Elizabeth Cummings b. 1934 Brisbane
CV
Catalogues
web : http://www.kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists/elisabeth-cummings/2012-the-big-picture
2009 Personal Journeys: 40 years of Australian Women's Abstract Art, Max Dingle ISBN 978-0-646-50832-0
2012 Less is More - More or Less , Max Dingle ISBN 978-0-646-57149-2
2015 Elisabeth Cummings - Landscapes and Interiors ISBN 978-0-646-93063-3
Education 1953 National Art School
Exhibitions
1998 - Wynne Prize Art Gallery of NSW
2000 - Archibald Prize Art Gallery of NSW - Wynne Prize Art Gallery of NSW
2002 - Sulman Prize (Early Morning, Currumbin) 1 June – 21 July Art Gallery of NSW
- Sculptures by Clara Hali and Paintings by Elizabeth Cummings 26 Jul – 1 Sept Orange Regional Gallery
- Elizabeth Cummings New Paintings 24 Sep – 19 Oct King St on Burton
- Christmas Group Show 7 Dec King St on Burton
2003 - A Place on the Coast. February. Group exhibition of works from the Shoalhaven City Council Collection. Lady Denman Museum Huskisson
solo exhibitions
2007 monotypes, king street gallery on burton, sydney
2006 new paintings, king street gallery on burton
2005 new paintings, Chapman Gallery
2004 painting, king street gallery on burton, sydney
2003painting, king street gallery at Span Galleries, Melbourne
paintings, Pandanus Art, Currumbin Beach, Qld
2002new paintings, king street gallery on burton, sydney
elisabeth cummings & clara hali, Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
2001 Paintings and Prints, Chapman Gallery, ACT
Collaborative Pots, (Barbara Romalis & Elisabeth Cummings), Chapman Gallery
2000 recent work, king street gallery on burton
Works on Paper, Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, NSW
1998 recent work, king street gallery on burton
1997 Survey Show (1965-1995), Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Qld
Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1996 Survey Show (1965-1995), Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, NSW
recent paintings, king street gallery on burton
Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, NSW
1994 king street gallery on burton
1992 paintings, king street gallery on burton
Schubert Art Gallery, Queensland
1991 Budds Beach Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
1990 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
1989 Painters Gallery, Sydney
1988 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
1987 Mori Gallery, Sydney
1985 Broadbeach Gallery, Queensland
1984Mori Gallery
1982Broadbeach Gallery
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
Mori Gallery
1978 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1977 Raffin Gallery, Orange
1976 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1975 Roslyn Gallery, Wollongong, NSW
1974 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1970 Design Arts Centre
1969 Design Arts Centre
1966 Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
1965 Darlinghurst Gallery, Sydney
1963 Johnstone Gallery
selected group exhibitions
2007 The Salon Des Refuse Exhibition, S.H.Evin Gallery, Sydney
2006 king street gallery at Doggett St Studios, Brisbane
Ways Exhibition, [fundraiser] Bondi, Sydney
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
2005 Salon Des Refuse S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2004Fire Dreaming, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney
Bukmak - Galiwinku (Talking and Sharing - Elcho Island), Framed: The Darwin Gallery, NT
Same Place, Many Views, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Framed, Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
Sulman Prize, Art Gallery on New South Wales, Sydney
Salon des Refuse, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Prints from Whaling Road Studios, Australian Galleries, Sydney
20034 Wedderburn painters: common ground, Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery
64 Years, king street gallery on burton
2002 2002: The Year in Art, SH Ervin, Sydney
Salon des Refuses, SH Ervin
The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
king street gallery at Span Galleries, Melbourne
A Silver Lining & A New Beginning, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2001 floating, king street gallery on burton
2000 women and the landscape, king street gallery
Common Ground, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales & touring throughout Australia
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
dogma, king street gallery on burton
1999 The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
1998The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Symbiosis, Utopia Art, Sydney; New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
Six from Wedderbutn, Casula Power House Museum, NSW
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc. Art Auction, ASN Gallery, Sydney
1997The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1996first night, king street gallery, sydney
The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc. Westpac Art Auction, Westpac Plaza, Sydney
1995gallery grtists, king street gallery on burton
The Easter Show, Hidden Vallet Gallery, Bodalla, NSW
1994 The Lost Valley of the Springs, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
gallery artists, king street gallery on burton
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 4, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Where The Two Worlds Meet, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
1993 A Stone's Throw Project, Cambelltown City Art Gallery
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Landscape Exhibition, Cell Block Theatre, Sydney
1992 terracollaboratis, king street gallery on burton
South Stradbroke Project, Gold Cost City Art Gallery
1991 Microcosm, Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1990 Mass Media, Mixed Media, Painters Gallery, Sydney
Visual Instincts, Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
1988 9 x 5 Mail, The Centre Gallery, Gold Coast
1984 Fruit and Flowers Exhibition, David Jones, Sydney
Landscape Exhibition, Mori Gallery
1976-90 Modern Art Gallery, Casula
Prizes, Awards, Scholarships, Residencies
2000 Fleurier Prize for Landscape, SA
1996 Mosman Prize, NSW
1995 Camden Prize, NSW
1992 Tattersalls Art Prize, QLD
1991 Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
1989 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, QLD
1988 REIQ Bicentennial Art Award, QLD
1987 Open Section, Camden Art Prize
Faber Castell Drawing Prize
1984 Mervyn Horton Memorial Prize, Berrima, NSW
Camden Purchase Prize, NSW
Friends of the Campbelltown Art Gallery Purchase
1983 Lane Cove Purchase Prize, NSW
1982 Lane Cove Purchase Prize
1981 Macquarie Towns Purchase Prize, NSW
1979 Peter Stuyvesant Prize, Shoalhaven
Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
Gosford Purchase Prize, NSW
1978 Gold Coast Purchase Prize
1977 Landscape and Still Life Prizes, RAS, Sydney
Lismore Prize, NSW
Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
1976 Drummoyne Prize, NSW
1974 Grafton Prize, NSW
1972 Human Image Prize, RAS, Sydney
Cheltenham Prize, NSW
Portia Geach Portrait Prize, Sydney
1971 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, QLD
1960 Dyason Bequest
1958 NSW Travelling Art Scholarship
1957 Le Gay Brereton Prize for Drawing
Collections - MGD & GBH
See-Saw 1995 oil on board 35 x 35 cm Elizabeth Cummings Recent Paintings 3 – 28 Sep 1996 King Street on Burton
Untitled (Stovetop) 2000 oil on board 62 x 70 cm Elizabeth Cummings Recent Work 29 Aug – 23 Sep 2000 King Street on Burton
Kimberly Water Hole 2002 oil on canvas 51 x 56 cm A Silver Lining & A New Beginning UNSW Auction for development of a University Art Museum 2 Dec 2002. Signed ‘Cummings’lower right and ‘Elizabeth Cummings Kimberly Waterhole 2002’ verso.
Collections – Public
Shoalhaven City Council
Artbank, Australia
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Qld
Griffith University, Brisbane
Jackson Smith Solicitors
Kelvin Grove Teachers College, Brisbane
Macquarie Bank
National Gallery of Australia, ACT
University of Queensland Art Museum
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Campbelltown City Art Gallery
Grafton Regional Art Gallery, NSW
The Hawkesbury City Art Collection
James Cook University, Qld
Lismore Regional Art Gallery
Manly Art Gallery and Museum, NSW
Queensland Art Gallery
Bibliography / Media / Catalogues
2004 Smee Sebastian: Intimate portrayals coloured by interior dialogue Australian 2 Nov (in Media Archive)
Fortesque, Elizabeth: Interpreting: Elisabeth Cummings, Lino Magazine September
Lloyd, Ian: Australian Painters in Residence, R.Ian Lloyd Productions
2003 Higson, Rosalie: The Face, The Weekend Australian, 20-21 December pg.3
Backhouse, Megan: Cummings shows the benefit of experience, Indoors and out, Review-The Age, pg.7
2002 Lumby, Carrie: Two Kings, Australian Art Collector (19), January-March, pg.62
Pinson, Peter: Common Ground-Four Wedderburn Painters, Art & Australia (92)
Mcdonald, John: Elisabeth Cummings: The Invisible Woman of Australian Art, Australian Art Collector (22), October-December, pg.68-7
Pryor, Lisa: Cummings Exhibition, Spotlight-Sydney Morning Herald, 24 September pg.17
Cummings, Elisabeth Catalogue: publishers-king street gallery on burton
2001 Grishin, Sasha: Two artists expanding vision and expertise, Panorama-Canberra Times, 6 October
2000 Kidd, Courtney: Painters & their Pampered Pets, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March pg.14
Backhouse, Megan: Review, Fleurieu Prize, The Age, 15 November pg.7
Smee, Sebastian: The ground crew, Spectrum-Sydney Morning Herald, 14 March pg.14
Pinson, Peter: catalogue essay for Common Ground, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, February-March
Smee, Sebastian, The odds on the Archibald, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March 16 pg.1
Sykes, Jill: The Art of Wine, Qantas, December pg.13 (in Media archive)
1998 Smee, Sebastian: Streets ahead, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October
1997 McDonald, John: The schlock of the new, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November pg.16
Watson, Bronwyn: It pays to read between the lines, The Bulletin, 23 September pg.73
Portrait of the artists: The Daily Telegraph, 21 March 21 pg.44
James, Bruce: The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 January
1996 Smee, Sebastian: King on King, Metro-The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 November
James, Bruce: The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September
Auty, Giles: Isolated Ideas, The Australian, 31 August
Garside, Sioux: catalogue introduction for Survey Exhibition 1965-95, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, August - September pg.5-6
McDonald, John: Country pleasures, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 August pg.14
Van den Bosch, Annette: From the Inside to the Outside, catalogue essay for Survey Exhibition 1965-95, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, August-September pg.8-18
1995 Delaruelle, Jacques: Pick of the year, The Independent Monthly, December
1994 McDonald, John: The Australian Landscape in a Visionary's Eyes, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September pg.15
Lynn, Elwyn: Eighteen Gallery Artists, The Australian, January
Delaruelle, Jacques: Accordance with Nature, The Sydney Review
1993 Delaruelle,Jacques: A Stones Throw, Catalogue Essay Campbelltown City Art Gallery
1985 Leckie, Mal: Fresh look gives the feel of the aussie bush, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 1 January
1982 Langer, Gertrude: Bushland inspiration, The Courier Mail, 5 May
Leckie, Mal: This may open eyes and minds, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 9 January
2002 - A Public of Individuals Vol 1 No 3 Nov / Dec plus website au.geocities.com/apublicofind/index.html - Review by Richard Lamarck
Elisabeth Cummings New Paintings King Street Gallery On Burton, 24 September - 19 October
There is no illusion in Elisabeth Cummings' paintings, the history of marks and colours are exposed as warranty for the finished products. It is left for the viewer to decide which elements constitute the picture.
The physicality and substance of paint takes precedence in her work, it is not paint pretending to be a lounge room. Paint is left to be paint with all the approximations and idiosyncrasies native to the medium. The resulting tension in the works comes out of the struggle between the vehicle of expression, an interior scene for example, and the paint itself. The play between these two elements each trying to capitulate the other leads to a great complexity within the finished works, ultimately giving them a highly evolved sense of history and experience.
The paintings are charged with all the self-critical re-evaluations inherent in making a painting, leading them to an organic finalization rather than a calculated end. Jasper Johns keenly articulated this lack of control an artist has over their own work in an interview with David Sylvester in 1965; “I think paintings by the time they are finished, tend to take on a particular characteristic. That is one of the reasons they are finished, because everything has gone in that direction, and there is no recovery. The energy, the logic, everything which you do takes a form in working; the energy tends to run out, the form tends to be accomplished or finalized. Then either it is what one intended (or what one is willing to settle for) or one has been involved in a process which has gone in a way that perhaps one did not intend, but has been done so thoroughly that there is no recovery from that situation. You have to leave that situation as itself, and then proceed with something else, begin again, begin a new work.”(1)
Mainly interior scenes or views of the landscape from inside looking out, the paintings reminded me, with their chaotic assemblage of forms, of the late studio paintings of Braque. In Currumbin interior with mango the landscape comes indoors in a collision of muted greens and greys with elements loosely drawn over solid shapes adding a fleeting naivety to the sophisticated paint - work underneath. In Early morning, Currumbin there is a saturation of colour that pays homage to Bonnard as shapes and colour snake their way through an open window. Some of the works have an almost geometric structure that pits itself against the amorphous nature of the compositions. In others such as Grey day from the verandah, Currumbin and Red and white the recognizable forms have been abstracted right out of the canvas.
To work with such open-ended criteria for making a painting must be as satisfying for the artist as it is for the viewer. It also seems a good way of insuring you do not just reproduce a self styled product to order, which has become somewhat of an epidemic with mid-career artists.
1. BBC Interview between David Sylvester and Jasper Johns, 1965
in Art in Theory, 1900-1990, edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, Blackwell, London, 1992, p. 721.
2003 Weekend Australian Review Dec 20-21 Article The Face by Rosalie Higson “ Two heads appear around the door of the back room of the King on Burton Gallery on a very hot Sydney Saturday. They quickly disappear to wash off the dust accumulated from driving all over the city with an air conditioner that repeatedly stalls the station wagon. Up for the day from her home in bushland southwest of the city, painter Elizabeth Cummings, accompanied by Bess the kelpie-cattle dog, is busy with arrangements for a party for an old friend. She squeezes in this interview between errands – what a busy life for a self-described shy and retiring artist who lives down the bush………………………”
Archive
See : King Street on Burton Gallery, Defiance Gallery, Miscellaneous Galleries - Orange Regional, Ivan Dougherty,
Letter to Max Dingle re Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 exhibition Elizabeth Cummings : Landscapes and Interiors
Catalogues
web : http://www.kingstreetgallery.com.au/artists/elisabeth-cummings/2012-the-big-picture
2009 Personal Journeys: 40 years of Australian Women's Abstract Art, Max Dingle ISBN 978-0-646-50832-0
2012 Less is More - More or Less , Max Dingle ISBN 978-0-646-57149-2
2015 Elisabeth Cummings - Landscapes and Interiors ISBN 978-0-646-93063-3
Education 1953 National Art School
Exhibitions
1998 - Wynne Prize Art Gallery of NSW
2000 - Archibald Prize Art Gallery of NSW - Wynne Prize Art Gallery of NSW
2002 - Sulman Prize (Early Morning, Currumbin) 1 June – 21 July Art Gallery of NSW
- Sculptures by Clara Hali and Paintings by Elizabeth Cummings 26 Jul – 1 Sept Orange Regional Gallery
- Elizabeth Cummings New Paintings 24 Sep – 19 Oct King St on Burton
- Christmas Group Show 7 Dec King St on Burton
2003 - A Place on the Coast. February. Group exhibition of works from the Shoalhaven City Council Collection. Lady Denman Museum Huskisson
solo exhibitions
2007 monotypes, king street gallery on burton, sydney
2006 new paintings, king street gallery on burton
2005 new paintings, Chapman Gallery
2004 painting, king street gallery on burton, sydney
2003painting, king street gallery at Span Galleries, Melbourne
paintings, Pandanus Art, Currumbin Beach, Qld
2002new paintings, king street gallery on burton, sydney
elisabeth cummings & clara hali, Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
2001 Paintings and Prints, Chapman Gallery, ACT
Collaborative Pots, (Barbara Romalis & Elisabeth Cummings), Chapman Gallery
2000 recent work, king street gallery on burton
Works on Paper, Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, NSW
1998 recent work, king street gallery on burton
1997 Survey Show (1965-1995), Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Qld
Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1996 Survey Show (1965-1995), Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, NSW
recent paintings, king street gallery on burton
Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, NSW
1994 king street gallery on burton
1992 paintings, king street gallery on burton
Schubert Art Gallery, Queensland
1991 Budds Beach Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
1990 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
1989 Painters Gallery, Sydney
1988 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
1987 Mori Gallery, Sydney
1985 Broadbeach Gallery, Queensland
1984Mori Gallery
1982Broadbeach Gallery
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
Mori Gallery
1978 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1977 Raffin Gallery, Orange
1976 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1975 Roslyn Gallery, Wollongong, NSW
1974 Design Arts Centre, Brisbane
1970 Design Arts Centre
1969 Design Arts Centre
1966 Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
1965 Darlinghurst Gallery, Sydney
1963 Johnstone Gallery
selected group exhibitions
2007 The Salon Des Refuse Exhibition, S.H.Evin Gallery, Sydney
2006 king street gallery at Doggett St Studios, Brisbane
Ways Exhibition, [fundraiser] Bondi, Sydney
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
2005 Salon Des Refuse S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2004Fire Dreaming, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney
Bukmak - Galiwinku (Talking and Sharing - Elcho Island), Framed: The Darwin Gallery, NT
Same Place, Many Views, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Framed, Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
Sulman Prize, Art Gallery on New South Wales, Sydney
Salon des Refuse, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Prints from Whaling Road Studios, Australian Galleries, Sydney
20034 Wedderburn painters: common ground, Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery
64 Years, king street gallery on burton
2002 2002: The Year in Art, SH Ervin, Sydney
Salon des Refuses, SH Ervin
The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
king street gallery at Span Galleries, Melbourne
A Silver Lining & A New Beginning, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
2001 floating, king street gallery on burton
2000 women and the landscape, king street gallery
Common Ground, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales & touring throughout Australia
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
dogma, king street gallery on burton
1999 The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
1998The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Symbiosis, Utopia Art, Sydney; New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
Six from Wedderbutn, Casula Power House Museum, NSW
last show of the year, king street gallery on burton
The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc. Art Auction, ASN Gallery, Sydney
1997The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1996first night, king street gallery, sydney
The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc. Westpac Art Auction, Westpac Plaza, Sydney
1995gallery grtists, king street gallery on burton
The Easter Show, Hidden Vallet Gallery, Bodalla, NSW
1994 The Lost Valley of the Springs, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
gallery artists, king street gallery on burton
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 4, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Where The Two Worlds Meet, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
1993 A Stone's Throw Project, Cambelltown City Art Gallery
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Landscape Exhibition, Cell Block Theatre, Sydney
1992 terracollaboratis, king street gallery on burton
South Stradbroke Project, Gold Cost City Art Gallery
1991 Microcosm, Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1990 Mass Media, Mixed Media, Painters Gallery, Sydney
Visual Instincts, Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
1988 9 x 5 Mail, The Centre Gallery, Gold Coast
1984 Fruit and Flowers Exhibition, David Jones, Sydney
Landscape Exhibition, Mori Gallery
1976-90 Modern Art Gallery, Casula
Prizes, Awards, Scholarships, Residencies
2000 Fleurier Prize for Landscape, SA
1996 Mosman Prize, NSW
1995 Camden Prize, NSW
1992 Tattersalls Art Prize, QLD
1991 Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
1989 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, QLD
1988 REIQ Bicentennial Art Award, QLD
1987 Open Section, Camden Art Prize
Faber Castell Drawing Prize
1984 Mervyn Horton Memorial Prize, Berrima, NSW
Camden Purchase Prize, NSW
Friends of the Campbelltown Art Gallery Purchase
1983 Lane Cove Purchase Prize, NSW
1982 Lane Cove Purchase Prize
1981 Macquarie Towns Purchase Prize, NSW
1979 Peter Stuyvesant Prize, Shoalhaven
Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
Gosford Purchase Prize, NSW
1978 Gold Coast Purchase Prize
1977 Landscape and Still Life Prizes, RAS, Sydney
Lismore Prize, NSW
Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery
1976 Drummoyne Prize, NSW
1974 Grafton Prize, NSW
1972 Human Image Prize, RAS, Sydney
Cheltenham Prize, NSW
Portia Geach Portrait Prize, Sydney
1971 Gold Coast Purchase Prize, QLD
1960 Dyason Bequest
1958 NSW Travelling Art Scholarship
1957 Le Gay Brereton Prize for Drawing
Collections - MGD & GBH
See-Saw 1995 oil on board 35 x 35 cm Elizabeth Cummings Recent Paintings 3 – 28 Sep 1996 King Street on Burton
Untitled (Stovetop) 2000 oil on board 62 x 70 cm Elizabeth Cummings Recent Work 29 Aug – 23 Sep 2000 King Street on Burton
Kimberly Water Hole 2002 oil on canvas 51 x 56 cm A Silver Lining & A New Beginning UNSW Auction for development of a University Art Museum 2 Dec 2002. Signed ‘Cummings’lower right and ‘Elizabeth Cummings Kimberly Waterhole 2002’ verso.
Collections – Public
Shoalhaven City Council
Artbank, Australia
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Qld
Griffith University, Brisbane
Jackson Smith Solicitors
Kelvin Grove Teachers College, Brisbane
Macquarie Bank
National Gallery of Australia, ACT
University of Queensland Art Museum
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Campbelltown City Art Gallery
Grafton Regional Art Gallery, NSW
The Hawkesbury City Art Collection
James Cook University, Qld
Lismore Regional Art Gallery
Manly Art Gallery and Museum, NSW
Queensland Art Gallery
Bibliography / Media / Catalogues
2004 Smee Sebastian: Intimate portrayals coloured by interior dialogue Australian 2 Nov (in Media Archive)
Fortesque, Elizabeth: Interpreting: Elisabeth Cummings, Lino Magazine September
Lloyd, Ian: Australian Painters in Residence, R.Ian Lloyd Productions
2003 Higson, Rosalie: The Face, The Weekend Australian, 20-21 December pg.3
Backhouse, Megan: Cummings shows the benefit of experience, Indoors and out, Review-The Age, pg.7
2002 Lumby, Carrie: Two Kings, Australian Art Collector (19), January-March, pg.62
Pinson, Peter: Common Ground-Four Wedderburn Painters, Art & Australia (92)
Mcdonald, John: Elisabeth Cummings: The Invisible Woman of Australian Art, Australian Art Collector (22), October-December, pg.68-7
Pryor, Lisa: Cummings Exhibition, Spotlight-Sydney Morning Herald, 24 September pg.17
Cummings, Elisabeth Catalogue: publishers-king street gallery on burton
2001 Grishin, Sasha: Two artists expanding vision and expertise, Panorama-Canberra Times, 6 October
2000 Kidd, Courtney: Painters & their Pampered Pets, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March pg.14
Backhouse, Megan: Review, Fleurieu Prize, The Age, 15 November pg.7
Smee, Sebastian: The ground crew, Spectrum-Sydney Morning Herald, 14 March pg.14
Pinson, Peter: catalogue essay for Common Ground, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, February-March
Smee, Sebastian, The odds on the Archibald, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March 16 pg.1
Sykes, Jill: The Art of Wine, Qantas, December pg.13 (in Media archive)
1998 Smee, Sebastian: Streets ahead, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October
1997 McDonald, John: The schlock of the new, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November pg.16
Watson, Bronwyn: It pays to read between the lines, The Bulletin, 23 September pg.73
Portrait of the artists: The Daily Telegraph, 21 March 21 pg.44
James, Bruce: The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 January
1996 Smee, Sebastian: King on King, Metro-The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 November
James, Bruce: The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September
Auty, Giles: Isolated Ideas, The Australian, 31 August
Garside, Sioux: catalogue introduction for Survey Exhibition 1965-95, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, August - September pg.5-6
McDonald, John: Country pleasures, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 August pg.14
Van den Bosch, Annette: From the Inside to the Outside, catalogue essay for Survey Exhibition 1965-95, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, August-September pg.8-18
1995 Delaruelle, Jacques: Pick of the year, The Independent Monthly, December
1994 McDonald, John: The Australian Landscape in a Visionary's Eyes, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September pg.15
Lynn, Elwyn: Eighteen Gallery Artists, The Australian, January
Delaruelle, Jacques: Accordance with Nature, The Sydney Review
1993 Delaruelle,Jacques: A Stones Throw, Catalogue Essay Campbelltown City Art Gallery
1985 Leckie, Mal: Fresh look gives the feel of the aussie bush, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 1 January
1982 Langer, Gertrude: Bushland inspiration, The Courier Mail, 5 May
Leckie, Mal: This may open eyes and minds, The Gold Coast Bulletin, 9 January
2002 - A Public of Individuals Vol 1 No 3 Nov / Dec plus website au.geocities.com/apublicofind/index.html - Review by Richard Lamarck
Elisabeth Cummings New Paintings King Street Gallery On Burton, 24 September - 19 October
There is no illusion in Elisabeth Cummings' paintings, the history of marks and colours are exposed as warranty for the finished products. It is left for the viewer to decide which elements constitute the picture.
The physicality and substance of paint takes precedence in her work, it is not paint pretending to be a lounge room. Paint is left to be paint with all the approximations and idiosyncrasies native to the medium. The resulting tension in the works comes out of the struggle between the vehicle of expression, an interior scene for example, and the paint itself. The play between these two elements each trying to capitulate the other leads to a great complexity within the finished works, ultimately giving them a highly evolved sense of history and experience.
The paintings are charged with all the self-critical re-evaluations inherent in making a painting, leading them to an organic finalization rather than a calculated end. Jasper Johns keenly articulated this lack of control an artist has over their own work in an interview with David Sylvester in 1965; “I think paintings by the time they are finished, tend to take on a particular characteristic. That is one of the reasons they are finished, because everything has gone in that direction, and there is no recovery. The energy, the logic, everything which you do takes a form in working; the energy tends to run out, the form tends to be accomplished or finalized. Then either it is what one intended (or what one is willing to settle for) or one has been involved in a process which has gone in a way that perhaps one did not intend, but has been done so thoroughly that there is no recovery from that situation. You have to leave that situation as itself, and then proceed with something else, begin again, begin a new work.”(1)
Mainly interior scenes or views of the landscape from inside looking out, the paintings reminded me, with their chaotic assemblage of forms, of the late studio paintings of Braque. In Currumbin interior with mango the landscape comes indoors in a collision of muted greens and greys with elements loosely drawn over solid shapes adding a fleeting naivety to the sophisticated paint - work underneath. In Early morning, Currumbin there is a saturation of colour that pays homage to Bonnard as shapes and colour snake their way through an open window. Some of the works have an almost geometric structure that pits itself against the amorphous nature of the compositions. In others such as Grey day from the verandah, Currumbin and Red and white the recognizable forms have been abstracted right out of the canvas.
To work with such open-ended criteria for making a painting must be as satisfying for the artist as it is for the viewer. It also seems a good way of insuring you do not just reproduce a self styled product to order, which has become somewhat of an epidemic with mid-career artists.
1. BBC Interview between David Sylvester and Jasper Johns, 1965
in Art in Theory, 1900-1990, edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, Blackwell, London, 1992, p. 721.
2003 Weekend Australian Review Dec 20-21 Article The Face by Rosalie Higson “ Two heads appear around the door of the back room of the King on Burton Gallery on a very hot Sydney Saturday. They quickly disappear to wash off the dust accumulated from driving all over the city with an air conditioner that repeatedly stalls the station wagon. Up for the day from her home in bushland southwest of the city, painter Elizabeth Cummings, accompanied by Bess the kelpie-cattle dog, is busy with arrangements for a party for an old friend. She squeezes in this interview between errands – what a busy life for a self-described shy and retiring artist who lives down the bush………………………”
Archive
See : King Street on Burton Gallery, Defiance Gallery, Miscellaneous Galleries - Orange Regional, Ivan Dougherty,
Letter to Max Dingle re Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 exhibition Elizabeth Cummings : Landscapes and Interiors