This exhibition catalogue was produced to accompany the Heide Museum of Modern Art exhibition of the same title from March - June 2017.Charles Blackman's compelling Schoolgirls series, produced between 1952 and 1955, marked a turning point in the artist's career, establishing his reputation as a significant painter of modern life in the postwar era. Through his evocative depictions of uniformed, often solitary schoolgirls in urban settings pervaded by menacing undertones, Blackman...
More DescriptionThis exhibition catalogue was produced to accompany the Heide Museum of Modern Art exhibition of the same title from March - June 2017.Charles Blackman's compelling Schoolgirls series, produced between 1952 and 1955, marked a turning point in the artist's career, establishing his reputation as a significant painter of modern life in the postwar era. Through his evocative depictions of uniformed, often solitary schoolgirls in urban settings pervaded by menacing undertones, Blackman explored the themes of alienation, vulnerability and innocence under threat. After they were first exhibited at Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne in May 1953, Heide founders John and Sunday Reed acquired several examples from the Schoolgirls series, reinforcing their position as the first major collectors of Blackman's work. This exhibition brings together for the first time more than fifty major paintings, including key works created in tandem with the series, and displays them alongside related drawings, prints, rare three dimensional pieces and original archival material from Heide's extensive Charles Blackman papers.