Presented by City of Holdfast Bay
@Glenelg Town Hall – Bay Discovery Centre
FRIDAY 2nd March (until Jun 3)

If you don’t recognise Robert Hannaford by name, you must surely be familiar with that jolly bronze statue in a top hat and bow tie on the corner of Hindley and Leigh Street, or the sculpture of Sir Donald Bradman in the parklands outside Adelaide Oval.

Dubbed South Australia’s best known and critically acclaimed living artist, Robert Hannaford exhibits his brilliance once again in this unique chronicle of his life and work.

Previously unseen in Adelaide, Robert Hannaford Open Studio takes us behind the scenes and into the artist’s studio, drawing from his personal collection. Held at the Bay Discovery Centre in Glenelg’s historic Town Hall, this exhibition showcases both Hannaford’s well-known and rarely or never exhibited work.

Traditionally realist in nature, Hannaford’s works vary as greatly in media as they do in genre. His practice extends across portraiture, landscape, the human figure, nature studies and still life, with influences from European masters such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Turner. His works are a variety of oil paintings, watercolours, ink, pencil and charcoal sketching and bronze sculpture.

Curator, John Neylon describes Hannaford’s studio as the “engine room” for his life-long creative endeavour. ‘It is in part a physical space, the workshop in which ideas are translated into works of art. It is also a personal space, a way of imagining, thinking and working.’

He certainly succeeded in capturing the artist’s “personal space”. There is a woodwork sketchbook from Hannaford’s high school days, as well as a series of caricature drawings done whilst the artist was working as a cartoonist for The Advertiser in the 60s.

Hannaford was mentored by Australian painting greats Hans Heysen and Ivor Hele, and parallels to both are evident in his work. The landscape Gum trees Flinders Ranges, 1970s, for example, strikingly resembles Heysen’s signature gums, while his portraits and human figure sketches are technically similar to Hele’s.

Hannaford is, however, best known for his portraits. While proficient in all genres, it is clear that this is where his specialty lies, having won numerous awards including the Doug Moran Portrait Prize and the Archibald Prize’s People’s Choice Award (three times over). Perhaps the grandest and most famous piece in the exhibition is Paul Keating, 1997, a traditional (and formidably large) seated portrait of the former prime minister.

Portraits of Hannaford’s family members – his wife and children – also feature in the exhibition. According to Hannaford, ‘everything in nature (including human life) is interrelated; and art and life are inseparable.’ Much of Hannaford’s art deals with the notions of life and time, as evident in the two portraits of his daughter Tsering, 1997 and 2007, the first as a child, and the second as a woman.

While the bulk of the exhibition was situated on the ground floor, Hannaford’s collection of self-portraits was displayed in the Mezzanine Gallery, two floors up – obviously due to lack of space. While notified of this on entering, I (admittedly) almost forgot to continue upstairs. The exhibition would have been better served if all works were in a single space, as patrons may overlook the top floor, which included some of the best works in the collection.

Fortunately I did continue on, as Hannaford’s self-portraits are a must-see. The Mezzanine Gallery included a combination of his early to later self-portraits. Those of particular note were oil painting The Raiders, 1969-2010, a classical and dramatic scene of the artist himself on horseback, against the backdrop of an expressive landscape, as well as Wild Man, 1980s, a nude self-portrait in a jungle-like setting.

Robert Hannaford Open Studio is an intimate and unique insight into the life and work one of South Australia’s greatest living artists. Whether you are lover of his work or are just interested in local art, this is an event not to be missed.