Thursday 8 October 2015

Daumier to Daylesford: A European Experience

I know, I know, it has been a while.


Uni has taken over my life. This post is a symbol of my endeavour to post more regularly again.


I have been to so many great exhibitions lately, strangely I have been drawn to European Artists, rather than emerging Australian. Here is an overview of my travels:


Monash Gallery of Art's Impressions of Paris: Lautrec, Daumier, Degas and Atget was awesome. I have always been a huge fan of Degas's dancers so it was great to see another side to him. For me however, the star of the show was Daumier; his wicked sense of humour shone through every piece and encapsulated the spirit of Paris in the 19th Century.
Below is one of my personal favourites from the exhibition, the witty titles take his work to another level.

HonorĂ© Daumier The orchestra during the performance of a tragedy [L'orchestre pendant qu'on joue une tragĂ©die] from the series Musical sketches [Croquis musicaux] published in Le Charivari, 5 April 1852 lithograph

Hubby and I have just been on holidays with some friends from church and my oh my, we needed the break. While away in Daylesford we ventured to The Convent Gallery which was such a beautiful space in itself. You know me, I believe there is more to art than the canvas, and The Convent is a prime example. 

1. Staff. Everyone we spoke to was delightful. 
We didn't realise there was an entry fee to the gallery (only $5), and we had a rough month and couldn't actually afford it. Husband of the Year to the rescue, Graeme announced that he would take me next month when they have the Swiss and Italian Festa. While I was gooing over my sweet-as-pie husband, the staff member says "At least go and have a look at the ground level and gift shop on us."
Elated, we went and had a quick walk-through and spotted a local work we had seen before but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the Artist. I loved it so much too so I'm bummed. Go and visit and look for a screen print with a dinosaur looking creature and  three people, two with the speech bubble "what if the stick breaks?". It's a personal fave.

We headed into the gift shop to do a little window-shopping and a lady, whom I presume to be either the Manager or Curator enthusiastically asks us what we thought of what we had seen. We had a great little chat and she says "You'll have to go upstairs! The Indigenous pieces can't be missed." We awkwardly explain our predicament and that we will definitely come back next month, and she says (quite forcefully) "No! No! You can't miss Hauser's work, you have got to see them, go up to see them."

2. Art
Barbara Hauser. Oh my gosh. Beautiful. My photos do not do it justice. I have said it before and I'll say it again: You need to visit The Convent before this show finishes.









3. Gallery Space. It is a beautiful old Convent in pristine condition, need I say more?



So not only did we see ground floor, but also Hauser's work on Level 1, free of charge. 
As I always say, the people are part of the experience. I love seeing people so excited about sharing art with the world that they make gestures of kindness and passion such as what we experienced. 
The Convent Gallery is a must-see, and we will definitely be back ( this time with $5 each and a friendly donation ;))

Please, go and see it for yourself.

Signing off very well rested,
Renee Bell

2 comments:

  1. The piece with the 4 children is my favorite. I wish I could have taken it home!

    ReplyDelete