Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney
Private collection, Sydney

EXHIBITED
Against the Tide: Robert Dickerson, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney, 19 October 2018 - 2 December, 2018

One of Australia's most recognised figurative painters, Robert Dickerson was invited to join the infamous Antipodeans in 1959. Establishing themselves as an important force, the group of artists – Charles Blackman, Arthur and David Boyd, John Brack, John Perceval, Clifton Pugh, Robert Dickerson and historian Bernard Smith - stood together in the midst of the growing trend of international abstraction to defend the tradition of the image in art.

The Antipodean group - formed as a direct result of friendships and connections – had one common intention: to respond to the growing emergence of abstract art. It was this connection of inner-city friendships that led Robert Dickerson to live and work in Paddington. The present work, In the Café, was completed in his Woollahra studio and is very much a typical, gritty, inner-city observation painting by Dickerson.

The figures, together but in isolation, amplify the urban environment. This is expressed in clearly articulated form and colour, simultaneously conveying isolation and empathy. The strong use of composition and perspective immediately direct the viewer to the main subject's gaze – is he comfortable on his own?

In the Café sees the typical Dickerson dwellers in their familiar surrounds. The isolated figures, the hallmark of Dickerson's early inner-city works, now transplanted to the more salubrious cafes of Paddington - this time in a formalist manner. The isolation and inevitable questioning of place still ever present.