Donald Friend
Encyclopedia
Donald Stuart Leslie Friend (6 February 1915 – 16 August 1989) was an Australian artist, writer and diarist.
(1931) and Dattilo Rubbo
(1934–1935), and later in London (1936–1937) at the Westminster School of Art
with Mark Gertler and Bernard Meninsky
. During World War II he served as a gunner with the AIF
, and while stationed at Albury
began an important friendship with Russell Drysdale
which was to culminate in their joint discovery of Hill End
, a quasi-abandoned gold mining village near Bathurst, New South Wales
, which was to become something of an artists' colony in the 1950s. He also served as an official war artist
in Labuan
and Balikpapan
in 1945. After the war he lived for a time in the Sydney mansion-cum-boarding house Merioola, exhibiting with the so-called Merioola Group
.
Much of Friend's life and career were spent outside Australia, in places as diverse as Nigeria
(late 1930s, where he served as financial advisor to the Ogoga of Ikerre), Italy
(several visits in the 1950s), Sri Lanka
(late 1950s – early 1960s, from whence dates this view of the city of Colombo
), and Bali
from 1968 until his final return to Sydney in 1980.
and Russell Drysdale
, but by the time of his death it had sunk so low that his work was totally absent from the 1988 Australian Bicentennial
exhibition, a show meant to include every artist of importance since white settlement.
Friend made "no attempt to disguise the homoeroticism
which underlay much of his work", despite winning the Blake Prize for religious art in 1955. Nor did he mince words about his sexual preferences, depicting himself as "a middle-aged pederast who's going to seed" in his journal. His relationships consisted in large part of a series of affairs with adolescent boys, some of whom became his life-long friends, particularly Attilio Guarracino
. His exhibitions were raided by the Vice Squad several times.
Friend was well-known for studies of the young male nude, as well as his wit. His facility as a draughtsman may have contributed to the undervaluing of his work, which art scholar Lou Klepac said "always looked too easy – decorative, flowing and natural." In the mid-1960s, Robert Hughes
described him as "one of the two finest draughtsmen of the nude in Australia," and noted his humanism
and lack of sentimentality, while still maintaining that he was not a major artist. Barry Pearce, however, writing in the study which accompanied Friend's posthumous retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
in 1990, said that Hughes' judgement seemed harsh and called for a re-evaluation of Friend as an artist whose "contribution to the richness of Australian art is due for much greater recognition."
Friend also published a number of illustrated books, almost all in limited editions, which displayed the same wit and sensuality that informs much of his art. In 2001 the National Library of Australia
began publishing the journals that Friend had faithfully kept since he was 14, and which chronicled in half a million words a life peopled with such artists as Drysdale, Margaret Olley
, Jeffrey Smart
, Brett Whiteley
and others.
in four volumes. Volume 4 dealt in part with Friend's time in Bali in the 1960s and '70s; publicity claimed "this volume confirms Friend's quicksilver creative brilliance and extraordinary insight. He is perhaps Australia's most important twentieth-century diarist."
Following the publication of Volume 4, accusations were made that the publishers had not been granted permission to publicly name some of Friend's sexual partners, who were minors at the time of their encounters with Friend. There were also accusations that Friend's paedophilia had been whitewashed
by Australian art scholars.
Reported in The Age
in May 2008, Bernadette McMenamin, chief executive of the child protection lobby group Childwise, said of Friend "He wrote diaries describing his sexual abuse
of children and yet Australia still looks the other way because he produced beautiful art." Speaking on ABC Radio
in November 2008, filmmaker Kerry Negara said of the publishers "instead of embracing those parts of the diaries where he talks about sex with children and adolescents as young as 9, 10, 12 years old in Bali, instead they decided to go down that route of denying it and even kind of turning Friend into a nice culturally accepted paedophile, at best." In November and December 2008, Negara's film about Friend's sexual behaviour in Bali was discussed on ABC Radio, in The Australian
and the Herald Sun
. The film A Loving Friend screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival
in August 2009 and at the Canberra International Film Festival
in November 2009, and discussed again on ABC Radio in August 2009, where Paul Hetherington, editor of the published diaries, was quoted about Friend's art, writing and publishing activities as saying "I don't think that Friend behaved in ways which would attract criticism, or much criticism, from people today..."
Early life
Born in Sydney, precociously talented both as an artist and a writer, Friend grew up in the artistic circle of his bohemian mother. He studied with Sydney LongSydney Long
Sydney Long was an Australian Artist.Born on 20 August 1871 at Ifield, Goulburn, New South Wales, Sydney Long began formal art classes at the New South Wales Art Society in 1890. in 1894 his Heidelberg School-influenced painting 'By Tranquil Waters' caused a small scandal, but was purchased by the...
(1931) and Dattilo Rubbo
Dattilo Rubbo
Antonio Salvatore Dattilo Rubbo was an Italian-born artist and art teacher active in Australia from 1897.Rubbo, or Dattilo-Rubbo, was born in Naples in 1870 and arrived in Australia in 1897. From 1898 Rubbo taught in Sydney schools including St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, Kambala, The Scots...
(1934–1935), and later in London (1936–1937) at the Westminster School of Art
Westminster School of Art
The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. It was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Architectural Museum.H. M. Bateman described it in 1903 as...
with Mark Gertler and Bernard Meninsky
Bernard Meninsky
Bernard Meninsky was a figurative artist, painter of figures and landscape in oils, watercolour and gouache, draughtsman and teacher. He was born in Karotopin now in the Ukraine but raised in Liverpool where he attended the Liverpool School of Art in 1906 after initially attending evening classes...
. During World War II he served as a gunner with the AIF
Australian Imperial Force
The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...
, and while stationed at Albury
Albury, New South Wales
Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
began an important friendship with Russell Drysdale
Russell Drysdale
Sir George Russell Drysdale, AC was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for Sofala in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954...
which was to culminate in their joint discovery of Hill End
Hill End, New South Wales
Hill End is a former gold mining town in New South Wales, Australia, in Bathurst Regional Council. It owes its existence to the New South Wales gold rush of the 1850s, and at its peak in the early 1870s it had a population estimated at 8,000 served by two newspapers, five banks, eight churches, and...
, a quasi-abandoned gold mining village near Bathurst, New South Wales
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
, which was to become something of an artists' colony in the 1950s. He also served as an official war artist
War artist
A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...
in Labuan
Labuan
Labuan is a federal territory in East Malaysia. It is an island off the coast of the state of Sabah. Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support...
and Balikpapan
Balikpapan
Balikpapan is a seaport city on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo, Indonesia, in the East Kalimantan province, a resource-rich region well known for its timber, mining, and petroleum export products. Two harbors, Semayang and Kariangau , and the Sepinggan International Airport are the main...
in 1945. After the war he lived for a time in the Sydney mansion-cum-boarding house Merioola, exhibiting with the so-called Merioola Group
Merioola Group
The Merioola Group was a Sydney-based group of Australian artists active during the 1940s and early 1950s.The group took its name from the colonial mansion cum boarding house of Merioola, in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, managed from 1941 by Chica Lowe...
.
Much of Friend's life and career were spent outside Australia, in places as diverse as Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
(late 1930s, where he served as financial advisor to the Ogoga of Ikerre), Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(several visits in the 1950s), Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
(late 1950s – early 1960s, from whence dates this view of the city of Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
), and Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
from 1968 until his final return to Sydney in 1980.
Career
Friend's critical reputation in the 1940s equalled those of William DobellWilliam Dobell
Sir William Dobell, OBE was an Australian artist .The electoral Division of Dobell is named after him.- Life :...
and Russell Drysdale
Russell Drysdale
Sir George Russell Drysdale, AC was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for Sofala in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954...
, but by the time of his death it had sunk so low that his work was totally absent from the 1988 Australian Bicentennial
Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
exhibition, a show meant to include every artist of importance since white settlement.
Friend made "no attempt to disguise the homoeroticism
Homoeroticism
Homoeroticism refers to the erotic attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female , most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements...
which underlay much of his work", despite winning the Blake Prize for religious art in 1955. Nor did he mince words about his sexual preferences, depicting himself as "a middle-aged pederast who's going to seed" in his journal. His relationships consisted in large part of a series of affairs with adolescent boys, some of whom became his life-long friends, particularly Attilio Guarracino
Attilio Guarracino
Attilio Guarracino , is an Italo-Australian migrant who is known for his act of heroism which saved several people during a storm in 1952.-Biography:...
. His exhibitions were raided by the Vice Squad several times.
Friend was well-known for studies of the young male nude, as well as his wit. His facility as a draughtsman may have contributed to the undervaluing of his work, which art scholar Lou Klepac said "always looked too easy – decorative, flowing and natural." In the mid-1960s, Robert Hughes
Robert Hughes (critic)
Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...
described him as "one of the two finest draughtsmen of the nude in Australia," and noted his humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and lack of sentimentality, while still maintaining that he was not a major artist. Barry Pearce, however, writing in the study which accompanied Friend's posthumous retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
in 1990, said that Hughes' judgement seemed harsh and called for a re-evaluation of Friend as an artist whose "contribution to the richness of Australian art is due for much greater recognition."
Friend also published a number of illustrated books, almost all in limited editions, which displayed the same wit and sensuality that informs much of his art. In 2001 the National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
began publishing the journals that Friend had faithfully kept since he was 14, and which chronicled in half a million words a life peopled with such artists as Drysdale, Margaret Olley
Margaret Olley
Margaret Hannah Olley AC was an Australian painter. She was the subject of more than 90 solo exhibitions.Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She attended Somerville House in Brisbane during her high school years...
, Jeffrey Smart
Jeffrey Smart
Jeffrey Smart , is an expatriate Australian painter, who is known for his modernist depictions of urban landscapes.His first goal was to become an architect; however, he went on to become an art teacher after studying at Adelaide Teacher's College and the South Australian School of Art and Crafts...
, Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, AO was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize...
and others.
Diaries
Friend's diaries were published posthumously from 2001–2006 by the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
in four volumes. Volume 4 dealt in part with Friend's time in Bali in the 1960s and '70s; publicity claimed "this volume confirms Friend's quicksilver creative brilliance and extraordinary insight. He is perhaps Australia's most important twentieth-century diarist."
Following the publication of Volume 4, accusations were made that the publishers had not been granted permission to publicly name some of Friend's sexual partners, who were minors at the time of their encounters with Friend. There were also accusations that Friend's paedophilia had been whitewashed
Whitewash (censorship)
To whitewash is a metaphor meaning to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data. It is especially used in the context of corporations, governments or other organizations.- Etymology :Its first...
by Australian art scholars.
Reported in The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
in May 2008, Bernadette McMenamin, chief executive of the child protection lobby group Childwise, said of Friend "He wrote diaries describing his sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
of children and yet Australia still looks the other way because he produced beautiful art." Speaking on ABC Radio
ABC Radio and Regional Content
ABC Radio and Regional Content is the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for radio output and regional content.-Origins:...
in November 2008, filmmaker Kerry Negara said of the publishers "instead of embracing those parts of the diaries where he talks about sex with children and adolescents as young as 9, 10, 12 years old in Bali, instead they decided to go down that route of denying it and even kind of turning Friend into a nice culturally accepted paedophile, at best." In November and December 2008, Negara's film about Friend's sexual behaviour in Bali was discussed on ABC Radio, in The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
and the Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
. The film A Loving Friend screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
in August 2009 and at the Canberra International Film Festival
Canberra International Film Festival
The Canberra International Film Festival began in 1996. All the films shown have been Canberra premieres, and many of them have also been Australian premieres.- History :...
in November 2009, and discussed again on ABC Radio in August 2009, where Paul Hetherington, editor of the published diaries, was quoted about Friend's art, writing and publishing activities as saying "I don't think that Friend behaved in ways which would attract criticism, or much criticism, from people today..."