Rebels And Precursors: The Revolutionary Years Of Australian Art (SIGNED)
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: Second Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Signed
Condition remarks: Minor foxing to page edge.
At the heart of Australia's cultural awakening lies a story of radical vision, fierce independence, and artistic revolution — and Rebels and Precursors: The Revolutionary Years of Australian Art places that story front and centre with compelling authority. Richard Haese chronicles the turbulent period of the 1930s and 1940s, when a generation of bold Australian painters — among them Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, and Joy Hester — broke decisively from conservative traditions to forge a distinctly modern, and distinctly Australian, artistic identity. Set against a backdrop of global conflict, political upheaval, and intense intellectual debate, Haese details how Melbourne became the unlikely crucible of a modernist movement that would permanently reshape the nation's cultural landscape. Haese writes with scholarly precision yet manages to animate his subjects with vivid, almost novelistic energy, capturing the passionate rivalries, bohemian lives, and ideological battles that defined this era. The work argues persuasively that these artists were not mere imitators of European modernism but genuine innovators who translated existential anxiety and antipodean alienation into a powerful new visual language. Richly researched and deeply contextualised within the broader currents of 20th-century art history, this is an indispensable account that leaves the reader wondering just how much of Australia's cultural soul was forged in those few, electrifying years.
Author: Richard Haese
Format: Hardback
Published: 1982, Penguin Books
Genre: History of arts
Edition: Second Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Signed
Condition remarks: Minor foxing to page edge.
At the heart of Australia's cultural awakening lies a story of radical vision, fierce independence, and artistic revolution — and Rebels and Precursors: The Revolutionary Years of Australian Art places that story front and centre with compelling authority. Richard Haese chronicles the turbulent period of the 1930s and 1940s, when a generation of bold Australian painters — among them Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, and Joy Hester — broke decisively from conservative traditions to forge a distinctly modern, and distinctly Australian, artistic identity. Set against a backdrop of global conflict, political upheaval, and intense intellectual debate, Haese details how Melbourne became the unlikely crucible of a modernist movement that would permanently reshape the nation's cultural landscape. Haese writes with scholarly precision yet manages to animate his subjects with vivid, almost novelistic energy, capturing the passionate rivalries, bohemian lives, and ideological battles that defined this era. The work argues persuasively that these artists were not mere imitators of European modernism but genuine innovators who translated existential anxiety and antipodean alienation into a powerful new visual language. Richly researched and deeply contextualised within the broader currents of 20th-century art history, this is an indispensable account that leaves the reader wondering just how much of Australia's cultural soul was forged in those few, electrifying years.