Remembering Barbara – Legacy of an Adelaide Icon
Remembering Barbara and Union Street Printmakers’ Weird Adelaide pay tribute to artist, writer and printmaker Barbara Hanrahan who died 30 years ago at the age of 52. Burra Gallery’s unique collection forms the basis of the exhibition, showing intimate artefacts and memorabilia along with early and later prints and many of her novels. Precious works contributed by private collectors form part of the exhibition, and a group of prints for sale from the Hanrahan Studio is an opportunity not to be missed by anyone interested in possessing a small part of our art history and heritage. Interest has grown in these beautifully conceived prints tracking the cycle of life critically observed and noted in word and image.
A younger generaton of printmakers led by Tracy Crisp regard Adelaide through Barbara’s eyes, inspired by her series of articles “Weird Adelaide”, published in the Adelaide Review in the early 90s. It is exciting to see the strangeness of “place” interpreted again in the spirit of Barbara.
The exhibitions run to Sunday 6 March and the gallery is open daily from 10am to 4pm most days.
The BRAG Hanrahan Collection and associated booklet:
Born in Adelaide, Barbara the artist is remembered for her sometimes confronting but beautiful creations. She produced over 400 art works [screen prints, paintings, linocuts and wood blocks] during her lifetime and won numerous awards. Her works are held in most major Australian art galleries.
In 1963 she studied printmaking at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, and it was in London that she wrote her first novel ‘The Scent of Eucalyptus’, published in 1973. It won worldwide acclaim. Her vivid description of an Adelaide childhood evokes memories for us all. She went on to write 15 novels and was creating up until her death in 1991.
Barry Wright dated Barbara in the 1960’s and has written his memories of their relationship. In the 1970s, after the publication of her first book ‘The Scent of Eucalyptus’ Barry made contact with Barbara again. A friendship was renewed and he and wife Maureen had many happy meetings with Barbara and partner Jo after their return to Adelaide. During this time Barbara gave several of her works to the Wrights and these, together with earlier works given to Barry, and some purchased, form the original Burra Collection.
In 2017 Barry and Maureen Wright donated prints and memorabilia by Barbara Hanrahan to Burra Regional Art Gallery.
As well as 10 art works, the Collection includes copies of her 15 published books, personal items given to Barry, her letters from London, newspaper articles and hand prints of Barbara and Jo.
This story alongside reproductions of the works held and selected photographs of the letters and other ephemera is included in a beautiful newly published booklet available at Burra Gallery.
An excerpt
“Was there a sudden swooning when we finally met up again at her mother’s house one afternoon? No we were both in very good relationships and were just interested in catching up, so a renewed correspondence was the result. Everyone should shift abode from time to time as Maureen and I have recently and from one of the corners, some of those letters surfaced; hence the quotes. Maureen and I were still very much gypsies, like working on a station near Marree, mustering wild cattle, then having an alluvial gold mine on the same property. Barbara and Jo managed to visit us there, after I had convinced her that the bus travelled up in a day not several days as she had thought. I was tanning skins, so there were lots of bundles of salted fur on the floor of the shed I was using. This was a bit of a shock for them, even though I explained that rabbits, goats, foxes, and cats were vermin and I had a permit for some kangaroos. They must have discussed this to some length as a letter arrived stating that they disapproved strongly! How to reply, as it seemed to upset them enough to write about it. My reply from memory was along the lines that they stick to art and I would stick to ecology. They still remained friends. True friends are people you can have differences with and still remain friends.
When we became civilised and bought a wool buying business at Burra in the mid north, Maureen and I saw them often. We used to visit a chiropractor on King William Road, Hyde Park, not far from their place, so their’s was a coffee break. They drove into our backyard one day; a surprise, Barbara’s ancestors on her mother’s side came from the Burra area and Eli Goodridge, a great grandfather, is buried there.”
Finally an exciting development, during the process of borrowing works from private collections to be shown alongside the BRAG collection we were extremely fortunate to have two Hanrahan prints donated to BRAG by Christine Maher.