WALLACE-CRABBE, ROBIN (1938-)

"Woman On A Couch" (1968) 
oil on canvas
154 x 124cm
signed on verso
*exhibited Bonython Galleries, 1968
*private collection, Sydney
 
Wallace-Crabbe is a respected Australian Mid Century Painter. Having trained at the Prahan Art School, he was discovered in his early twenties by art historian, Bernard Smith, and iconic Australian writer, Patrick White. This lead to several important solo and group exhibitions throughout the 1960s in Melbourne (primarily at the Argus Gallery), Sydney and Canberra. His work was also exhibited in a travelling Australian retrospective at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, USA. Wallace-Crabbe is a brilliant draughtsman and colourist, and his paintings experiment with ideas of levels of perception between the viewer and the subject. This stark, hard-edge interior is one of his earliest works, completed as he worked as a teacher and art critic for the Canberra Times. These are part of a series of interior works, which also includes 'Lovers At Port Macquarie" (1968) which was purchased by Patrick White, but now resides at the Art Gallery Of NSW. "Woman On A Couch" & "Interior" were exhibited at Macquarie Galleries in 1968 in the same year 'The Field' Exhibition at the NGV popularised the Hard Edge Movement and Abstraction, and revolutionized Modern art in Australia.