Roy de MAISTRE

Australian 1894–1968
worked in England and France 1923–25, England 1930–68

Syncromy, Berry’s Bay, 1919, belongs to the artist’s small group of highly important images produced between 1918 and 1920 that explored the expressive and spiritual qualities of colour. Several were included in de Maistre’s joint exhibition with Roland Wakelin at Gayfield Shaw’s Art Salon in August 1919, and although depicting naturalistic scenes, they are characterised by a simplification of form, flattened space, and high-keyed, non-representational colour. In the catalogue introduction, de Maistre stated:

What is Colour? Many accept it unquestionably, a few, I believe, are almost unconscious of its presence— for others it constitutes an aesthetic pleasure of an interesting scientific phenomenon—the result of light vibrations acting upon their optic nerves. But there are many for whom Colour means far more than this—to them it brings the conscious realisation of the deepest underlying principles of nature, and in it they find deep and lasting happiness—for those people it constitutes the very song of life and is, as it were, the spiritual speech of every living thing.1

Connecting colour with music, de Maistre placed the seven colours of the rainbow against the notes of the scale. Yellow was C, and the scale of C major was called ‘yellow major’. Higher octaves were brighter colours, and the lower were darker. The press wrote with admiration, ‘In Sydney there is a young artist who can stand before any of his pictures and whistle it, or play its theme on a piano’.2

1 Roy de Maistre, ‘Colour in Art’, lecture, Sydney, 8 August 1919.

2 Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 1919, p. 8.

Geoffrey Smith

In his fragmented and abstracted canvases, de Maistre attempted to show aspects of everyday life in a fresh manner. Painted several years later, Abstract composition, 1936, is further reduced in colour, yet also suggests a similar theme of a reclining figure. The original frame, which incorporates polished brass, completes the overall minimal effect and typifies de Maistre’s interest in creating highly stylised and sophisticated images that at times proved perplexing to his admirers:

The first time I went to see him I felt I was embarking on a voyage of discovery. The narrow, white boarding of the studio walls together with white curtains did in fact suggest an actual ship. Through the great windows along one side, a sooty, fog-bound yard became in my eyes a mystic garden. There was an austere minimum of furniture. As for the paintings I hardly dared look in their direction after realising I understood nothing about them.5

1  P. White, Flaws in the Glass: A Self Portrait, London, 1981, p. 59.

Geoffrey Smith

Reclining figure, 1933, shows the interior of de Maistre’s London studio. Typical of the artist’s working method, the severely abstracted composition is based on an earlier more representational version.3 From this image we are able to identify the figure as a woman with grey hair, dressed in a blue-buttoned vest with dark blue sleeves. She rests on a large, high-backed sofa that was designed by Francis Bacon, and commented upon by many visitors to de Maistre’s studio as being the most uncomfortable thing they ever sat on!4 With legs covered by a black blanket and propped against an orange cushion, she lies on a green-tasselled rug, reading a book that is placed on the small adjacent table.

1  Figure on a sofa, c. 1933. Pastel on paper, 47.5 x 59.0 cm. Private collection.

2  H. Johnson, Roy de Maistre: The English Years 1930–1968, Roseville East, New South Wales, 1995, p. 28.

Geoffrey Smith