REVIEWS

TRANSLATION: Quality, beauty, originality.
The symbol is the artist's concept in the realization of her work: the essence of being is represented as a bronze mask stretched out by hands liberating it from the vision of the world or a pair of shears is shown metamorphosing into a pair of arms. Objects—Humans. This realization is personal; it is tied to a thoughtful aesthetic akin to that of intimism. Quality, beauty, originality – the compositions of Susan Dorothea White convey her frankness and openness to the onlooker.

Arstances (Nice) Jan/Feb. 2000

She is also a strong social satirist, particularly in paintings such as The Crowning with Sexism, which combines iconographic images of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio with a composition borrowed from Hieronymus Bosch, as well as in other Boschian extravaganzas such as The Seven Deadly Sins of Modern Times and The Seven Deadly Isms. The latter work is mounted on a circular table and comprised of several interconnecting compositions depicting such contemporary obsessions as Materialism and Workaholism in intricate figurative tableaux.

Susan Dorothea White's use of unusual materials such as endangered and recycled woods native to Australia contributes significantly to the effectiveness of her work, with the grain showing through her translucent glazes in her paintings and the surface skillfully carved in mixed media sculptures such as It Cuts Both Ways. In the latter sculpture, black and white clasping hands morph into lethal-looking shears, while in White's bronze maquettes for monumental fountains, natural phenomena are imaginatively transformed through the artist's fluid handling of shapes in space.

Gallery & Studio (New York), Andrew Margolis, Nov/Dec. 1998

Her rendering is simple and clear, readily interpreted; colors are clean and pure. Symbolism rather than situation portrayal typifies White's style. We are shown a man's bare feet on a tile floor beside a newspaper and milk bottles in The Front Verandah. To Let is similar. In it a man sits by an iron grillwork gate reading the paper. An ad torn from the classified section, a house number, and a page from the newspaper are composed behind and around him... here, too, the message is obvious. Blind is poignant with three blind figures making their way on what appears to be steps, possibly symbolic of cooperative attainment.

Humor, more pointed than funny, is the thread of continuity throughout Susan Dorothea White's art, regardless of medium. A case in point is The Long Arm of the Law. It is created with exactly what the title states... a very long black-robed arm extends out into the gallery room with a legal document in its hand! The table-top sculptures are sophisticated and titillating... Close-knit Family – family members' heads are "knitted" together... To Cut Both Ways – crossed scissor blades are sharpened on both edges... Shy Egg is attempting to conceal itself, and Stretching the Imagination depicts distorted features – stretched eye sockets.

Susan Dorothea White has exhibited her art consistently since studying at the South Australian School of Art. Her work has appeared in solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and international biennales in Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, China, Poland, Canada, Yugoslavia and France. Her work is in public, private and museum collections worldwide. She is cited in Who's Who in International Art.

Art Talk (New York), Dorothy Roatz Myers, July 1994

TRANSLATION: 'Female Disciples' at the Last Supper
An unusual interpretation of the painting The Last Supper is currently on view at Cologne's Am Buttermarkt Gallery: in this portrayal Jesus is a woman, an Australian aboriginal. Her 'female disciples' are sitting to her right and left: women from all corners of the world. Their feet reveal the social positions of the women – some are wearing shoes, others are barefoot. The Australian artist Susan White calls her painting The First Supper, which indicates clearly how far removed her concept is from the usual 'last supper of Jesus'. The exhibition of the Australian artist is currently showing in the gallery, Buttermarkt 23, until 11 April.

Der Weg (Cologne) Mar. 1991

The centre-point of her exhibition was a large work called The First Supper, which caused a great deal of controversy when it was first shown in Australia. It consists of thirteen female figures posed as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, with the Christ figure represented by an Aboriginal woman wearing a T-shirt adorned with the red, black, and gold Australian Aboriginal flag.

I asked Ms. White why she'd made the painting in this form.

Susan Dorothea White (SDW): Essentially, I did this painting for the Australian Bicentennial in 1988. It's a reversal of Leonardo's painting in every way, because they're all women instead of men, and the Leonardo has faces which are all very similar, except that some have grey hair, and Judas is dark. So I reversed everything and represented women from all different parts of the world, because in Australia we are a very multicultural society. And instead of a money purse in Judas' hand, Judas holds an Aboriginal dilly-bag, and whereas all the other women are eating bread-buns and have glasses of water, Judas has a hamburger and a Coca-Cola. And on the table I had a lot of fun, with food from every part of the world. I did a lot of research into the origins of fruits and vegetables.

NG: This painting caused quite a controversy when it was first shown in Australia because it was entered in a religious art exhibition.

SDW: Yes, it's a prize for religious art called The Blake Prize. It [the painting] was called by the critics, "a most excruciating piece of kitsch", which delighted me no end, because it is very good publicity and [because] the heading of his article was "Ludicrous Leonardo". And I thoroughly agree with him because...

NG: It's exactly what it is.

SDW: Yes. The idea of having thirteen figures on one side of a table is absolutely ridiculous. But it is a great – Leonardo's painting, of course – a great painting and it's a marvellous composition, and I learnt a tremendous amount by copying this. I actually copied the composition exactly, using a calculator so that the hands and heads and everything is exactly in proportion to his painting. And I just changed the faces and, of course, I experimented on the table and added a lot of different foods.

NG: It's quite a large work; it's more than two and a half metres long.

SDW: That's right.

NG: What about here in Europe? Was it also controversial when shown in Amsterdam and Cologne?

SDW: No. I found people really understood it. And people of all ages, from young teenagers through to really old people. And we had a colour poster made, and that is selling very well at the exhibition in Cologne.

NG: Now after the Cologne exhibition ends, the work goes on to Munich, I believe, and it will be shown permanently there.

SDW: Yes. A private person bought the painting. She said she would buy the painting on the condition that a public building could be found to display it; and she found that the Volkhochschule in Munich was willing to exhibit the painting, so that's where it will be.

NG: Your work seems to be more popular here in Europe than it is in Australia. Have you ever wondered why? You must have.

SDW: Yes, well everybody says that you're not appreciated in your own country. But I think there's more to it than that. I think it's because people in Europe, particularly in Germany, like to discuss a work and they like something to actually say something about life. And my subject matter is about people and human situations. A lot of it is to do with human rights issues. For instance, my woodcut Cry Freedom has been inspired by the struggle of black people in South Africa for equality, and the central figure is a female, and she is surrounded by oppression, with batons and boots and everything coming in around her in a circle. But she is very positive. She's looking up and out – her hands are facing out. I've also used this same theme in my sculpture – a sandstone carving of a woman – called Woman Oppressed – she's not an oppressed woman, she's a woman oppressed, but she's looking up and facing out. She's also torso-less, and this is my reaction to the kinds of ways you see women depicted, without heads and arms – they're just bodies. So I thought I'd make a sculpture of a woman without a torso. Her feet are huge, to contradict the idea that women should have small feet, which is part of our culture: Cinderella had tiny feet, and the Chinese bound women's feet. So it's a protest against these social stigmas.

NG: After the exhibition in Cologne closes, you then return to Australia, and your work, and then you're coming back here. You have an exhibition coming up in Holland again next year.

SDW: Yes, in The Hague. I'm not sure exactly when, but it will depend on when I'm able to produce enough work for the exhibition, too.

NG: That's rather important, too, because you said sometimes you spend quite a lot of time – The First Supper – you spent two years working on that?

SDW: Yes, well that took two years. But that also means that I have work that is in progress. Already, back in Sydney, I have several sculptures, and several prints towards completion, and one important painting which I've been working on for over a year, called The Seven Deadly Isms.

NG: That may be the centrepiece for the next exhibition?

SDW: Yes, that will be like The First Supper.

NG: Let's hope it's just as controversial. We look forward to it. Thank you for talking to us. And great success on your return. Her new work, of course, is based on Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Seven Deadly Sins. Painter Susan White, whose exhibition can be seen at the moment at Galerie am Buttermarkt in Cologne, Germany. Later the central work The First Supper will be permanently housed in Munich in the Volkhochschule's gallery.

Images, Radio Netherlands, Apr. 1991

Daarom is het interessant nu eens een tentoonstelling te bekijken van een Australische kunstenares die een aantal disciplines in zicht heeft verenigd: schilderen, etsen, lithograferen, houtsneden en het maken van sculptures in brons, zandsteen en hout. Het gaat hier om Susan White (1941) die o.a. aan de bovengenoemde academies een gedegen opleiding kreeg, waarbij de technische aspecten in de eerste plaats een extra accent kregen. Susan White kent in elk geval Europa. Zij nam deel aan een groot aantal tentoonstellingen in Duitsland, Frankrijk, Italië, Noorwegen, Spanje, Polen en Joegoslavië. Zij is nu met een solo-expositie voor het eerst in Nederland. Lezen wij haar curriculum vitae terug dan loopt er een artistiek spoor door haar familie, zowel van moeders als vaders kant. Zelf begon zij op haar zertiende landschappen uit haar directe omgeving te schilderen. Maar als kind was zij al zelden zonder tekenmateriaal.

Uit haar huidige werk spreken kunsthistorische gegevens die van invloed zijn geweest. Bijzondere aandacht voor de Italiaanse renaissance, maar ook voor de vroege Duits gotische beeldhouwkunst. Zij is vaak bij de geschiedenis te rade gegaan. Maar ook de ontwikkeling van de twintigste-eeuwse kunst heeft zij in gerichte keuzen gevolgd, met voorkeuren voor Max Ernst, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Frida Kahlo, Magritte, Redon, Bonnard en Gaudi o.a. Ook heeft zij grote bewondering voor primitieve sculptures uit Nieuw Guinea.

Vanuit haar eigen land Australië zijn er in haar schilderijen geheel persoonlijk vertaalde impulsen verwerkt. Een voorbeeld daarvan is het grote paneel: The First Supper, geïnspireerd op Da Vinci's 'Laatste Avondmaal'. Het paneel toont dertien vrouwen aan tafel, in dezelfde schikking als bij Da Vinci. Op de plaats van Christus zit nu een Aboriginal-vrouw met op haar t-shirt de Aboriginalvlag. De vrouwelijke discipelen zijn van vele verschillende rassen. Het werk zegt duidelijk hoe Susan White over mensenrechten denkt. Dat zij soms haar veelzijdige talent in dienst stelt van die rechtenstrijd moge hier vermeld worden.

TRANSLATION: Susan White — Multifaceted Work
Here we know relatively little about the visual arts in Australia. Yet this continent has some reputable institutes where young people receive a thorough education in the various visual disciplines. The South Australian School of Art and The Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney are two of these institutions. It is not surprising that in these schools, connections are made between the history of European visual art and the local influences, however great the distance may be in kilometres.

Therefore it is interesting to have the opportunity to see an exhibition of an Australian artist who combines a number of disciplines: painting, etching, lithography, woodcut, and sculpture in bronze, sandstone, and wood. Here we are talking about Susan White (1941) who received a thorough grounding at the above-mentioned academies where the technical aspects were given special emphasis. Susan White certainly knows Europe. She has taken part in a large number of exhibitions in Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Poland and Yugoslavia. She is now holding her first solo exhibition in Holland. When we read her CV, we see an artistic thread running through her family, both from her mother's and her father's side. She herself began to paint landscapes of her local surroundings from the age of sixteen, but even as a child she was rarely without drawing material.

The influence of art history can be seen in her current work, both the Italian Renaissance and early German Gothic sculpture. She has often drawn ideas from history, but has also been influenced by developments in 20th Century Art, especially artists such as Max Ernst, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Frida Kahlo, Magritte, Redon, Bonnard, and Gaudi. She also admires the primitive sculptures from New Guinea.

Into all this, she has mixed her personal influences from her homeland Australia. The large panel The First Supper – inspired by The Last Supper of da Vinci – is an example of this. The panel shows thirteen women seated at a table in the same arrangement as that of da Vinci. In the place of the Christ figure, there is an aboriginal woman with an aboriginal flag on her T-shirt. The female disciples are of many different races. The work shows clearly Susan White's thinking about human rights. It should be mentioned here that she sometimes places her many faceted talent at the service of the struggle for human rights.

Kunstbeeld (Amsterdam) Oct. 1990

Susan White hat das Skizzenbuch immer bei sich, und die vielen Notizen, die sie vom täglichen Leben macht, bilden die Grundlage für ihre Kompositionen.

Durch ausgedehntes Experimentieren und der Acrylmalerei auf Holz hat die Künstlerin eine Technik entwickelt, die feine Farbabstufungen und Farbtöne ermöglicht. Ein wichtiges Element dieser Technik ist das mehrmalige Aufbringen und Abschleifen von Farbschichten. Viele Arbeiten wurden auf dem Holz des Pazifikahorns oder der Australischen Zeder durchgeführt.

Die Drucke und Aquarelle werden auf sorgfältig ausgewähltem Papier gearbeitet, wobei vom handgemachten Japanpapier bis zum Europäischen Baumwollpapier alles zur Verwendung kommt. Die Drucke werden von der Künstlerin in beschränkter Auflage mit der Handpresse hergestellt.

TRANSLATION: Central theme is the human being
Susan White has a highly individual style of realism in which, just as in a fugue, the subject is treated several times from different aspects within the same composition. The subject matter is drawn from the family, the artist's experiences in her homeland Australia and in Bavaria, and from allegorical and historical sources. The human condition is an important element in the artist's work, as is evident in the lithographs The Retired Mechanic, The Empty Chair, Two, and The Children's Hospital. In many works, including the lithographs The Gardener's Dream, The Wishful Fisherman, and The Magic Pudding, the imagination of a person or the fantasy of a child is interpreted with a wistful sense of humour. Light-hearted irony can be discovered in Noah's Rocket and The Nun and the Knight on the Train to Rothenburg.

Susan White is constantly sketching from everyday life and it is from the many sketchbooks that she first extracts the material for her compositions. The artist is skilled in several different media, including painting and printmaking, and a major composition may be rendered as a watercolour painting, an acrylic painting, and a lithograph.

Through experimentation in the medium of acrylic painting on wood, the artist has developed her own technique that produces nuance in colour and subtle gradations in tones. The basis of the method is the application of successive washes of acrylic colour to the wood with light sanding of the surface between each wash. Many of these compositions are done on Pacific maple and Australian cedar.

In printmaking and watercolour painting, the artist works on different types of paper, ranging from Japanese handmade papers to European cotton papers.

All the graphic works are printed by the artist in limited editions on a hand-press.

Galerie Arndt (Munich), Dr. Anton Wernig, July 1980