David Newbury
(1925 – 2003)
It is necessary for an artist to realise
that there are many truths, that there
is not one clear road along which all
must travel to a common goal.
Nevertheless the artist must endeavour
to be himself, to find his own road,
to find his own truth.*
Metropolis Gallery is proud to present a major survey of paintings by David
Newbury, exploring the artist’s journey from late 1950’s abstraction
through four decades of impressionist paintings until 1997, when David’s
final works were created on his last trip to Venice. This exhibition comprises
works sourced from both his estate and private collections, with many of
the paintings having never been exhibited, and the majority will be available
for purchase.
David Newbury was born in Eltham in 1925, the son of important Melbourne
artist A.E. Newbury. He studied painting after World War 2 at RMIT and taught
there from 1955 - 59, followed by Bendigo Teachers College 1959 - 61 and
Melbourne Teachers College 1962 - 83. Among his students were Robert Jacks,
Peter Smales and Gareth Sansom.
From about 1960 David exhibited large abstract and semi-abstract paintings
at the Argus Gallery and Leveson Street Gallery in Melbourne and Barry Stern
Galleries in Sydney. The Newbury’s were living in Eltham at that time
and Barry Stern stated in his gallery’s invitation to David’s
exhibition that… David Newbury’s sensitively painted abstractions
of his peaceful surroundings reflect the spirit of this painter –
his sincere love of the soil – the turning of a season and all manner
of wondrous nuances of nature which city dwellers obscure in the hustle
of a city.**
David exhibited impressionist paintings at Leveson Street Gallery in the
1970’s and as a member of the Victorian Artists Society and the Twenty
Melbourne Painters during the 1980’s. He retired in 1982 and the Newburys
moved to Geelong in 1988 - closer to the coast he loved. He exhibited regularly
at Melaleuca Gallery, Anglesea for ten years from the late 1980’s
where he achieved much success, notably with paintings of Venice and the
coast and hinterland near Aireys Inlet.
So why did David Newbury make the big change in artistic direction from
abstraction to impressionism?
While still living in Eltham, David and Clare built a small holiday house
in 1967 at Moggs Creek, near Aireys Inlet. They had already been holidaying
there every year since 1957, and after his early pursuit of abstraction,
the changing atmospheric conditions where the land meets the sea may have
literally been a ‘breath of fresh air’ to Newbury: an invigorating
environment to which he could repeatedly return and challenge himself to
‘get it right’. Perhaps it was a calling from Amphitrite, goddess
of the sea, painted by David in 1962.
You must capture change. One day the landscape is violet, another it’s
bluer, or it has pinkness, its darker or lighter. Things change in front
of you.***
A number of artists gravitated to these coastal villages in that period,
and it was the norm for David to go painting regularly with artists Bill
Harding and the very supportive David Keys. Other artists and friends who
joined them at times were William Frater, Charles Bush, Max Sherlock, John
Borrack and Ray Woods.
You probably think landscape painters are those who go out into nature and
paint on the spot. That is how I see it too. However as a painter, you are
subject to every possible hazard. The landscape is at its best when the
light is about to change so you are at the absolute mercy of the weather,
the mosquitoes, the flies and the heat but the worst hazard of all, no matter
how careful you are to avoid them, is onlookers!
The opening approach is always, ‘Are you doing a painting?’
You mutter something politely and then they say: ‘Do you sell them
or do you do it for a hobby?’ From then on you get various comments
such as, ‘Look what he’s doing there, he’s doing a seascape
and, look what he’s mixing, that’s subtle: that’s turquoise.
That’s the same colour as our trailer. ***
Last year when I first spoke with Clare Newbury about David’s career,
we inevitably discussed the ups and downs of his exhibition history and
of the many successful shows that followed a dedicated time painting outdoors.
Apparently David insisted that an exhibition should contain no more than
twenty eight paintings. We began opening cupboards and drawers containing
paintings that span five decades of the artist’s life work and it
was exciting to find many that have never been exhibited, and early works
which haven’t been seen for over four decades. I quickly looked for
ways to explain to Clare that we would need just a few more than twenty
eight pictures to tell a thousand words!
David Newbury passed away in 2003 leaving a wonderful legacy of paintings.
Artists make art because it needs to be made and if their paintings are
auto-biographical, then this exciting collection not only reflects Newbury’s
early struggle to find his genre, but also his life as a family man, art
educator, world traveller and importantly his over-riding creative relationship
with the coastline near Aireys Inlet.
David Newbury is represented in collections of the Melbourne State College,
Burwood, Frankston, Melbourne and Toorak, and private collections in Australia
and the USA.
* David Newbury quoted in a 1960 exhibition catalogue: Peter Clarke, Arch Cuthbertson and David Newbury
at Gallery A, Melbourne.
** Barry Stern from invitation to An Exhibition of Paintings by David Newbury at Barry Stern Galleries, Sydney.
*** David Newbury from notes for an artrist talk given at Mitre Tavern c. 1985.
Robert Avitabile
Metropolis Gallery
April 2010