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BADHAM'S
HARALD VIKE Exhibition
from Gallery Hours For over three decades, Harald Vike’s artwork has been consistently before the Australian public. There have been retrospectives at the Art Gallery of WA, exhibitions by dealers and commercial galleries. Numerous works have been offered and sold at auction and there have been large donations of the artist’s paintings and drawings, to collecting institutions across Australia. He is one of the few artists considered to be Western Australian, whose reputation is genuinely national. Collectors, curators, aficionados and the public in general, all seem to have an opinion about Harald Vike’s pictures. However, few know of the esteem the important artist, teacher and writer Herbert Badham held for Vike. In 1949, Badham wrote in his book A Study of Australian Art,(1) …….“He (Vike) arrived in Melbourne seven or eight years ago, and his eyes opened to all the city had to offer………… “ but his impetuous nature, excited by all he saw and heard about him, would not permit him to pledge himself to any one form of expression.”
Vike maintained his enthusiasm for most things new all his creative life. He worked in various styles including, impressionism; post-impressionism; modernism; abstraction and realism. In this exhibition and using his variety of styles, his subject matters include the aboriginal dreamtime; Greek legends; the Australian landscape and its cities; people at work and people at play; nature from desert to rainforest; children concentrating on the job at hand; blossom falling from trees in a manicured parkland and even a protestor battling the elements at the Frankland River blockade. Vike has used his abilities and powers of observation, to record all about him in the manner he saw fitting. His technique was much more diverse than simply being the follower of post-impressionism his audience became familiar with during the 70’s and 80’s. It wasn’t until after his death in 1987 that Vike’s multiples of style became wider known and it coincided with all the works forming his estate coming into the market place as a single package. That event caused an immediate commotion within sections of the art market. Agents contacted interstate dealers and local operators began to consult to various parties interested in acquiring the collection. The art world was abuzz with rumour about the progress on the disposal of the Harald Vike estate. Much of the rumour was fact, but most of it was fiction. Seven figure prices were mentioned and quantities of works in the tens of thousands were bandied about. The collection quality was a hot topic. Once again everyone had an opinion, this time it was about the wisdom of buying the Harald Vike estate. Some thought it was a good opportunity - others thought it wasn’t. The art market was in boom mode when the collection was finally sold to a company controlled by a group of local businessmen. At that time, record prices were being achieved at every art auction, commercial galleries were having sell-out exhibitions, amateur and professional painters alike couldn’t finish work quickly enough, demand was strong and quality was compromised. Art consultants began popping up like mushrooms in a country paddock and once again everyone had an opinion. This time it was about the excitement surrounding the art market. The boom was in full swing and it seemed as though it would go on forever.
The new owners of the Vike estate engaged experienced consultants and commenced to market the artist and his art. It started with a general exhibition, followed by a retrospective showing at the Art Gallery of WA. The retrospective had attached to it a well written and researched, extensively illustrated, notch bound glossy catalogue. Further exhibitions were organised locally and interstate and for a time, the business of Harald Vike seemed more important than the art of Harald Vike, and many in the art world resented it. The artists name was on everyone’s lips and one of the commercial galleries operating in Perth at the time had Vike’s works on their walls priced as high as $50,000. Unfortunately for the local businessmen all of the promotional activity surrounding the estate coincided with the start of, “the recession Australia had to have.” (2) The art market felt the recession harder than most areas of the economy and the effect was immediate. Auction turnover in 1990 fell to just 20% of 1989 levels (3) ; contemporary artists expecting sell out shows were struggling to survive, galleries closed their doors forever and the numerous art consultants went into hibernation, awaiting the next boom. Along with them all, Vikes artwork sales and prices also became a victim of the slow down. A number of years into the recession, the owners of the estate had to take a commercial decision. Sales were down, but holding costs were constant. They chose to dispose of the collection in a variety of different ways. The dispersal was handled discreetly and with aplomb, but within art circles rumours were spread and stories told. And caught up in it all, was the reputation of Harald Vike and his artwork. Posthumously he was linked to the investor purchase and the machinations surrounding it. We can only speculate where Vike’s greatest disappointment would lie, and being a former member of the Workers Art Guild (4) and a reluctant seller of his pictures during his lifetime, he would have probably found the developments most unpalatable. The business of Harald Vike finished almost a decade ago. Now the art of Harald Vike is the focus again. His pictures and drawings have continued to be offered across the Australian market through auction and exhibition. Watercolours of Perth have sold for $11,000 at auction (a hangover from the days when he was depicted as merely a recorder of topography) and his landscapes and self-portraits have found ready homes with collectors revisiting his work. His artistic prowess is to the fore again and the disposal of his estate in the late 80’s and the theatre accompanying the event, is now being looked upon as just an interesting sideshow. The varying styles that Vike used have been specifically chosen for this exhibition. They exhibit his versatility as an artist and further support Badham’s view of the artist’s prowess – hence we have titled the exhibition Badham’s Harald Vike. We have included the works that have a heavy impasto in addition to those that have focused on tone. Frieze like compositions are also on show as are his watercolours and drawings. The exhibition has not been themed to topography; portraits; landscapes or footballers et al. It has been selected to show-off Vike as an artist first and foremost, and one whom loved life and all that went with it.
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