Godfrey Miller

The Estate of the late John Henshaw

Godfrey Miller, Artarmon Galleries, Sydney, 2012, no. 36

Godfrey Miller’s paintings start with an often complex underlying grid which, over time and with carefully judged infilling, would evolve into an interpretable image – usually a nude, a forest, or a still life.  The biologists tell us that in the early stages of evolution, from zygote to embryo, it’s not possible to tell visually whether we’re in the presence of a future human, mouse or elephant.  Following that analogy this painting seems to be on the cusp of finding its way forward.  The dark vertical forms to the left might evolve into tree trunks; close comparisons include the Untitled Forest Series canvas in the Gippsland Art Gallery Collection or a similar Forest sketch in the TarraWarra Collection.  The more fluid horizontal form at lower centre is still too abbreviated to be discerned as a body – but the beginnings of a hip and a torso emerge after comparison with Nude and the moon, c. 1960 in the AGNSW Collection and Nude and the moon, c. 1960 in the TarraWarra Collection.  The dark form at centre right and the square and rectangle at lower right relate to Olympia, c 1942-48 (NGV collection) which followed a visit to the ruins of Olympia c. 1938 from which photographs taken by the artist are also extant.  In short, the painting is another of those tantalising cases where the subject is yet to resolve itself clearly yet still gives the impression that it would have in time - and will have if the viewer's imagination is able to flow.