Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 28 September 1939, page 18


TWO YOUNG ARTISTS ABROAD.

MISS JEAN BELLETTE arranging some of her paintings at the Macquarie

Galleries for her exhibition, which began yesterday. She and her husband, Mr. Paul Haefliger, have recently returned after four years spent studying art abroad. (Inset Left) : Miss Bellette's sketch of herself at her easel, "somewhere

in Europe."

(Right.)

MISS KATHLEEN

COLLINS, who has just returned, to Syd-ney after spending three years abroad, where she was engaged

in commercial art and

studied landscape

painting in oils.

(Inset Right.)

A SELF-PORTRAIT

sketch by Miss

Collins.

SKETCHING IN LONDON

AND EUROPE.

Advertising and Design

Two young Sydney artists have just returned home after spending some time in England and Europe. Miss Kathleen Collins has been doing newspaper and advertising display work with a London firm; Miss Jean Bellette, whose exhibition was opened at the Macquarie Galleries yesterday has been attending art schools in London and continuing her studies on the Continent.

"PARIS is the ideal city in which to

study art," said Miss Bellette, whose husband, Mr. Paul Haefliger, is

also an artist.

"Artists' materials are cheap, good work of every nationality may be seen, and everybody takes painting seriously. My husband înd I were in Paris during the crisis of September, 1938, and in the various studios no word was spoken about war or international relations, colour values, and the technique of painting monopolising the conversation."

Miss Bellette is a Tasmanian girl, who was educated at the Quaker School in Hobart, and

since her marriage four years ago she and her husband, who is also an artist, and will shortly give a one-man show of his work in Sydney, have studied painting in London and

in Europe.

Never Exhibit Together.

"ART is a strong bond between us, but it

could easily develop into a bone of con-tention," she said. "We have completely different styles, although we both follow the modern school, and criticism from either of us has to be dealt out with a very careful hand. We have made a rule never to exhibit our work together.

Mr. and Mrs. Haefliger gave no exhibitions abroad, but devoted their full time to study. They spent the first two years in London, where they attended art schools and worked very hard. "I advise any young artist to study in London before 'polishing up' on the Continent," said Mrs. Haefliger. "It is a good place to obtain thorough tutelage and cover the ground work without too many distrac-tions. Then for the formation of style and a study of the history of the art of various countries, time spent in France and Italy is

best."

She and her husband had an apartment in the Sorbonne quarter in Paris. "This is really the Literary quarter," she explained, "but it is the best place to work and meet interesting people in the world of art, as the far-famed Quartier Latin is given up almost entirely to tourists, especially Americans. I noticed that many Parisians speak English with a strong American accent, which sounds strange on a French tongue."

"My most vivid impression of Italy is the night of a Water Festival in Venice," she said. "The Italians seem to know how to enjoy themselves better than anyone else in the world. All the girls and young men in their very best finery promenaded up and down, or passed to and fro in gondolas all night, and it was strange to hear Beethoven played by orchestras in St. Mark's Square until it was nearly daylight."

Layout Artist.

MISS COLLINS, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Collins, of Roseville, has been away for three years. She assisted her father in the Smith and Julius Art Studios for some years before she ventured into the larger field of London. She was in London only ten days before she obtained a position as layout artist with the well-known studios of Askew and Younge, in the Strand, and she remained with that firm during her stay in London.

"The tendency in advertising layout is more and more towards simplicity in design," said Miss Collins. "The idea should be ex-pressed with simple motifs, and as there is a greater use of type faces in England than in Australia many Press layouts rely for their design on type only."

Although she was working at commercial art, Miss collins has experimented with paint-ing in oils during her stay abroad.

Landscapes in Oils.

"IT was a medium I hadn't touched in Australia," she said, "and now I feel that I want to pursue my landscapes in oils rather than work in black and white. I attended classes at the Westminster School of Art, where there are good models and good lighting, and during all my holidays in Europe I concentrated on painting. I spent so much time in Paris that I feel I could act as guide not only to the galleries but to the city itself; in Bruges I studied the work of the early Flemish painters, and was particularly fascinated by the triptyches.

"Women layout artists have rather a struggle In London, I think, because the more conservative firms still consider that women's place is in the home. I was par-ticularly fortunate in my work, and as an Australian I am sure I had a better all-round training than many of the English

artists."

Miss Collins stayed while in London with Mr. and Mrs. Norman Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd is an Australian artist who has been resident in London for a number of years.

"He has had several successful exhibitions in London, and he recently returned from a sketching tour in Morocco," said Miss Collins. "He tackles tremendous landscapes, and his African sketches included many from the Sahara Desert. His clear colour and definite design are the strong points of his style.