Hello.
The painting that you saw was "Salute to Five Bells" (1973) by John
Olsen.
First, a little information about the poem that inspired it...
The poem that inspired the painting was "Five Bells" by Kenneth
Slessor. Slessor wrote the poem about his friend Joe Lynch, who fell
off a ferry and drowned.
Here are some brief notes about the poem originally published in the
Daily Telegraph, July 1967, now on a poetry web page hosted by
geocities:
"'Five Bells' can be described as a kind of meditation at night, while
looking at Sydney Harbour and hearing the cold fact of time, five
bells or half-past ten, rung of a ship at its moorings below...
One evening in the 1930s, Joe and half a dozen other artists and
journalists left Circular Quay by ferry to go to a party on the north
side of the Harbour. Joe sat on the lower deck-rail of the boat, clad
in an ancient, tattered raincoat, heavily laden with bottled beer in
the pockets. There was a good deal of jollity until someone noticed
that Joe had disappeared. The ferry hove to and there was a wide
search, but no trace of Joe Lynch could be found. His body was never
recovered and eventually he was presumed drowned."
http://www.geocities.com/kingsideau/slessor.html
The text of the poem "Five Bells" is available from the geocities web
page:
http://www.geocities.com/kingsideau/PoemFiveBells.html
The poem is also available on the website of Middlemiss.org:
http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/slessork/poetry/fivebells.html
In 1998, "Five Bells" took first place in a poll of Australia's
favorite poems.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
http://www.abc.net.au/poetry98/vote/
Now, about the painting...
"In 1972, John Olsen was commissioned to paint a huge mural for the
Sydney Opera House. Inspired by a poem by Kenneth Slessor, he called
it Salute to Five Bells ? the story of Slessor's friend Joe Lynch who
drowned off a ferry."
Source: Sunday Art Profiles
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/art_profiles/article_1090.asp
Artist John Olsen actually did two paintings based on the Slessor
poem. The first painting was called "Five Bells" (1963). See this
earlier painting on the web page of the Tim Olsen Gallery:
http://www.timolsengallery.com/artists/images/olsen/olsen_fivebells.htm
The painting at the Opera House was called "Salute to Five Bells." It
was done in 1973 and looks quite different. It is, as you describe,
mostly blue. The only image of it I can find on the web is part of the
Sydney Opera House virtual tour (appropriate Quicktime software
required). I can't link to it directly, but you can see it if you go
do the virtual tour. It's on Level 3, Concert Hall - Foyer North
Granite Level. You can zoom in for a look at the painting. They also
have a description of the painting along with an explanation about its
relationship to the poem.
http://www.soh.nsw.gov.au/virtual_tour/vrtour2.html
Here is a discussion of the painting by artist John Olsen on a web
page hosted by goodmans.com.au:
"I wanted to show the Harbour as a movement, a sea suck, and the sound
of the water as though I am part of the sea. Water is so wonderful,
why did our species ever leave it?
This painting says directly what I wanted it to say: 'I am in the sea
- harbour, and the sea - harbour is in me' So too is much of Slessor's
poem of 'one life, of Joe, long dead, who lives between five bells'.
Joe, 'long sucked away in mud', has become part of the harbour where
'the sea pinks bend like lilies'. Among the crabs, anemones, sea
urchins, squid, mussels, and seaweeds of the rockpools and the harbour
bottom, one can believe one sees a dead friend's 'gaunt chin and
pricked eye' 'squeezing your face in agonies of speech on speechless
panes'.
http://www.goodmans.com.au/November/body_catalogue.htm
search strategy: "sydney opera house", painting, poem
I hope this helps. |
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