Russell Drysdale / Australia 1912–81 / Man feeding his dogs 1941 / Oil on canvas / 51.2 x 61.4cm / Gift of C.F. Viner-Hall 1961 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © QAGOMA

Russell Drysdale
Man feeding his dogs 1941

Not Currently on Display

Russell Drysdale’s art is one of synthesis; a process of absorption, long reflection and calculated refinement. Never a plein-air painter, he gathered his imagery in drawings and photographs, reconstructing the motif in the studio through the filters of memory and imagination.

The use of one-point perspective in Man feeding his dogs presents a stage-like quality. A combination of actual and implied convergent lines locates the vanishing-point on the central axis of the picture, level with the shoulders of the main figure. Manipulation of the vanishing-point — traditionally established on the horizon line and implying the viewer’s eye level — forces the horizon down into an ‘unnaturally’ low plane, accentuating the towering and wiry appearance of the man. Once we accept that Drysdale is providing us with a dog’s-eye view of the world, the figure in the distance no longer seems artificially telescoped back into space.

Intensity of colour is built through layers of underpainting, before working over these extensively with thin liquescent glazes of oil paint, fusing one into the other. Colour stresses a bonding between man and land, creating a reality more expressionist than surreal. The skin colour of the man is that of the surrounding trees. Like a chameleon, or a praying mantis, he is at one with his environment. As he lopes stoically into view, the man feeding his dogs seems to measure the isolation, boredom and hard yakka of the entire day.

Endnotes:

Based on Chris Saines, ‘Russell Drysdale: Man feeding his dogs 1941’, QAG pamphlet, 1985, and Chris Saines, ‘At one with his place’ in Creating Australia: 200 years of art 1788-1988, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1988, pp.180-181.

Russell Drysdale was born in England in 1912 to a family that had a long association with Australia’s pastoral history. As a child, Drysdale travelled to Australia twice, visiting his uncle at ‘Pioneer’, a sugar plantation that the family had owned since 1889, in the northern Queensland town of Ayr. In 1923, his parents settled in Melbourne, and later acquired ‘Boxwood Park’, a sheep station in the Riverina region of New South Wales.

In 1931, Drysdale attended the George Bell Art School in Melbourne, where he was introduced to the European modern masters; the following year, he travelled to Europe to study the originals. Venetian paintings were also an important influence on his work.

On his return to Australia, Drysdale decided to make painting his career and studied at the Bell-Shore School from 1935 to 1938. George Bell was the ideal teacher for Drysdale and gave him a deep understanding of the material, structural and design aspects of painting.

Discussion Questions

1. What do you notice about the way the artist has painted the dogs, the man and the trees? Why do you think he has painted them this way?

2. How do you think the man is feeling? Discuss what elements of the painting tell us about his mood.

3. What other animals do you think you would see in this outback location?

 

Activities

1. What kinds of things do you need to do to take care of a pet? Write a list of these activities and create a storyboard that illustrates a day looking after your pet, including the fun things you might do together.

2. Write a short story about the man in this painting. Think about when your story will begin and where the moment captured in this painting fits in. Share your story with a friend.

3. Download the CAC activity ‘Hybrid Animals’ by artist Mella Jaarsma. Use the templates to create your own hybrid by combining parts of different animals together. Will your animal look like a pet or a pest, or both?