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20th-century Australian art: Classical realism

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By the Art Gallery of NSW

The interwar years saw a resurgence of classical realism that developed in tandem with the movements of abstraction. Works alluding to classical Greek sculpture portrayed bodies of enhanced strength and robust sexuality. This revival of realism followed the so-called ‘return to order’ of European art following World War I, where artists sought to express the links between tradition and modernity.

Charles Meere’s Australian beach pattern epitomises the new realism of the 1930s and ’40s. His heroic urban beach dwellers refer to classical athleticism while also appearing unflinchingly modern in their up-front physicality and current beach fashions.

Rayner Hoff and his school at East Sydney Technical College were central to sculptural practices during the inter-war period. Hoff aimed for an Australian version of classicism in art and used the body as a primary metaphor for a modern Australian identity. Using the classical perfections of the ancient Greek model, the body was imaged as a virile product of the nation's outdoor environment as exemplified by Australian Venus. As a teacher Hoff was highly influential on a generation of sculptors, which included Jean Broome-Norton, Marjorie Fletcher, Lyndon Dadswell and Barbara Tribe.