
In J.W. Power: Abstraction-Creation Paris 1934, editors Ann Stephen and A.D.S. Donaldson argue that Power is Australia's most important avant-gardist of the early twentieth century. In the interwar years, Power moved between cities, immersing himself in both contemporary and historical art, this restlessness leading to his own unique painting: part abstract-surrealism, part surreal-abstraction. His most significant contribution, however, was made in Paris. There he studied with Pedro Araujo and Fernand Léger and showed with Léonce Rosenberg and Galerie Jeanne Bucher. Crucially, he was a founding and long- term member of Abstraction-Création. In her essay, published in English here for the first time, art historian Gladys Fabre describes how this group was the focus for the international avant-garde moving through Paris in the 1930s. Virginia Spate examines Power's creative process through the analysis of a single painting. J.W. Power Abstraction-Création reveals how Power's work illuminates the relationships between Sydney and Paris, and between France and Australia, an exchange that goes to the heart of Australia's modernism.
Page Count:
160
Publication Date:
2013-02-01
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!