Merioola Group
Encyclopedia
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. Lowe consciously encouraged artists, dancers, writers and theatre people to take up residence, forming a popular artistic community in the immediate post-war years. Those connected with the visual arts included artist Donald Friend
, Loudon Sainthill, (later to become one of the most prominent theatre designers of the twentieth century), Harry Tatlock Miller, (writer, critic and curator and subsequently the director of the Redfern Galleries, London), sculptor Arthur Fleischmann, artist and costume designer Edgar Ritchard, photographer Alec Murray, painters Justin O’Brien, Peter Kaiser, Roland Strasser and Mary Edwards, artist and later noted costume designer Jocelyn Rickards.
There was no 'movement' to Merioola, no manifesto, simply a post-war desire to celebrate life. Critic Robert Hughes
describes their output as "charm at its simon-purest," but notes that their 1947 joint exhibition under the Merioola Group label, "threw into relief the already substantial friction between the Sydney and Melbourne art worlds," the former poetic, light-hearted, tending towards the frivolous and decorative, the second socially conscious and self-consciously avant-garde. (The group considered to exhibit in later years, with changing membership, under the label of 'Sydney Group').
By its ad-hoc nature the Merioola Group were destined not to last, and by the mid-1950s its original members had left or were on the point of leaving, most overseas. But while it lasted Merioola provided an invigorating bohemian atmosphere, described by its chronicler Christine France: "In post-war Sydney, Merioola was probably the most exciting place to live. Justin O’Brien said, ‘I’ve never laughed so much, not at people but with people.’ Merioola was always full of visitors; both local and overseas artists would call in [and] the mix of creative people at Merioola often led to interdisciplinary activities. The dancers would pose for [Arthur] Fleischmann or Alec Murray. The artists would make sets for theatrical activities. And Harry [Tatlock Miller] and Loudon [Sainthill] and Alec [Murray] would combine their talents as editor, designer and photographer for Ballet Rambert and Old Vic programs."
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
-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. Lowe consciously encouraged artists, dancers, writers and theatre people to take up residence, forming a popular artistic community in the immediate post-war years. Those connected with the visual arts included artist Donald Friend
Donald Friend
Donald Stuart Leslie Friend was an Australian artist, writer and diarist.- 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...
, Loudon Sainthill, (later to become one of the most prominent theatre designers of the twentieth century), Harry Tatlock Miller, (writer, critic and curator and subsequently the director of the Redfern Galleries, London), sculptor Arthur Fleischmann, artist and costume designer Edgar Ritchard, photographer Alec Murray, painters Justin O’Brien, Peter Kaiser, Roland Strasser and Mary Edwards, artist and later noted costume designer Jocelyn Rickards.
There was no 'movement' to Merioola, no manifesto, simply a post-war desire to celebrate life. Critic 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:...
describes their output as "charm at its simon-purest," but notes that their 1947 joint exhibition under the Merioola Group label, "threw into relief the already substantial friction between the Sydney and Melbourne art worlds," the former poetic, light-hearted, tending towards the frivolous and decorative, the second socially conscious and self-consciously avant-garde. (The group considered to exhibit in later years, with changing membership, under the label of 'Sydney Group').
By its ad-hoc nature the Merioola Group were destined not to last, and by the mid-1950s its original members had left or were on the point of leaving, most overseas. But while it lasted Merioola provided an invigorating bohemian atmosphere, described by its chronicler Christine France: "In post-war Sydney, Merioola was probably the most exciting place to live. Justin O’Brien said, ‘I’ve never laughed so much, not at people but with people.’ Merioola was always full of visitors; both local and overseas artists would call in [and] the mix of creative people at Merioola often led to interdisciplinary activities. The dancers would pose for [Arthur] Fleischmann or Alec Murray. The artists would make sets for theatrical activities. And Harry [Tatlock Miller] and Loudon [Sainthill] and Alec [Murray] would combine their talents as editor, designer and photographer for Ballet Rambert and Old Vic programs."