Roy De Maistre
Encyclopedia
Roy de Maistre CBE (27 March 18941 March 1968) was an Australian artist of international fame. He is famous in Australian art for his early experimentation in "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abstractionism
. His later works were painted in a figurative style generally influenced by Cubism
. His 'Stations of the Cross' series hangs in Westminster Cathedral
and works of his are hung in the Tate Gallery
, London and in the Art Gallery of New South Wales
.
on 27 March 1894 into a home of high social standing in the then Colony of New South Wales. He was the youngest son of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre
(1832–1916), the thoroughbred
racehorse
trainer of the first two Melbourne Cup
winners; and the grandson of Prosper de Mestre
(1789–1844) a prominent Sydney
businessman from 1818 to 1844.
De Maistre was educated, together with his brothers and sisters, by tutors and governesses at the family home near Sutton Forest. In 1913 Roy was sent to Sydney to continue his music and art studies. He studied the violin and viola at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
, including playing the viola in the Sydney Orchestra. He studied painting at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales under Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo who encouraged interest in Post-Impressionism
, and under Norman Carter. He also studied at Julian Ashton
's Sydney Art School.
. It is a strange story as he was accepted three times after initially being rejected because his chest measurement was undersize. It is indicative of the great desire of the armed forces to procure men for the war effort (World War I) that they would have even considered accepting him once, let alone three times in short succession. And indicative of his great desire to serve in the war effort that he continually rejoined even after he had found himself too weak to cope with the workload. In May 1916 he was accepted for the first time but discharged a month later in June as medically unfit. He joined again one month later in July, but unable to cope physically at his own request he was discharged two months later in September. He joined yet once more one month later in October and was sent to the Field Hospital at Liverpool to train as a medical orderly. Then three months later in January 1917 he again requested a discharge as he felt that the work was beyond him. Due to his general weakness and debility his request for discharge was easily accepted. His general weakness and debility was due to tuberculosis
that he had been able to keep hidden from the army doctors, one of whom even described his illness as congenital. Each time he joined up his illness had beaten him, and he had been unable to continue. Tuberculosis was the reason why he had earlier given up any idea of pursuing a music career, and had turned solely to painting.
In 1917 he met Dr Charles Gordon Moffit from the Kenmore Hospital at Goulburn, with whom he was to work devising a "colour treatment" for shell-shocked soldiers by putting them in rooms painted in soothing colour combinations.
He developed an interest in "colour-music", the relationship of colour harmony to musical harmony. With his ordered, analytical mind, he applied the theory of music to painting. He worked with Adrian Verbrugghen, and then Roland Wakelin
to devise a "colour-music" theory. In 1919 he held a joint exhibition with Roland Wakelin titled Colour in Art to expound his theories. In this, at the time controversial. art exhibition the musician-turned-painter had chosen colours to harmonise like the notes in music. This "colour-music" exhibition became part of Australia's art-folklore as "pictures you could whistle". Influenced by earlier exponents of "colour-music" theory in Europe and America, this exhibition has since been identified as the earliest experiment in pure abstractionism in Australia. His colour charts, showing musical notes corresponding to different hues, are now owned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with "colour music" gaining a permanent place in Australian art history.
.
In 1922 he had his first painting purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, "Still Life".
In 1923 he went to Europe on a travelling Art Scholarship by the Sydney Society of Artists. He spent three years abroad, studying in London, and in France in Paris and St Jean de Luz. He also visited Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Holland. In 1924, whilst abroad, he patented the "De Maistre Colour Harmonising Chart", which was produced and marketed by Grace Brothers, a Sydney department store.
On returning to Sydney, he held one-man shows (1926 & 1928); contributed to annual exhibitions; conducted classes in modern art to private pupils from his studio in Burdekin House, Macquarie Street, Sydney; and organized in his house an exhibition of modern interior design (1929). From his family's prominent position in society, he helped to make modern art fashionable in Sydney in the late 1920s, or at least as fashionable as it could be. The anti-modernist criticism he received following his first one-man exhibition in Sydney convinced him that his art could not flourish in Australia.
(1930); at Bernheim Jeune, Paris (1932); Mayor Gallery, London (1934); and at Calmann Gallery, London (1938). His work was also illustrated in several editions of Herbert Read's influential book Art Now. In 1931-32 he returned to St Jean de Luz. In 1932-34 he visited Compiègne
. In 1934 he conducted a painting school with Martin Block. In 1936 he set up studio at 13 Eccleston Street, Westminster.
. The two men never became lovers, but firm friends. In Patrick White's own words "He became what I most needed, an intellectual and aesthetic mentor". They had many similarities. They were both homosexual; they both felt like outsiders in their own families (for example De Maistre's family disapproved of his painting and described it as 'horrible'); as a result they both had ambivalent feelings about their families and backgrounds, yet both maintained close and life-long links with their families, particularly their mothers. They also both appreciated the benefits of social standing and connections; and Christian symbolism and biblical themes are common in both artists' work. Patrick White dedicated his first novel Happy Valley (1939) to de Maistre, and acknowledged de Maistre's influence on his writing. He even went to St Jean de Luz during the writing of the novel under encouragement from de Maistre. In 1947 De Maistre's painting Figure in a Garden (The Aunt) was used as the cover for the first edition of Patrick White's The Aunt's Story
. Patrick White also bought many of de Maistre's paintings for himself. In 1974 Patrick White gave all his paintings by de Maistre to the Art Gallery of New South Wales
.
, London. In 1942 he was posted to Foreign Relations Department, British Red Cross Society. During this time de Maistre scarcely painted. After World War II, however, he had become an artist of the establishment. He had no trouble selling his paintings, and continuing to accept private commissions for society portraits.
Having many years previously changed the spelling of his surname to de Maistre, believing the modern spelling suited a modern painter, by the 1950s he had also added the name Laurent. He added this new name mistakenly believing he had royal blood through his grandfather Prosper de Mestre
supposedly via Julie de St Laurent, mistress of Edward Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria
. He had also changed the spelling of Livingstone to Leviston and then to Leveson. Eventually he also added the name Joseph, in acknowledgment of a connexion with the philosopher Joseph de Maistre
.
exhibitions. His work was bought for the Tate Gallery
and other art museums, and was frequently discussed in the writings of Sir John Rothenstein
.
In 1951 he was confirmed in the Roman Catholic faith. Religious subjects began after his conversion. His religious works stemmed from his profound Catholic belief in the truth of the images they represented, and his modern religious pictures were sought for public collections and exhibitions. In 1954 he began painting a series of Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral
. He also painted two triptychs for St Aidan's Church, East Acton. Besides religion his late painting often dwelt on interior intimacies of his studio home and its "artfully cluttered bric-à-brac". These included his finest works.
In 1954 he became a member of the London Group
.
(CBE).
On 1 March 1968 De Maistre died at his Eccleston Street home.
Abstractionism
See also Abstract artAbstractionism is the theory that the mind obtains some or all of its concepts by abstracting them from concepts it already has, or from experience. One may, for example, abstract 'green' from a set of experiences which involve green along with other properties...
. His later works were painted in a figurative style generally influenced by Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
. His 'Stations of the Cross' series hangs in Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
and works of his are hung in the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London and in 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...
.
Early life
Roy went by the name of Leroy Leveson Laurent Joseph De Maistre, but had been born as Leroy Livingstone de Mestre at Bowral, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
on 27 March 1894 into a home of high social standing in the then Colony of New South Wales. He was the youngest son of Etienne Livingstone de Mestre
Etienne L. de Mestre
Etienne de Mestre , a 19th century trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, was Australia's first outstanding racehorse trainer. In his 30 year career he experienced all the highs and the lows of the turf in a career which ended with him dependent on donations from racing friends.With the five wins de...
(1832–1916), the thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
trainer of the first two Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
winners; and the grandson of Prosper de Mestre
Prosper de Mestre
Prosper de Mestre was a prominent businessman in Sydney from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was French born, but also a "citizen of the world", who played an important role in the development of commerce and banking in the English Colony of New South Wales. He became a successful merchant...
(1789–1844) a prominent Sydney
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...
businessman from 1818 to 1844.
De Maistre was educated, together with his brothers and sisters, by tutors and governesses at the family home near Sutton Forest. In 1913 Roy was sent to Sydney to continue his music and art studies. He studied the violin and viola at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
, including playing the viola in the Sydney Orchestra. He studied painting at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales under Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo who encouraged interest in Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
, and under Norman Carter. He also studied at Julian Ashton
Julian Ashton
Julian Rossi Ashton was an Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney....
's Sydney Art School.
World War I
In 1916, as art-student Roi Livingstone de Mestre, he joined the First Australian Imperial ForceAustralian 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...
. It is a strange story as he was accepted three times after initially being rejected because his chest measurement was undersize. It is indicative of the great desire of the armed forces to procure men for the war effort (World War I) that they would have even considered accepting him once, let alone three times in short succession. And indicative of his great desire to serve in the war effort that he continually rejoined even after he had found himself too weak to cope with the workload. In May 1916 he was accepted for the first time but discharged a month later in June as medically unfit. He joined again one month later in July, but unable to cope physically at his own request he was discharged two months later in September. He joined yet once more one month later in October and was sent to the Field Hospital at Liverpool to train as a medical orderly. Then three months later in January 1917 he again requested a discharge as he felt that the work was beyond him. Due to his general weakness and debility his request for discharge was easily accepted. His general weakness and debility was due to tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
that he had been able to keep hidden from the army doctors, one of whom even described his illness as congenital. Each time he joined up his illness had beaten him, and he had been unable to continue. Tuberculosis was the reason why he had earlier given up any idea of pursuing a music career, and had turned solely to painting.
Painting
In November 1916, as Roi de Mestre, he first exhibited showing Impressionist paintings concerned with the effects of light.In 1917 he met Dr Charles Gordon Moffit from the Kenmore Hospital at Goulburn, with whom he was to work devising a "colour treatment" for shell-shocked soldiers by putting them in rooms painted in soothing colour combinations.
He developed an interest in "colour-music", the relationship of colour harmony to musical harmony. With his ordered, analytical mind, he applied the theory of music to painting. He worked with Adrian Verbrugghen, and then Roland Wakelin
Roland Wakelin
Roland Shakespeare Wakelin was an Australian painter and teacher, born in Greytown, New Zealand, who with Roy de Maistre and Grace Cossington Smith are regarded as founding the modern movement in Sydney....
to devise a "colour-music" theory. In 1919 he held a joint exhibition with Roland Wakelin titled Colour in Art to expound his theories. In this, at the time controversial. art exhibition the musician-turned-painter had chosen colours to harmonise like the notes in music. This "colour-music" exhibition became part of Australia's art-folklore as "pictures you could whistle". Influenced by earlier exponents of "colour-music" theory in Europe and America, this exhibition has since been identified as the earliest experiment in pure abstractionism in Australia. His colour charts, showing musical notes corresponding to different hues, are now owned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with "colour music" gaining a permanent place in Australian art history.
Inter-war years
After 1919 de Maistre virtually abandoned colour-music and abstraction, though in London in 1934 he reworked some ideas. His paintings of 1921-22 are experiments in impersonal, unemotional tonalism, and from the 1930s he turned to a more recognisably figurative style of work generally influenced by CubismCubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
.
In 1922 he had his first painting purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, "Still Life".
In 1923 he went to Europe on a travelling Art Scholarship by the Sydney Society of Artists. He spent three years abroad, studying in London, and in France in Paris and St Jean de Luz. He also visited Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Holland. In 1924, whilst abroad, he patented the "De Maistre Colour Harmonising Chart", which was produced and marketed by Grace Brothers, a Sydney department store.
On returning to Sydney, he held one-man shows (1926 & 1928); contributed to annual exhibitions; conducted classes in modern art to private pupils from his studio in Burdekin House, Macquarie Street, Sydney; and organized in his house an exhibition of modern interior design (1929). From his family's prominent position in society, he helped to make modern art fashionable in Sydney in the late 1920s, or at least as fashionable as it could be. The anti-modernist criticism he received following his first one-man exhibition in Sydney convinced him that his art could not flourish in Australia.
London
In March 1930 he left Australia to live permanently in London. He held one-man shows at the Beaux-Arts Gallery, London (1930); in the studio of his colleague Francis BaconFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
(1930); at Bernheim Jeune, Paris (1932); Mayor Gallery, London (1934); and at Calmann Gallery, London (1938). His work was also illustrated in several editions of Herbert Read's influential book Art Now. In 1931-32 he returned to St Jean de Luz. In 1932-34 he visited Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
. In 1934 he conducted a painting school with Martin Block. In 1936 he set up studio at 13 Eccleston Street, Westminster.
Patrick White
In 1936 De Maistre met the 18 years younger novelist Patrick WhitePatrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
. The two men never became lovers, but firm friends. In Patrick White's own words "He became what I most needed, an intellectual and aesthetic mentor". They had many similarities. They were both homosexual; they both felt like outsiders in their own families (for example De Maistre's family disapproved of his painting and described it as 'horrible'); as a result they both had ambivalent feelings about their families and backgrounds, yet both maintained close and life-long links with their families, particularly their mothers. They also both appreciated the benefits of social standing and connections; and Christian symbolism and biblical themes are common in both artists' work. Patrick White dedicated his first novel Happy Valley (1939) to de Maistre, and acknowledged de Maistre's influence on his writing. He even went to St Jean de Luz during the writing of the novel under encouragement from de Maistre. In 1947 De Maistre's painting Figure in a Garden (The Aunt) was used as the cover for the first edition of Patrick White's The Aunt's Story
The Aunt's Story
The Aunt's Story is the third published novel by the Australian novelist and 1973 Nobel Prize-winner, Patrick White. It tells the story of Theodora Goodman, a lonely middle-aged woman who travels to France after the death of her mother, and then to America, where she experiences what is either a...
. Patrick White also bought many of de Maistre's paintings for himself. In 1974 Patrick White gave all his paintings by de Maistre to 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...
.
1940s
In 1940 he started work for the French Section, Joint War Organization of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St JohnVenerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, London. In 1942 he was posted to Foreign Relations Department, British Red Cross Society. During this time de Maistre scarcely painted. After World War II, however, he had become an artist of the establishment. He had no trouble selling his paintings, and continuing to accept private commissions for society portraits.
Having many years previously changed the spelling of his surname to de Maistre, believing the modern spelling suited a modern painter, by the 1950s he had also added the name Laurent. He added this new name mistakenly believing he had royal blood through his grandfather Prosper de Mestre
Prosper de Mestre
Prosper de Mestre was a prominent businessman in Sydney from 1818 until near his death in 1844. He was French born, but also a "citizen of the world", who played an important role in the development of commerce and banking in the English Colony of New South Wales. He became a successful merchant...
supposedly via Julie de St Laurent, mistress of Edward Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. He had also changed the spelling of Livingstone to Leviston and then to Leveson. Eventually he also added the name Joseph, in acknowledgment of a connexion with the philosopher Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre was a French-speaking Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution...
.
1950s
He exhibited with the Royal Academy of Arts from 1951 and was represented in Arts Council of Great BritainArts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England , the Scottish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Wales...
exhibitions. His work was bought for the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
and other art museums, and was frequently discussed in the writings of Sir John Rothenstein
John Rothenstein
Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein CBE was an English art historian. He grew up in London the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was loosely connected to the Bloomsbury Set. John Rothenstein studied at Oxford University and became friends with T. E. Lawrence...
.
In 1951 he was confirmed in the Roman Catholic faith. Religious subjects began after his conversion. His religious works stemmed from his profound Catholic belief in the truth of the images they represented, and his modern religious pictures were sought for public collections and exhibitions. In 1954 he began painting a series of Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
. He also painted two triptychs for St Aidan's Church, East Acton. Besides religion his late painting often dwelt on interior intimacies of his studio home and its "artfully cluttered bric-à-brac". These included his finest works.
In 1954 he became a member of the London Group
London Group
The London Group is an artists' exhibiting society based in London, England, founded in 1913, when the Camden Town Group came together with the English Vorticists and other independent artists to challenge the domination of the Royal Academy, which had become unadventurous and conservative....
.
Awards and death
In 1962 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE).
On 1 March 1968 De Maistre died at his Eccleston Street home.
External links
See also
- Visual arts of Australia