism first came to Australia in the mid 1910s through émigrés, expatriates, exhibitions and publications. The movement spanned five turbulent decades, including global wars, economic depression, technological advance and massive social change.

While the unfamiliar language of modern art often met with strong and passionate resistance from Australia’s general public and art establishment, other aspects of modernism made their way into Australian culture more freely.

By the 1930s, modern style flourished in retail, entertainment, pubs, milk bars, modern swimming pools and fashion. It was not until the late 1950s – early 1960s that the realms of architecture, photography, sculpture and fine art received greater acceptance.

Australia’s reception to modernism is a complex story of spasmodic cultural transformation led by avant-garde experiments and the creative exchange between modern artists, designers and architects. From reshaping the environment (in particular city living) to affecting body image, social life and ideals about design, its impact has been profound.

Foundations

Taking their cue from international modernist movements, including the Bauhaus, abstract expressionism and French symbolism, Australian modernists experimented and collaborated across artistic disciplines. Better-known modernist groupings include the Contemporary Art Societies in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, the Arts and Crafts Society, the Angry Penguin poets, the Penguin painting group and the Hill End painters. Smaller projects explored modernist influences too.

Abstract projects and exhibitions

In 1919, Australian artist Roy de Maistre developed a colour-music theory in response to the post–First World War emphasis on understanding art, particularly colour, through science. The ‘Colour in Art’ exhibition of paintings and colour organisations by de Maistre and artist Roland Wakelin did not impress the public, but de Maistre’s colour-music theory was patented for interior design, which was a more acceptable expression of modernism.

In 1943, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) launched its international cultural exchange program. Australia was a recipient, starting with MOMA’s small multiple show and publication, ‘What is Modern Painting?’ Since Australian art museums were mostly unsupportive of modern art, exhibitions were hosted by retailers such as David Jones and the Myer Emporium.

In the early 1960s, Melbourne’s Gallery A, led by designer and sculptor, Clement Meadmore and manufacturer, Max Hutchinson undertook modernist projects and exhibitions, including Janet Dawson’s, ‘The Bauhaus: Aspects and Influence’. However, modern art still lacked public appeal and state support, and Gallery A’s vision lasted only three years.

It was not until the 1960s that art museums started hosting modern shows, and with the arrival of MOMA’s 1967 exhibition ‘Two decades of American painting’, the status and influence of modern art was finally acknowledged.

Aboriginal ‘modernism’

From the 1920s, modernist artist Margaret Preston, an Australian of European descent, campaigned for Aboriginal art to be considered as a form of Australian modernism. The boomerang, with its geometric symmetry, was seen as particularly suited to modern design. Preston used Aboriginal symbols and references in her own work, even though the results were meaningless to Aboriginal people.

Conversely, Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira painted his Western Arrernte landscape by adapting the European landscape style, as a form of exchange between cultures; and Aboriginal designer and entrepreneur, Bill Onus produced modern furniture and furnishings employing Aboriginal art and motifs.

Modern bodies

The ideal of the fit, healthy body was initially a response to the horrors of the First World War. In Australia, it was enthusiastically incorporated into sun worship, beach culture, modern swimming pools and fashion.

Beginnings

In 1917, Australia’s ‘mermaid’, Annette Kellerman advocated a fit, healthy and naturally beautiful being for the ‘new woman’. With her trademark one-piece women’s swimsuit and publications for women on fitness and beauty, she paved this new way of thinking about women’s bodies.

From the 1930s, public pools became an essential part of Australian community life. They were a new place for socialising, sun-worship and fitness, and their multifaceted modern demands necessitated innovative modern designs, such as the organic planning and flowing patterns of James Birrell’s design for the Centenary Swimming Pools, Brisbane (1957–59).

The 1950s and 1960s saw swimwear fashion change dramatically. Leading the way was Australia’s iconic Speedo brand. Speedo’s body-clinging swimwear, first styled for competitive sport, later became tailored for modern leisure activities, including swimming and surfing. These popular activities heavily influence Australia’s local dress style.

The body in Australia modern art

The body was also a frame of reference for modern Australian artists, who experimented with colour, tone, texture, shape and contrast to depict it. Grace Cossington Smith, for example, used colour to represent chaotic crowd scenes in Rushing (1922); Max Dupain used the female form in experiments with surreal photography, rayographs and montage imagery; Sidney Nolan used the body in experimental collage and paintings; and New Zealand film-maker Len Lye’s experimental animated films attempted to represent kinetic energy, addressing aboriginal culture.

City living

Big cities and urban life lent themselves to modernism. For Australia, the path to shaping an urban culture—away from rural ties and the suburbs—is marked by sites of new activity, including interior design, specialty stores and tall buildings.

Interior design

In 1929, Sydney hosted the Burdekin House Exhibition. Managed and convened by Roy de Maistre, and organised by art entrepreneur Sydney Ure Smith, it featured six rooms that were designed, furnished and decorated in the modern style by artists or art associates, including Thea Proctor, A L Sadler, Adrian Feint, Leon Gellert, Henry Pynor, Frank Weitzel and Hera Roberts. The exhibition was well supported by readers of Ure Smith’s popular modern magazine, The Home, as well as advertisers, including department stores.

Pubs and milk bars

The 1930s saw pubs and milk bars emerge as two new kinds of design environment. The New South Wales brewer, Tooth & Co. was keen to mould an image of prestige for its Sydney hotels in order to increase patronage. It transformed many corner pubs into the distinctive curved contours, steel awnings and Hollywood-style Art-Deco features.

The modern milk bar was a new social venue as well as a new design environment. Distinctive for its fluorescent and neon lights, wide entrances, shiny chrome and glass decor, the milk bar was simultaneously a family restaurant, unlicensed cafe and lolly shop. During the 1940s and 1950s, modern design was introduced to milk bars by architects, designers and artists, including Marion Hall Best, Samuel Lipson, Walter Bunning and Hugh Burich.

Sydney skyline

In 1957, the height limit of buildings in Sydney was increased, and skyscrapers were permitted. Driven by architects such as Neville Gruzman, Nigel Ashton, and renowned modernist Harry Seidler, the high-rise vision allowed for more useable public space. Modernist architectural photographers, such as Wolfgang Sievers, helped to promote acceptance of the new form.

Seidler’s Australia Square (1961–67) is widely acknowledged as symbolising Sydney’s high-rise modernism. At the time, it was the world’s tallest light-weight concrete building, and today is still praised for its sculptural qualities.

Space age designs

The space age provided a new source of modernist inspiration, including new dynamic structures such as domes, shells and spirals. Australia’s most outstanding architectural feats of this era include Roy Grounds’ Australian Academy of Science, Canberra (1956-59); Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House (1957-73); and James Birrell’s Wickham Terrace Carpark (1958-61).

The rocket was one of the most potent symbols of the space age. In America, its modern, stylish aesthetic was used to design logos, buildings, appliances, automobiles and even toys. In Australia, it became more widely recognisable in the late 1950s following missile projects at the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia. It inspired department stores’ space-themed exhibitions; Bill Buckle’s sleek Goggomobil Dart (1959); and children’s television character, Mr Squiggle’s ‘Rocket’.

‘House of tomorrow’

Architect Robin Boyd exhibited his ‘House of Tomorrow’ at Melbourne’s Modern Home Exhibition in 1949 as a response to the housing crisis after the Second World War and the need for homes that were economical and well-constructed. However, its simple open plan, flat-roofed light construction proved too challenging for the public. Boyd saw this as part of the ongoing struggle in Australia against conservatism.

A new alliance

In the 1950s and 1960s, Australian culture began to re-orient towards America. In particular, this influenced local modernism towards the use of electronic technology.

Lighting and signage

The use of lighting and signage played an important role in the design of Australia’s modern environment. America’s commercial approach to the modern, especially through branding and advertising, was particularly influential. City buildings became a new canvas for projecting messages, and the use of modern typeface and lighting allowed commercial operators to associate their business with progress.

The Australian Pavilion

At 1939’s New York World’s Fair, and again at Montreal’s Expo 67, modern Australia was presented to a mass audience. Both displays were conceived at critical moments in the alliance with America—pre–Second World War and during the Vietnam War. Each reflects a different local modernism.

In 1939, young Sydney designers, artists and architects projected Australia as a place of travel, tourism and investment. Based on architect John Oldham’s modern vision, the Australian Pavilion team, including Douglas Annand, Max Dupain, Adrian Feint and Margaret Preston reflected a young healthy nation.

Expo 67’s interior was designed by Robin Boyd. Based on his house design, the open plan, light-filled ‘living room’ and use of natural Australian colours were a representation of sophisticated informality; a different kind of local modernism. This image of Australia was supported by designer Grant Featherstone’s technologically innovative Expo Chair—a stereo sound chair. It became so popular that a commercial version, ‘Expo mark II sound chair’ was released soon after.

Related Culture Portal Stories

Architecture

• Australian architecture
• Modern Australian architecture
• Modern Australian residential architecture
• Australian Indigenous architecture
• Sydney Opera House

Visual arts

• Australian painters
• Margaret Preston
• Grace Cossington Smith
• Hill End painters
• Angry Penguin painters
• Max Dupain

Other

• The Angry Penguins
• Modern Australian poetry
• Australian national dress
• The Australian Bush

Useful links

Select modern art galleries

• Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
• Axia Modern Art, Melbourne
• Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
• Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria
• Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Victoria

Other select modern art collections

• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
• National Library of Australia, Canberra
• Historic Houses Trust, New South Wales

Online resource

• 2008-09 exhibition: Modern times. The untold story of modernism in Australia and Sydney modernism walking tour, Powerhouse Museum

Print references

• Edited by Stephen A, Goad P and McNamara A (2008), Modern Times. The untold story of modernism in Australia, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne in association with the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

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Last updated: 12th May 2009

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