DRAWING A DAY LAUNCH
An exclusive exhibition by a well-regarded Australian artist is launching today at a Main Beach art gallery
MAIN Beach gallery Anthea Polson Art hosts Charles Blackman’s black and white drawings from the 1970s in tandem with a major exhibition which opens at Queensland Art Gallery next month.
Charles Blackman – A Drawing a Day is a series of about 30 framed sketches selected by Blackman’s daughter Christabel from her neverbefore-exhibited personal collection of her father’s work. Christabel, also an artist, will open the exhibition with recollections from her bohemian upbringing.
The exhibition title is a reflection on her memories of evenings spent sketching alongside her father, who advised her: “If you want to be an artist, start with a drawing a day.”
Blackman is renowned for his Alice series inspired by the stories of Lewis Carroll. In the 1970s, he discovered the precision and linear possibilities inherent in Rotring pens.
His sketchbooks were filled with images of the moments from life at his home in Paddington, Sydney, where his star-studded cast of friends included Oscar Peterson, the man Duke Ellington called the maharajah of the keyboard, Barry Humphries, Judith Wright and Les Murray.
At this time, Blackman often retired to his country retreat and studio near historic St Albans, on the Hawkesbury River, to draw landscapes, botanical studies and horses. The Gold Coast exhibition will be held in tandem to Charles Blackman: Lure of the Sun, a major exhibition of Blackman’s work during visits to Queensland.
Charles Blackman: A Drawing A Day: Anthea Polson Art, opens today, 6pm, free. Continues daily until November 7.