Peter
UPWARD
Australia
1932
–
1983
Great Britain and Europe 1961-71
June celebration
1960
synthetic polymer paint on composition board; three panels
signed and dated u.r., left panel, black synthetic polymer paint "Upward 60"
213.5 (h)
x 411.5 (w)
cm
Purchased 1972
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
NGA 1972.476.A-C
- the artist;
- with Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney;
- from whom bought by the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board in November 1972
- I had a dream: Australian art in the 1960s
- National Gallery of Victoria 23 Apr 1997 – 16 Jun 1997
- Peter Upward Retrospective
- Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest 20 Oct 2007 – 02 Dec 2007
- Abstract Expressionism: the National Gallery of Australia celebrates the centenaries of Jackson Pollock and Morris Louis
- 14 Jul 2012 – 24 Feb 2013
- ‘Hanging problem before exhibition’, unidentified Sydney newspaper, [July?] 1961, illus. b&w, John Olsen, William Rose and Stanislav Rapotec installing June celebration at David Jones Gallery;
- Robert Hughes, The art of Australia, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1970, p. 3, 282, 294, illus. col.;
- Jackie Menzies, Project 13: The calligraphic image, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales 1976, cat. 10, illus. b&w (as dated 1961)
- Daniel Thomas, ‘Peter Upward: June celebration’ in Anne Gray (ed.) Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2002, p. 253, illus. col. (as dated 1961);
- Eat art, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2004, p. 148, illus. col. cover (det.) and p.107;
- Jennifer Phipps, I had a dream: Australian art in the 1960s, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria 1997, p. 37, illus. col.;
- Bernard Smith et al, Australian painting 1788—2000, Melbourne: Oxford University Press 2001, p.359, illus. b&w (as Rudy Komon Gallery);
- Christopher Dean, Frozen gestures: The art of Peter Upward,Emu Plains: Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, 2007, cat. 12, p. 15, 54, illus. col., pp. 32–33;
- Sebastian Smee, ‘Make a splash’, Australian, 24 November 2007, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/make-a-splash/story-e6frg8qx-1111114919897 (accessed June 2012);
- John McDonald, ‘A big story in a few strokes’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 November 2007, http://www.bigpictures.com.au/big-pictures-articles/2007/11/24/a-big-story-in-a-few-strokes/ (accessed June 2012)
- Penelope Upward, ‘Letter: Masters of the dancing brush: Peter Upward 1932—1983’, Art monthly, no.207, March 2008, pp. 27–28
Upwards’s June celebration is big, a pre-metric seven feet high. So, like any upright abstract painting of that height, it is an object that reflects the observer’s human scale. John Olsen said ‘it is impossible to look at [his paintings] without thinking of a man working, acting and moving behind them’.[1] Others thought of dance. James Gleeson said:
There is a certain kind of dancing in which the conscious mind surrenders its vigilance and the body becomes a vehicle for the transmission of emotion … energy that finds release in spontaneous action [bearing] an intimate relationship with the mood or mental state of the moment. Peter Upwards’s paintings are like the movements of such a dancer.[2]
Upward himself spoke of Japanese Zen calligraphy, American beat poetry, and jazz: ‘Everything is done in one movement … with musical impulse, the same musical impulse as musicians when they improvise. My paintings are a series of chords and notes’. But also of the physical: ‘Like the moment when a high diver cleanly enters the water’.[3]
The title refers to the month in which it was painted—on the studio floor with large brushes in a single uninterrupted campaign—especially for the manifesto exhibition of Abstract Expressionism, 9 Sydney 1961.[4] It was the largest work in the exhibition, and the most characteristic of the new movement.
The previous year, Olsen’s Spanish encounter,[5] nearly as large, mostly black and almost abstract, had been the great art sensation in Sydney, much admired for its raw vitality and untamed energy. June celebration is an abstract paraphrase of a similar painting by Olsen, The procession,[6] which was given by Olsen to Upward.
Daniel Thomas, ‘Peter Upward: June celebration’
in Anne Gray (ed.) Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2002, p. 253, revised version
[1] ‘John Olsen’s picture of the week’, unidentified Sydney newspaper, 1961, quoted in Peter Upward: the subject of art, Melbourne: Charles Nodrum Gallery 2000
[2] James Gleeson, ‘Painting in Australia since 1945’, Art and Australia vol. 1 no. 1, May 1963 pp. 2–19 (reprinted 21st anniversary issue, vol. 21 no. 1, Spring 1983, p. 48
[3] Irene Buschtedt, ‘Home from London—with tropical touch’, unidentified Sydney newspaper 1972, quoted in Peter Upward, Sydney: University of New South Wales Union 1973
[4] Upward titled other works in this format: see, for example, September fifth 1961, pva on board, 137 x 121 cm, The University of Queensland, Brisbane or July tenth 1961, pva on board, 91 x 122 cm, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Sydney. According to Penelope Upward, the painter’s sister, the ‘celebration’ of the title also refers to the June wedding of two artist–friends at which Upward stood witness.
[5] John Olsen, Spanish encounter 1960, oil on hardboard, 183 x 366 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
[6] John Olsen, The procession 1960, acrylic, ink, wash and gesso on board, 91.5 x 244 cm, private collection
Literature
- ‘Hanging problem before exhibition’, unidentified Sydney newspaper, [July?] 1961, illus. b&w, John Olsen, William Rose and Stanislav Rapotec installing June celebration at David Jones Gallery;
- Robert Hughes, The art of Australia, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1970, p. 3, 282, 294, illus. col.;
- Jackie Menzies, Project 13: The calligraphic image, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales 1976, cat. 10, illus. b&w (as dated 1961)
- Daniel Thomas, ‘Peter Upward: June celebration’ in Anne Gray (ed.) Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2002, p. 253, illus. col. (as dated 1961);
- Eat art, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2004, p. 148, illus. col. cover (det.) and p.107;
- Jennifer Phipps, I had a dream: Australian art in the 1960s, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria 1997, p. 37, illus. col.;
- Bernard Smith et al, Australian painting 1788—2000, Melbourne: Oxford University Press 2001, p.359, illus. b&w (as Rudy Komon Gallery);
- Christopher Dean, Frozen gestures: The art of Peter Upward,Emu Plains: Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, 2007, cat. 12, p. 15, 54, illus. col., pp. 32–33;
- Sebastian Smee, ‘Make a splash’, Australian, 24 November 2007, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/make-a-splash/story-e6frg8qx-1111114919897 (accessed June 2012);
- John McDonald, ‘A big story in a few strokes’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 November 2007, http://www.bigpictures.com.au/big-pictures-articles/2007/11/24/a-big-story-in-a-few-strokes/ (accessed June 2012)
- Penelope Upward, ‘Letter: Masters of the dancing brush: Peter Upward 1932—1983’, Art monthly, no.207, March 2008, pp. 27–28
Discussion of the work
Upwards’s June celebration is big, a pre-metric seven feet high. So, like any upright abstract painting of that height, it is an object that reflects the observer’s human scale. John Olsen said ‘it is impossible to look at [his paintings] without thinking of a man working, acting and moving behind them’.[1] Others thought of dance. James Gleeson said:
There is a certain kind of dancing in which the conscious mind surrenders its vigilance and the body becomes a vehicle for the transmission of emotion … energy that finds release in spontaneous action [bearing] an intimate relationship with the mood or mental state of the moment. Peter Upwards’s paintings are like the movements of such a dancer.[2]
Upward himself spoke of Japanese Zen calligraphy, American beat poetry, and jazz: ‘Everything is done in one movement … with musical impulse, the same musical impulse as musicians when they improvise. My paintings are a series of chords and notes’. But also of the physical: ‘Like the moment when a high diver cleanly enters the water’.[3]
The title refers to the month in which it was painted—on the studio floor with large brushes in a single uninterrupted campaign—especially for the manifesto exhibition of Abstract Expressionism, 9 Sydney 1961.[4] It was the largest work in the exhibition, and the most characteristic of the new movement.
The previous year, Olsen’s Spanish encounter,[5] nearly as large, mostly black and almost abstract, had been the great art sensation in Sydney, much admired for its raw vitality and untamed energy. June celebration is an abstract paraphrase of a similar painting by Olsen, The procession,[6] which was given by Olsen to Upward.
Daniel Thomas, ‘Peter Upward: June celebration’
in Anne Gray (ed.) Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra: National Gallery of Australia 2002, p. 253, revised version
[1] ‘John Olsen’s picture of the week’, unidentified Sydney newspaper, 1961, quoted in Peter Upward: the subject of art, Melbourne: Charles Nodrum Gallery 2000
[2] James Gleeson, ‘Painting in Australia since 1945’, Art and Australia vol. 1 no. 1, May 1963 pp. 2–19 (reprinted 21st anniversary issue, vol. 21 no. 1, Spring 1983, p. 48
[3] Irene Buschtedt, ‘Home from London—with tropical touch’, unidentified Sydney newspaper 1972, quoted in Peter Upward, Sydney: University of New South Wales Union 1973
[4] Upward titled other works in this format: see, for example, September fifth 1961, pva on board, 137 x 121 cm, The University of Queensland, Brisbane or July tenth 1961, pva on board, 91 x 122 cm, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Sydney. According to Penelope Upward, the painter’s sister, the ‘celebration’ of the title also refers to the June wedding of two artist–friends at which Upward stood witness.
[5] John Olsen, Spanish encounter 1960, oil on hardboard, 183 x 366 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
[6] John Olsen, The procession 1960, acrylic, ink, wash and gesso on board, 91.5 x 244 cm, private collection
