AUSTRALIAN TONALISM
The John & Peter Perry Collection

Max Meldrum founded the Australian Tonalism art movement in Melbourne during the First World War. He had developed a theory of painting based on the importance of tonal values and objective optical analysis. He painted with a new approach and promoted his understanding of depictive art, on the canvas, the printed page and the rostrum. Meldrum and his dedicated pupils were a strong force in Austalian art in the first part of the twentieth century.

" This significant publication ... represents the outcomes of John and Peter Perry's life-long commitment to collecting and studying the works of Max Meldrum and the artists he taught in his studio/school, or who were in other ways influenced by his theories on Tonalism in art. Their collection throws light on a movement which has been eclipsed over time by other debates about modernism and the avant garde in Australian visual culture."
( Dr Gerard Vaughan AM )

The new publication includes the work of A M E Bale, Clarice Beckett, Colin Colahan, A D Colquhoun,

John Farmer, William Frater, Polly Hurry, Justus Jorgensen, Percy Leason, A E Newbury and Arnold Shore.

Extensively researched with five Appendices, Bibliography, and Catalogue of Works, the publication provides new information on Max Meldrum.

There are 145 colour reproductions and 40 black and white images. Foreword by Dr Gerard Vaughan AM.

Cover: Max Meldrum

The Glade, Eltham c.1920 (detail)

Oil on canvas on board 44.0 x 42.0

Colin Colahan Swanston Street Melbourne c.1930

(detail)

Clarice Beckett The Solitary Bathing Box c. 1933

AD Colquhoun

Iceland Poppies c.1927

(detail)

Biography

John R Perry was born in Melbourne. He gained a Diploma of Art and Design from Prahran College of Advanced Education (1970 - 74 ) and was awarded the A M E Bale Art Scholarship for three years (1975 - 77 ) studying under Sir William Dargie, Harley C Griffiths, Ron Crawford and John Farmer. He has been self-employed for the last forty-two years working as a Fine Art Conservator, Curator and Consultant.

Peter W Perry OAM was born in Melbourne. He was Director of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, Victoria from 1975 until 2014. His previous publications include R W Sturgess Watercolourist 1892-1932 (co-author Beth Sinclair) 1986, Max Meldrum & Associates, Their Art, Lives and Influences (co-author John Perry) 1996., A M E Bale Her Art and Life 2011 and Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum History & Collections (co-authors Kirsten McKay and David Golightly) 2013.

He has written biographies for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and The Dictionary of Art and has undertaken a Catalogue Raisonné of Max Meldrum's works.