This bibliography collates historical material referencing Australian artists involvement in the labour movement, from the 19th Century to the early 20th Century. Where permission has been granted these materials are available as digital files.
Presented with Reason in Revolt, edited by Max Kaiser and Nicholas Tammens.
Journals
- — Strife, Melbourne, Vol. 1, No. 1, October 1930
- Edited by writer Judah Aten and artist Herbert McClintock, only one issue published.
- Judah Waten; Herbert McClintock
- See: Merewether, 1977
‘“STRIFE” is another force added to the world-wide movement to uproot the existing social and economic order of chaotic and tragic individualism!’
— Art in Australia, Third Series, No. 38, June 15, 1931
(Special issue devoted to George Finey)
George Finey;
- — Catalogue, Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings of Jack Maughan, Workers’ Art Club, April 1932
- Workers’ Art Club (1932-1935); George Finey; Judah Waten; Noel Counihan; Communist Party of Australia; Jack Maughan; Jean Devanny; Ralph Gibson; Nattie Seeligson; Ernie Thornton; Bull Flanagan; Bill Dolphin;
‘In a class-society… the artist finally serves as an organizer of his social class. That is the meaning of the Workers’ Art Club slogan [ed: ‘Art is a Weapon’, nb. Phrase of Lenin]… only in a classless society, under socialism, will art cease to be a weapon and become purely a tool.’
- — Masses, No. 1, November 1932, Melbourne
- Publication produced by the Melbourne wing of the Workers’ Art Club, only one issue published.
- Workers’ Art Club;
‘Proletarian art gives expression not only to the essential humanity which can derive from the social class, the workers, but to the actual field of antagonism between the working-class and the anti-social ruling class. The Communist works to make complete and effective the social consciousness of the workers, and so for the struggle against capitalism; the proletarian artist strives to give expression to the spiritual renascence which has its roots in the struggle.’
— Communist Review, ?
— Saga! A Protest in Linocuts by the Worker Artists, Workers’ Art Club, Sydney, 1933
Workers’ Art Club (1932-1935);
— Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition Catalogue, August-September, 1940
Contemporary Art Society (Melbourne: 1938-);
— Studio of Realist Art (Sydney: 1945-)
SLNSW or SLQ
— Australian Labor Defender (1933-1936)
Available to photograph at SLV
— Trade Union Leader (1935-1936)
Available to photograph at SLV
— World Peace (1936-1940)
Microfilm available at SLV, special permission probably needed to photograph originals
— Comment (Melbourne, 1940-1947)
Available to photograph at SLV
— Angry Penguins (1940-1946)
Unclear if originals available at SLV
— New Theatre Review
Hopefully available at vic arts centre archives
— Proletariat : organ of the Melbourne University Labour Club, Melbourne University Labour Club [This scan courtesy of the State Library of Victoria], Melbourne, 1932-1935. Image PDFDetails
(Cover designs by?) fully digitised.
— The Great Divide: an ongoing critique of Australian culture under capitalism: reviews of oppositional cultural work and an examination of socialist models, edited by Charles Merewether and Ann Stephen, The Great Divide, 1977
NT has copy, will digitise
Single articles
— Paul Mortier, Art its origins and its social functions, Current Books Distributors, Sydney, 1955
(PDF) http://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/objects/pdf/b000097.pdf
— 'Australians fight coolie rates', The Australian author and artist: official organ of the A.J.A. Authors’ and Artists’ Section, vol. 1, no. 1, Authors and Artists’ Section of the N.S.W. District of the A.J.A.], Sydney, January 1947, p. 1&8. PDF
— Blake, J.D, 'The role of the artist today', Angry Penguins, Adelaide University Arts Association, Adelaide, October 1942, pp. 47-8. PDF Details
— Mortimer, Paul, 'Artists and the class struggle', Communist Review, February, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1948, pp. 59-60. Image PDF Details
— O'Connor V.G, 'Art and Fascism', Australian new writing, vol. 2, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, March 1944, pp. 47-52. PDF Details
— Reed, John, 'Anti-Facist art [sic]', Angry Penguins, no. 4, Adelaide University Arts Association, Adelaide, pp. 9-12. Details
— Shaw, R. M, 'The artist in our society', Communist Review, August, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1948, pp. 258-9. Image PDF Details
— “Finey’s Exhibition, (unsigned review), Worker’s Weekly, No. 476, Nov. 11, 1932, p.3
Review of an exhibition by George Finey featured in the newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia.
George Finey; Communist Party of Australia;
See: Merewether, 1977
- — J. D. Blake (Opening address at Anti-Fascist Exhibition, Contemporary Art Society of Australia, Dec. 1942. Republished in condensed form), Angry Penguins, No. 4, 1943, p.48
- Contemporary Art Society (Melbourne: 1938-); J. D. Blake; Harry de Hartog; Noel Counihan;
‘No artist can create anything of significance if he is isolated from the people, or if he tries to escape the stern facts of the people’s war against Fascism… The work of our artists must strike deadly blows against Fascism directly and above all by reflecting the heroic struggle of our people and our soldiers against Fascism’
Secondary
— Working Art, Ian Burn, Art Gallery of New South Wales, date
NT has digital copy
— Merewether, Charles, Art & social commitment: an end to the city of dreams, 1931-1948, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1983
Will digitise from UniMelb
— "Social Realism, The Formative Years", Charles Merewether, Arena, number 46, 1977