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== Training ==
== Training ==
From 1959 to 1963 Leveson studied design at [[Monash University, Caulfield campus|Caulfield Institute of Technology]] where she and sculptor Ken Leveson met while he was taking fashion illustration.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=3 June 1971 |title=They've no time for getting bored |pages=22 |work=The Age}}</ref> She continued studies at the [[National Gallery of Victoria Art School|National Gallery School]] 1959-63 and they married in 1966. In 1971 they were contemplating buying a nineteenth-century mill near [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Castlemaine]] "for another environment to work in."<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=3 June 1971 |title=They've no time for getting bored |pages=22 |work=The Age}}</ref> She undertook overseas study in 1974<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 February 1974 |title=The picture parade |pages=102 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> and 1976.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drury |first=Nevill |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/images-2-contemporary-australian-painting/oclc/932313824 |title=Images 2: contemporary Australian painting |date=1994 |publisher=Craftsman House |isbn=978-976-8097-69-9 |location=East Roseville |language=English |oclc=932313824}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Germaine |first=Max |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/dictionary-of-women-artists-of-australia/oclc/26591029 |title=A dictionary of women artists of Australia |date=1991 |publisher=Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor |isbn=978-976-8097-13-2 |location=Roseville East, NSW, Australia; New York, NY |language=English |oclc=26591029}}</ref>
From 1959 to 1963 Leveson studied design at [[Monash University, Caulfield campus|Caulfield Institute of Technology]] where she and sculptor Ken Leveson met while he was taking fashion illustration.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=3 June 1971 |title=They've no time for getting bored |pages=22 |work=The Age}}</ref> She continued studies at the [[National Gallery of Victoria Art School|National Gallery School]] 1959-63 and they married in 1966. In 1971 they were contemplating buying nineteenth-century mill near [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Castlemaine]] "for another environment to work in."<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=3 June 1971 |title=They've no time for getting bored |pages=22 |work=The Age}}</ref> She undertook overseas study in 1974<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 February 1974 |title=The picture parade |pages=102 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> and 1976.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drury |first=Nevill |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/images-2-contemporary-australian-painting/oclc/932313824 |title=Images 2: contemporary Australian painting |date=1994 |publisher=Craftsman House |isbn=978-976-8097-69-9 |location=East Roseville |language=English |oclc=932313824}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Germaine |first=Max |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/dictionary-of-women-artists-of-australia/oclc/26591029 |title=A dictionary of women artists of Australia |date=1991 |publisher=Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor |isbn=978-976-8097-13-2 |location=Roseville East, NSW, Australia; New York, NY |language=English |oclc=26591029}}</ref>


== Career and reception ==
== Career and reception ==
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"Good design wins out too often. These prints may contain intricacies but never real difficulties for the spectator. They do too much and make life much too easy with their bland matt colors. Pleasant enough and skilful in their decorative organisatiton, it's a pressure free art, demanding little and sustaining little. The exhibiion, one suspects, hides a better artist than it reveals. The shaped polyptych upstairs promises a curtness awaiting future delivery."<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCaughey |first=Patrick |date=27 November 1968 |title=Art |pages=6 |work=The Age}}</ref></blockquote>Later works established her as a colourist when in 1968 they were shown at [[Pinacotheca, Melbourne|Pinacotheca Gallery]], Melbourne, in a joint show ''Recent prints' 18 – 29 November'' with Alan Warren.''<nowiki/>'<ref>The Sun, 20 November 1968, p23</ref>'' Ruth Faerber in 1972 confirmed their lyrical quality;<blockquote>"Sandra Leveson uses an optical off-register dot pattern to create moire patterned surfaces in lyrical romantic color. Built up with a minute pointilistic technique, large silkscreen prints in editions, single canvases and double-sided glass images conjure up drifting recangular and diamond forms, structured by strongly contrasting stable and strict borders of flat color. Skill and sensitivity are superbly combined in works of restful elegance."<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Faerber |first=Ruth |date=2 March 1972 |title=Entertainment and the Arts —Looking In-Looking Out |pages=6 |work=The Australian Jewish Times |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page29403754}}</ref></blockquote>That emphasis led her [[Abstract expressionism|American Abstract Expressionist]]-influenced works of the 1970s, and first seen in Sydney in 1972<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lynn |first=Elwyn |date=4 March 1972 |title=Posters as art... |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1328840977 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=094 |issue=4796 |pages=36}}</ref> at The Holdsworth Galleries,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 February 1974 |title=Listings : Art |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1379313559 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=096 |issue=4891 |pages=42}}</ref> which in turn was adapted to her semi-abstract representation of expansive Australian landscape''.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ivory |first=Helen |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/30127657.html |title=Sandra Leveson |last2=Leveson |first2=Sandra |date=1993 |publisher=Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor |location=East Roseville, NSW, Australia; New York, NY |language=English |oclc=1202224003}}</ref>
"Good design wins out too often. These prints may contain intricacies but never real difficulties for the spectator. They do too much and make life much too easy with their bland matt colors. Pleasant enough and skilful in their decorative organisatiton, it's a pressure free art, demanding little and sustaining little. The exhibiion, one suspects, hides a better artist than it reveals. The shaped polyptych upstairs promises a curtness awaiting future delivery."<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCaughey |first=Patrick |date=27 November 1968 |title=Art |pages=6 |work=The Age}}</ref></blockquote>Later works established her as a colourist when in 1968 they were shown at [[Pinacotheca, Melbourne|Pinacotheca Gallery]], Melbourne, in a joint show ''Recent prints' 18 – 29 November'' with Alan Warren.''<nowiki/>'<ref>The Sun, 20 November 1968, p23</ref>'' Ruth Faerber in 1972 confirmed their lyrical quality;<blockquote>"Sandra Leveson uses an optical off-register dot pattern to create moire patterned surfaces in lyrical romantic color. Built up with a minute pointilistic technique, large silkscreen prints in editions, single canvases and double-sided glass images conjure up drifting recangular and diamond forms, structured by strongly contrasting stable and strict borders of flat color. Skill and sensitivity are superbly combined in works of restful elegance."<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Faerber |first=Ruth |date=2 March 1972 |title=Entertainment and the Arts —Looking In-Looking Out |pages=6 |work=The Australian Jewish Times |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page29403754}}</ref></blockquote>That emphasis led her [[Abstract expressionism|American Abstract Expressionist]]-influenced works of the 1970s, and first seen in Sydney in 1972<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lynn |first=Elwyn |date=4 March 1972 |title=Posters as art... |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1328840977 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=094 |issue=4796 |pages=36}}</ref> at The Holdsworth Galleries,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 February 1974 |title=Listings : Art |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1379313559 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=096 |issue=4891 |pages=42}}</ref> which in turn was adapted to her semi-abstract representation of expansive Australian landscape''.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ivory |first=Helen |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/30127657.html |title=Sandra Leveson |last2=Leveson |first2=Sandra |date=1993 |publisher=Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor |location=East Roseville, NSW, Australia; New York, NY |language=English |oclc=1202224003}}</ref>


However McCaughey continued to regard Leveson's work of this period, shown at Realties at the end of 1972, as lightweight;<blockquote>"They make all the right moves for seriousness. I mean they've got "color spread", "optical displacement" and even some cautious shaped prints. But we've all been dragged round this track too often for the moves to come off. There's not a twitch we can't predict, except one's own aghast grimace."<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |last=McCaughey |first=Patrick |date=13 December 1972 |title=Bauble and bon bon ring out the year |pages=2 |work=The Age}}</ref></blockquote>Daniel Thomas pointed out in her 1974 show at Bonython the link between Leveson's screen printing, through the use of stencils, with her painting, describing the effect in her "Optic Series" as "like looking at a pale Rothko through a flyscreen." Thomas noted that she was then selling works at around A$1,000,<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Daniel |date=7 February 1974 |title=Art swing to the extremes |pages=7 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> (equivalent to A$7,481.25 in 2022).
However McCaughey continued to regard Leveson's work of this period, shown at Realties at the end of 1972, as lightweight;<blockquote>"They make all the right moves for seriousness. I mean they've got "color spread", "optical displacement" and even some cautious shaped prints. But we've all been dragged round this track too often for the moves to come off. There's not a twitch we can't predict, except one's own aghast grimace."<ref name=":9">{{Cite news |last=McCaughey |first=Patrick |date=13 December 1972 |title=Bauble and bon bon ring out the year |pages=2 |work=The Age}}</ref></blockquote>Daniel Thomas pointed out in her 1974 show at Bonython the link between Leveson's screen printing, through the use of stencils, with her painting, describing the effect in her "Optic Series" as "like looking at a pale Rothko through a flyscreen." Thomas noted that she was then selling works at around $1,000.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Daniel |date=7 February 1974 |title=Art swing to the extremes |pages=7 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>


''Age'' reviewer Maureen Gilchrist summing up exhibitions of the year 1976 concluded that Leveson's at Realities gallery, with those of Lesley Dumbrell at Powell Street, were "the year's most compelling," her "large canvases, painted and then successively silkscreened with one of the dominant colors, achieves extraordinarily subtle effects of hovering, vibration and translucency. These lyrical works have such titles as ''Lesbos'', evoking a female consiciousnses.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gilchrist |first=Maureen |date=1 January 1977 |title=Women painters shine |pages=14 |work=The Age}}</ref> In April, Gilchrist reviewed the survey of ten years of the artist's work held at Melbourne University, and remarked on its evolution and the influence of her overseas travel to see [[Mark Rothko|Rothko]], [[Morris Louis|Louis]], [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]] and [[Claude Monet|Monet]];
⚫
[[Paul Taylor (art critic)|Paul Taylor]] noted that at her 1977 retrospective at the University of Melbourne Gallery, Leveson "juxtaposed gestural strokes with the screenprint grid and also painted with the pinks and the greens of the lyrical palette."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/anything-goes-australian-art-and-art-criticism-1970-1980/oclc/28991135 |title=Anything goes: Australian art and art criticism 1970-1980 |publisher=Art & Text : Distributed by Kingfisher Books |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-9591042-0-2 |location=Melbourne |pages=72 |language=English |oclc=28991135}}</ref>


In the earlier screen prints and acrylics Leveson was involved with optics and with creating a simple, clearly defined, geometric regularity. Gradually she began to relinquish this approach and is now attempting a far more complex unity. In the new canvases she begins with a brushy, gestural spread of colors, usually applied centrally, and then successively screens one of the dominant colors over these, employing a silkscreen technique. The effect is a series of semitransparent veils...The effect is as fugitive as an apparition, but it is not amorphous. The silk-screened veil of dots acts as a regulating device, a grid, balancing the fluid, spontaneously brushed gestures of the hand.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gilchrist |first=Maureen |date=27 April 1977 |title=Artist draws veil from 10 years' work |pages=2 |work=The Age}}</ref>
⚫
[[Sasha Grishin]], in 1978, reacted with a contrary view of her participants works at Susan Gillespie Galleries, Canberra; "Sandra Leveson's suite of four screenprints, 'Half Moon Bay' Nos | to 4, with its juxtaposition of photographic seascapes and soft pastel-like backgrounds, leads to nowhere and is executed with a professional slickness that leaves one uneasy."<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Grishin |first=Sasha |date=20 December 1978 |title=Varied quality from five women artists |pages=26 |work=The Canberra Times}}</ref>

⚫
[[Paul Taylor (art critic)|Paul Taylor]] noted that at her 1977 retrospective at the University of Melbourne Gallery, Leveson "juxtaposed gestural strokes with the screenprint grid and also painted with the pinks and the greens of the lyrical palette."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/anything-goes-australian-art-and-art-criticism-1970-1980/oclc/28991135 |title=Anything goes: Australian art and art criticism 1970-1980 |publisher=Art & Text : Distributed by Kingfisher Books |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-9591042-0-2 |location=Melbourne |pages=72 |language=English |oclc=28991135}}</ref>

⚫
[[Sasha Grishin]], in 1978, reacted with a contrary view of her contributions at Susan Gillespie Galleries, Canberra; "Sandra Leveson's suite of four screenprints, 'Half Moon Bay' Nos | to 4, with its juxtaposition of photographic seascapes and soft pastel-like backgrounds, leads to nowhere and is executed with a professional slickness that leaves one uneasy."<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Grishin |first=Sasha |date=20 December 1978 |title=Varied quality from five women artists |pages=26 |work=The Canberra Times}}</ref>


[[Alan McLeod McCulloch|McCulloch]] in 2006 characterised her style as "coolly restrained abstracts, which are often characterised by pastel blues and pinks divided by a horizon-like line."''<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=McCulloch |first=Alan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-mccullochs-encyclopedia-of-australian-art/oclc/80568976 |title=The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art |last2=McCulloch |first2=Susan |last3=McCulloch Childs |first3=Emily |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-522-85317-9 |language=English |oclc=80568976}}</ref>''
[[Alan McLeod McCulloch|McCulloch]] in 2006 characterised her style as "coolly restrained abstracts, which are often characterised by pastel blues and pinks divided by a horizon-like line."''<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=McCulloch |first=Alan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-mccullochs-encyclopedia-of-australian-art/oclc/80568976 |title=The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art |last2=McCulloch |first2=Susan |last3=McCulloch Childs |first3=Emily |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-522-85317-9 |language=English |oclc=80568976}}</ref>''
Line 38: Line 42:
* 1972, December: Realities, [[Toorak, Victoria|Toorak]]<ref name=":9" />
* 1972, December: Realities, [[Toorak, Victoria|Toorak]]<ref name=":9" />
* 1974, from 1 February: Sandra Leveson, paintings and prints and Gordon Andrews, jewellery and sculpture. Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney<ref>{{Cite journal |date=16 February 1974 |title=Bulletin Briefing : Art |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1379940306 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=096 |issue=4893 |pages=56}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Faerber |first=Ruth |date=21 February 1974 |title=Art : Moon Goddess |pages=16 |work=The Australian Jewish Times |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263203167}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Daniel |date=31 January 1974 |title=New Exhibitions |pages=7 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref name=":10" />
* 1974, from 1 February: Sandra Leveson, paintings and prints and Gordon Andrews, jewellery and sculpture. Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney<ref>{{Cite journal |date=16 February 1974 |title=Bulletin Briefing : Art |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1379940306 |journal=The Bulletin |volume=096 |issue=4893 |pages=56}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Faerber |first=Ruth |date=21 February 1974 |title=Art : Moon Goddess |pages=16 |work=The Australian Jewish Times |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263203167}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Daniel |date=31 January 1974 |title=New Exhibitions |pages=7 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref name=":10" />
* 1976: Realities Gallery, Toorak
* 1977, 26 April - 3 June: ''A Decade of Sandra Leveson'', Melbourne University<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leveson |first=Sandra |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/sandra-leveson-1967-77/oclc/272523444 |title=Sandra Leveson: 1967-77. |last2=University of Melbourne |last3=University Gallery |date=1977 |publisher=University Gallery, University of Melbourne |location=Melbourne |language=English |oclc=272523444}}</ref>
* 1977, 26 April - 3 June: ''A Decade of Sandra Leveson'', Melbourne University<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leveson |first=Sandra |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/sandra-leveson-1967-77/oclc/272523444 |title=Sandra Leveson: 1967-77. |last2=University of Melbourne |last3=University Gallery |date=1977 |publisher=University Gallery, University of Melbourne |location=Melbourne |language=English |oclc=272523444}}</ref>
* 1978, 4–18 August: Paper Works, with Peter Powditch, Powell Street Gallery<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 August 1978 |title=Paper Works |pages=37 |work=The Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262534276}}</ref>
* 1978, 4–18 August: Paper Works, with Peter Powditch, Powell Street Gallery<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 August 1978 |title=Paper Works |pages=37 |work=The Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262534276}}</ref>
Line 52: Line 57:
* 1971: ''A Decade of Australian Painting'', McClelland Gallery 1971
* 1971: ''A Decade of Australian Painting'', McClelland Gallery 1971
* 1973: ''Georges Invitation Art Prize''
* 1973: ''Georges Invitation Art Prize''
* 1975, 26–28 November: ''Artists For Labor And Democracy : An exhibition of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photographs''. [[Ian Armstrong (artist)|Ian Armstrong]], [[Asher Bilu]], Jack Courier, Peter Campbell, Liz Cross, [[Peter Corlett]], [[Noel Counihan]], Peter Cole, [[Joan Coxsedge]], [[Lesley Dumbrell]], [[John Davis (sculptor)|John Davis]], Neil Douglas, John Hopkins, Geoff Lowe, Vlase Nikoleski, [[Gareth Sansom|Gareth Sanson]], [[Ivan Durrant]], [[Dale Hickey]], [[Kevin Lincoln]], Keith Nicholl, John Scurry, [[Leonard French|Len French]], Mary Hammond, Sandra Leveson, John Neeson, [[Andrew Sibley]], Anita Furey, [[George Johnson (artist)|George Johnson]], [[Alun Leach-Jones|Alun Leach Jones]], [[Ailsa O'Connor|Ailsa O'Conner]], [[Douglas Stubbs]], Mike Field, Martin Jones, [[Donald Laycock (artist)|Donald Laycock]], Chris Pyett, Max Thompson, Bob Grieve, [[Robert Jacks]], Danny Moynahan, Laurie Peterson, Andrew Maclean, Craig Gough, [[Inge King]], Ted May, [[Clifton Pugh|Cliff Pugh]], Jennifer Talbot, Geoff LaGerche, [[Grahame King]], Vic Majzner, [[Lenton Parr]], [[Edith Wall]], Bill Gregory, Les Kossatz, Clive Murray-White, Richard Rudd, David Wilson, Helen Geir, [[William Kelly (artist)|Bill Kelly]], [[Jeffrey Makin|Jeff Makin]], Sweeney Reed, Patrick Geir, [[Roger Kemp]], [[Erica McGilchrist]], and others, at [[Toorak Art Gallery]]
* 1975, 26–28 November: ''Artists For Labor And Democracy : An exhibition of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photographs''. [[Ian Armstrong (artist)|Ian Armstrong]], [[Asher Bilu]], Jack Courier, Peter Campbell, Liz Cross, [[Peter Corlett]], [[Noel Counihan]], Peter Cole, [[Joan Coxsedge]], [[Lesley Dumbrell]], [[John Davis (sculptor)|John Davis]], Neil Douglas, John Hopkins, Geoff Lowe, Vlase Nikoleski, [[Gareth Sansom|Gareth Sanson]], [[Ivan Durrant]], [[Dale Hickey]], [[Kevin Lincoln]], Keith Nicholl, John Scurry, [[Leonard French|Len French]], Mary Hammond, Sandra Leveson, John Neeson, [[Andrew Sibley]], Anita Furey, [[George Johnson (artist)|George Johnson]], [[Alun Leach-Jones|Alun Leach Jones]], [[Ailsa O'Connor|Ailsa O'Conner]], [[Douglas Stubbs]], Mike Field, Martin Jones, [[Donald Laycock (artist)|Donald Laycock]], Chris Pyett, Max Thompson, Bob Grieve, [[Robert Jacks]], Danny Moynahan, Laurie Peterson, Andrew Maclean, Craig Gough, [[Inge King]], Ted May, [[Clifton Pugh|Cliff Pugh]], Jennifer Talbot, Geoff LaGerche, [[Grahame King]], Vic Majzner, [[Lenton Parr]], [[Edith Wall]], Bill Gregory, Les Kossatz, Clive Murray-White, Richard Rudd, David Wilson, Helen Geir, [[William Kelly (artist)|Bill Kelly]], [[Jeffrey Makin|Jeff Makin]], Sweeney Reed, Patrick Geir, [[Roger Kemp]], [[Erica McGilchrist]], and others, at [[Toorak Art Gallery]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Advertisment |date=22 November 1975 |title=Artists for Labor and Democracy |pages=19 |work=The Age}}</ref>
* 1977, 29–31 January: Brighton City Cultural Centre opening exhibition, with [[Roger Kemp]], [[Garry Shead|Gary Shead]], [[John Howley]] and others, Halifax St., Middle Brighton<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 January 1977 |title=Living Out : Happenings |pages=18 |work=The Age}}</ref>
* 1978, 12–22 December: ''Works on paper'' with [[Barbara Campbell]], Sandra Leveson, Kate Briscoe, [[Jenny Watson (artist)|Jenny Watson]] and [[Mandy Martin]]. Susan Gillespie Galleries, [[Manuka, Australian Capital Territory|Manuka]]<ref name=":6" />
* 1978, 12–22 December: ''Works on paper'' with [[Barbara Campbell]], Sandra Leveson, Kate Briscoe, [[Jenny Watson (artist)|Jenny Watson]] and [[Mandy Martin]]. Susan Gillespie Galleries, [[Manuka, Australian Capital Territory|Manuka]]<ref name=":6" />
* 1983: ''Australian Screenprints'', touring state and regional galleries
* 1983: ''Australian Screenprints'', touring state and regional galleries

Revision as of 00:21, 6 April 2022

Sandra Leveson
File:Leveson at Balmain studio.jpg
Born1944 (age 79–80)
Melbourne, Australia
EducationCaulfield Institute of Technology, National Gallery School
Known forAbstract painting, printmaking

Sandra Leveson (born 1944, Melbourne) is an Australian painter, printmaker, and teacher.[1]

Training

From 1959 to 1963 Leveson studied design at Caulfield Institute of Technology where she and sculptor Ken Leveson met while he was taking fashion illustration.[2] She continued studies at the National Gallery School 1959-63 and they married in 1966. In 1971 they were contemplating buying nineteenth-century mill near Castlemaine "for another environment to work in."[2] She undertook overseas study in 1974[3] and 1976.[4][5]

Career and reception

In the late mid-1960s Leveson adopted a geometric Op Art style in her early screen prints.[6][7][8] Of these reviewer Patrick McCaughey wrote;

"Good design wins out too often. These prints may contain intricacies but never real difficulties for the spectator. They do too much and make life much too easy with their bland matt colors. Pleasant enough and skilful in their decorative organisatiton, it's a pressure free art, demanding little and sustaining little. The exhibiion, one suspects, hides a better artist than it reveals. The shaped polyptych upstairs promises a curtness awaiting future delivery."[9]

Later works established her as a colourist when in 1968 they were shown at Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne, in a joint show Recent prints' 18 – 29 November with Alan Warren.'[10] Ruth Faerber in 1972 confirmed their lyrical quality;

"Sandra Leveson uses an optical off-register dot pattern to create moire patterned surfaces in lyrical romantic color. Built up with a minute pointilistic technique, large silkscreen prints in editions, single canvases and double-sided glass images conjure up drifting recangular and diamond forms, structured by strongly contrasting stable and strict borders of flat color. Skill and sensitivity are superbly combined in works of restful elegance."[11]

That emphasis led her American Abstract Expressionist-influenced works of the 1970s, and first seen in Sydney in 1972[12] at The Holdsworth Galleries,[13] which in turn was adapted to her semi-abstract representation of expansive Australian landscape.[14] However McCaughey continued to regard Leveson's work of this period, shown at Realties at the end of 1972, as lightweight;

"They make all the right moves for seriousness. I mean they've got "color spread", "optical displacement" and even some cautious shaped prints. But we've all been dragged round this track too often for the moves to come off. There's not a twitch we can't predict, except one's own aghast grimace."[15]

Daniel Thomas pointed out in her 1974 show at Bonython the link between Leveson's screen printing, through the use of stencils, with her painting, describing the effect in her "Optic Series" as "like looking at a pale Rothko through a flyscreen." Thomas noted that she was then selling works at around $1,000.[16]

Age reviewer Maureen Gilchrist summing up exhibitions of the year 1976 concluded that Leveson's at Realities gallery, with those of Lesley Dumbrell at Powell Street, were "the year's most compelling," her "large canvases, painted and then successively silkscreened with one of the dominant colors, achieves extraordinarily subtle effects of hovering, vibration and translucency. These lyrical works have such titles as Lesbos, evoking a female consiciousnses.[17] In April, Gilchrist reviewed the survey of ten years of the artist's work held at Melbourne University, and remarked on its evolution and the influence of her overseas travel to see Rothko, Louis, Turner and Monet;

In the earlier screen prints and acrylics Leveson was involved with optics and with creating a simple, clearly defined, geometric regularity. Gradually she began to relinquish this approach and is now attempting a far more complex unity. In the new canvases she begins with a brushy, gestural spread of colors, usually applied centrally, and then successively screens one of the dominant colors over these, employing a silkscreen technique. The effect is a series of semitransparent veils...The effect is as fugitive as an apparition, but it is not amorphous. The silk-screened veil of dots acts as a regulating device, a grid, balancing the fluid, spontaneously brushed gestures of the hand.[18]

Paul Taylor noted that at her 1977 retrospective at the University of Melbourne Gallery, Leveson "juxtaposed gestural strokes with the screenprint grid and also painted with the pinks and the greens of the lyrical palette."[19]

Sasha Grishin, in 1978, reacted with a contrary view of her contributions at Susan Gillespie Galleries, Canberra; "Sandra Leveson's suite of four screenprints, 'Half Moon Bay' Nos | to 4, with its juxtaposition of photographic seascapes and soft pastel-like backgrounds, leads to nowhere and is executed with a professional slickness that leaves one uneasy."[20]

McCulloch in 2006 characterised her style as "coolly restrained abstracts, which are often characterised by pastel blues and pinks divided by a horizon-like line."[21]

In 1980 after her husband accepted a professorship at the University of Sydney, Leveson relocated from Melbourne to Sydney, converting an old factory in Balmain for a large studio.[22]

Exhibitions

Solo

Leveson achieved early recognition and from 1967, then aged 23,[23] she held a series of solo shows in Melbourne's Realities[24] and Greythorn,[25] and at Macquarie Galleries in Sydney.[26][27] Others include;

  • 1962, to 29 November: Sandra Leveson, Pinacotheca, St Kilda[28]
  • 1972, March: Holdsworth Art Gallery[11]
  • 1972, December: Realities, Toorak[15]
  • 1974, from 1 February: Sandra Leveson, paintings and prints and Gordon Andrews, jewellery and sculpture. Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney[29][30][31][16]
  • 1976: Realities Gallery, Toorak
  • 1977, 26 April - 3 June: A Decade of Sandra Leveson, Melbourne University[32]
  • 1978, 4–18 August: Paper Works, with Peter Powditch, Powell Street Gallery[33]
  • 1994: New England Regional Art Museum with a tour of regional galleries
  • 1990: Exhibition of works by Sandra Leveson and David Van Nunen from the 1990 Artists' Camp organised by the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory[34]
  • 1995: Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery
  • 1995, June: Sandra Leveson : Impressions of the Landscape, Greythorn Galleries, Toorak[25]
  • 1996: A Decade of Sandra Leveson 1986-1996, BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide[35]
  • 2011: Sandra Leveson : painting of poise and passion, TarraWarra Museum of Art[36]
  • 2015: Sandra Leveson : painting of poise and passion, Macquarie University. Art Gallery[37]

Group

Commissions

Teacher

While resident at 23 Tennyson Street, Sandringham,[43] where she was photographed in 1970 by Paul Cox (lecturer at Prahran College) with her then husband Ken,[44] Leveson taught printmaking at Brighton Technical College. From 1970 to 1982 she lectured in Fine Art at the Prahran College of Advanced Education[45] where she was Head of printmaking 1972–82.[46][43] In Sydney Prahran College graduate Carol Jerrems made a sequence of photographs of her in 1974 for A Book About Australia Women.[47]

Awards

  • 1971: Corio Prize
  • 1972: Alice Prize
  • 1972: Trustees Award, Queensland Art Gallery[48]
  • 1975: Tasmanian Art Prize

Collections

References

  1. ^ [Sandra Leveson : Australian Art and Artists file], retrieved 3 April 2022
  2. ^ a b "They've no time for getting bored". The Age. 3 June 1971. p. 22.
  3. ^ "The picture parade". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 1974. p. 102.
  4. ^ Drury, Nevill (1994). Images 2: contemporary Australian painting. East Roseville: Craftsman House. ISBN 978-976-8097-69-9. OCLC 932313824.
  5. ^ Germaine, Max (1991). A dictionary of women artists of Australia. Roseville East, NSW, Australia; New York, NY: Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor. ISBN 978-976-8097-13-2. OCLC 26591029.
  6. ^ a b Leveson, Sandra (1970). "No. 1 Print, screen print". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  7. ^ a b Leveson, Sandra (1970). "Optic series D 1972". Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  8. ^ Burke, Janine (1990). Field of vision: a decade of change : women's art in the seventies. Ringwood, Vic., Australia: Viking. OCLC 1035485995.
  9. ^ McCaughey, Patrick (27 November 1968). "Art". The Age. p. 6.
  10. ^ The Sun, 20 November 1968, p23
  11. ^ a b Faerber, Ruth (2 March 1972). "Entertainment and the Arts —Looking In-Looking Out". The Australian Jewish Times. p. 6.
  12. ^ Lynn, Elwyn (4 March 1972). "Posters as art..." The Bulletin. 094 (4796): 36.
  13. ^ "Listings : Art". The Bulletin. 096 (4891): 42. 2 February 1974.
  14. ^ Ivory, Helen; Leveson, Sandra (1993). Sandra Leveson. East Roseville, NSW, Australia; New York, NY: Craftsman House ; STBS Ltd. [distributor. OCLC 1202224003.
  15. ^ a b McCaughey, Patrick (13 December 1972). "Bauble and bon bon ring out the year". The Age. p. 2.
  16. ^ a b Thomas, Daniel (7 February 1974). "Art swing to the extremes". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 7.
  17. ^ Gilchrist, Maureen (1 January 1977). "Women painters shine". The Age. p. 14.
  18. ^ Gilchrist, Maureen (27 April 1977). "Artist draws veil from 10 years' work". The Age. p. 2.
  19. ^ Taylor, Paul (1984). Anything goes: Australian art and art criticism 1970-1980. Melbourne: Art & Text : Distributed by Kingfisher Books. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-9591042-0-2. OCLC 28991135.
  20. ^ a b Grishin, Sasha (20 December 1978). "Varied quality from five women artists". The Canberra Times. p. 26.
  21. ^ a b c d e McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan; McCulloch Childs, Emily (2006). The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art. ISBN 978-0-522-85317-9. OCLC 80568976.
  22. ^ McIntyre, Arthur (24 September 1982). "Melbourne's loss is Sydney's gain : Interview". The Age. p. 14.
  23. ^ "Around the Galleries". The Australian Jewish News. 8 October 1976. p. 13.
  24. ^ "Around the Galleries". The Australian Jewish News. 15 December 1972. p. 23.
  25. ^ a b "Advertising". The Australian Jewish News. 16 June 1995. p. 26.
  26. ^ Leveson, Sandra; Macquarie Galleries (1989). Sandra Leveson. Sydney: Macquarie Galleries. ISBN 978-1-875365-00-5. OCLC 220431481.
  27. ^ Bottrell, Fay; Stacey, Wesley (1977). The artist craftsman in Australia. Ultimo, N.S.W.: Murray. ISBN 978-0-909950-64-4. OCLC 29005292.
  28. ^ "Age guide to entertainment & arts". The Age. 22 November 1968. p. 17.
  29. ^ "Bulletin Briefing : Art". The Bulletin. 096 (4893): 56. 16 February 1974.
  30. ^ Faerber, Ruth (21 February 1974). "Art : Moon Goddess". The Australian Jewish Times. p. 16.
  31. ^ Thomas, Daniel (31 January 1974). "New Exhibitions". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 7.
  32. ^ Leveson, Sandra; University of Melbourne; University Gallery (1977). Sandra Leveson: 1967-77. Melbourne: University Gallery, University of Melbourne. OCLC 272523444.
  33. ^ "Paper Works". The Australian Jewish News. 4 August 1978. p. 37.
  34. ^ a b Leveson, Sandra; Van Nunen, David; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (1991). Artists in Kakadu, 1990. Darwin: Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory. OCLC 951486757.
  35. ^ Leveson, Sandra; BMGArt (Gallery) (1996). Sandra Leveson: decade of Sandra Leveson, 1986-1996. Adelaide: BMG Art. OCLC 222171367.
  36. ^ Leveson, Sandra; TarraWarra Museum of Art (2011). Sandra Leveson: painting of poise and passion. Healesville, Vic.: TarraWarra Museum of Art. OCLC 773612209.
  37. ^ Leveson, Sandra; Hargraves, Kate; Janiszewski, Leonard; Pinson, Peter; Macquarie University; Art Gallery (2015). Sandra Leveson: paintings of poise and passion : 17 June-31 July 2015. ISBN 978-1-74138-433-8. OCLC 918906104.
  38. ^ Advertisment (22 November 1975). "Artists for Labor and Democracy". The Age. p. 19.
  39. ^ "Living Out : Happenings". The Age. 28 January 1977. p. 18.
  40. ^ Eisenberg, Joseph (1988). Contemporary views of New England: Cressida Campbell, Sandra Leveson, Max Miller, Angus Nivison, Ann Thomson, Guy Warren. Armidale: New England Regional Art Museum. ISBN 978-0-9592749-9-8. OCLC 222028410.
  41. ^ a b Dingle, Max; Shoalhaven City Arts Centre (Nowra, N.S.W.) (2012). Less is More - More or Less: from the M G Dingle & G B Hughes Collection. Nowra, N.S.W.: Shoalhaven City Arts Centre. ISBN 978-0-646-57149-2. OCLC 785984364.
  42. ^ Veitch, Carol (30 August 1978). "Melbourne's paintings on wheels : When the decorated trams take to the tracks more than a few heads will turn". The Australian Women's Weekly: 31.
  43. ^ a b De_Groen, Geoffrey; Mackinnon, Leah (1978). Conversations with australian artists. Melbourne: Quartet Melbourne. ISBN 978-0-908128-00-6. OCLC 963500747.
  44. ^ "Sandringham (Tony Ward, Ingrid, Sandra Leveson, Ken Leveson, Jan Hurrell)". www.mga.org.au. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  45. ^ "Art at College". The Australian Jewish News. 7 November 1975. p. 23.
  46. ^ Buckrich, Judith Raphael (2007). Design for living: a history of 'Prahran Tech'. Windsor, Vic.: Prahran Mechanics' Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-9756000-8-5. OCLC 225572527.
  47. ^ Fraser, Virginia; Jerrems, Carol (1974). A Book about Australian women. North Fitzroy, Vic.: Outback Press. ISBN 978-0-86888-007-5. OCLC 1365981.
  48. ^ "In Brief". The Canberra Times. 13 October 1972. p. 3.
  49. ^ "Dionysus, 1975-1976 by Sandra Leveson". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  50. ^ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "About the Parliament House art collection". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  51. ^ "A Lasting Impression". ICCSydney. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  52. ^ "Bulletin Briefing : Art". The Bulletin. 096 (4897): 49. 16 March 1974.
  53. ^ "Newcastle Art Gallery". newcastle-collections.ncc.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
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