Art and Nature

Flower Painting as a Vehicle for Modernism in the Work of Vida Lahey

Authors

  • Glenn Cooke Queensland Art Gallery

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600000283

Keywords:

Vida Lahey, flower painting, modernist ideas

Abstract

With the winnowing of time and the emphasis given to particular artists in our constructed histories of art (be it international, national or regional) it is often difficult to determine why artists were considered to be innovatory in their time. The works so judged survive but not the context which enabled them to achieve this prominence. So it is with Vida Lahey. It may seem a desperate measure to consider a flower painter as a vehicle for modernist ideas, but the art environment in Brisbane was particularly conservative and Vida Lahey's vibrant flower paintings were a significant presence.

Author Biography

  • Glenn Cooke, Queensland Art Gallery

    GLENN COOKE is the Curator, Decorative Arts, Queensland Art Gallery. He has published extensively on various aspects of Australian and Queensland art and crafts.

References

Argus quoted in Christopher Wray. Arthur Streeton painter of light. Milton: Jacaranda Press 1993.

Carpenter, H.B. Suggestions for the study of colour. Rochedale: author 1915.

Heather Johnston, H. and de Maistre, R. The Australian years 1894–1930. Roseville: Craftmans House 1988.

Lahey, V. Art for all. Lecture published by the Queensland National Art Gallery 1940.

Lahey, F.V. The Language of Art. Lecture for the Public Lectures Committee of the University of Queensland, 1942.

Long, G. ‘Some Paintings by Miles Evergood’, Art and Australia 1933.

MacArthur, L. ‘Vida Lahey artist’ The Society of women writers of N. S. W. literary competition, 1969.

Parkinson, R. Praise life and Practise Art, Brisbane: William Brooks 1946.

The Age , 22 Ma. 1923: 14.

Wray, C. Arthur Streeton: painter of light. Milton, Queensland: Jacaranda Wiley 1993.

Published

1995-04-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Cooke, G. (1995). Art and Nature: Flower Painting as a Vehicle for Modernism in the Work of Vida Lahey. Queensland Review, 2(1), 42-52. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600000283