Antipodeans

Antipodeans is an exhibition consisting of seven artists who defended the

traditional image in art in 1959. The traditional art image refers to the figurative
image. The group comprised Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, David Boyd, John
Brack, John Perceval, Clifton Pugh, and Robert Dickerson, who were known as the
"Antipodeans". Bernard Smith, the only non-painter of the group, drafted "The
Antipodean Manifesto" for the exhibition.
The first part of this article introduces the content of the Antipodeans exhibition,
the participating artists’ names, and the influence of Antipodeans. The second part of
this article mentions abstract art in Sydney and how other artists acted with the
abstract art and figurative art.
There are two key sentences in this article, which are:
1. “The Antipodean affair, as Barbara Blackman has referred to it, has been frequently
understood as indicative of the Melbourne/Sydney rivalry within and around the art
world.”1
2. “In looking at the art of this period, from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, one thing
becomes clear—that the passions and arguments of the time reflect an extraordinary
diversity of Australian art practice, and a fierce commitment to creativity in this
country.”2
Tips:
The Antipodeans defended the figurative image against abstraction, and
contemporary Australian art as opposed to European modernism. They worried that
art was losing its humanistic values, that it was becoming obsessed with abstract
decoration at the expense of recognizable signs and symbols, and that while making
great claims for its spiritual depths, it threatened to alienate a broad cross-section of
the public.3

1
“The Antipodeans: challenge and response in Australian Art 1955-1965,” Artonview, no. 20 (Summer, 1999): 4-8.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.