MS 430

Papers of J. S. MacDonald (1878 - 1952)



Scope and Content Note

Papers

1918–52

1m (8 boxes)

Access: Available for reference

The papers were donated to the Library by Mrs Maud MacDonald in 1956 and 1962.

The earliest papers date from World War I. The bulk of the collection covers the last 25 years of MacDonald’s life, when he was a Director of two State galleries, an art critic and protagonist in various disputes about modern painting. He was a prolific writer of essays, notes and lists and the notebooks form the largest category in the collection. There are a few papers on the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board and the National Art Gallery of New South Wales and more extensive papers on the National Gallery of Victoria. A few diaries have survived and also several files of personal correspondence. The principal correspondents are artists such as Sir John Longstaff, Sir Lionel Lindsay, Sir Arthur Streeton, Hans Heysen and William Dargie and gallery directors and curators like L. Bernard Hall, Will Ashton and Daryl Lindsay.

The National Library also holds the papers of Sir Keith Murdoch (MS 2823). He was Chairman of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria in 1939-49 and his papers include several files relating to the affairs of the Gallery.


Biographical Note

James Stuart MacDonald was born in Melbourne on 28 March 1878. He was educated at Kew High School and Hawthorn Grammar School and then studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. In 1898 he went overseas and studied and exhibited paintings in London and Paris for several years. In 1904 he married Maud Keller and they lived in New York until 1910, when they returned to Australia.

In 1914 MacDonald joined the 5th Infantry Battalion of the AIF. He was severely wounded at Gallipoli but continued to serve in clerical duties until his discharge in April 1919. He studied the art of camouflage and was also a commissioned war artist during 1918. His first book The art of Frederick McCubbin, was published in 1916. After the War he gave up painting and began writing art criticism regularly for Art in Australia and the Melbourne Herald.

In October 1928 MacDonald was appointed Director and Secretary of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. He remained in the position until 1936 and was then appointed Director of the National Gallery of Victoria. He had strained relations with the Trustees, particularly the Chairman, Sir Keith Murdoch, who resented his ferocious attacks on contemporary art and the 1939 Herald exhibition of French and English painting. In 1940 the Trustees recommended against his reappointment and he was effectively dismissed in 1941.

In his retirement MacDonald resumed his work as an art critic for the Age and served on the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. During this time he was also active with the Australian and New Zealand Art Galleries and Museum Association. He died in Melbourne on 12 November 1952.

In addition to his work on McCubbin, MacDonald published books on Penleigh Boyd (1920), George Lambert, David Davies, and Australian landscape painters (1927). A collection of his writings, Australian painting desiderata, was published posthumously in 1958.

Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, pp.251-52


Series List

Series Title
1

Correspondence, 1927-52

2

Diaries, 1917-47

3

National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1928-49

4

National Gallery of Victoria, 1928-50

5

Speeches, 1939-49

6

Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, 1947-52

7

Writings, 1918-52

8

Miscellaneous papers, 1931-52


Series Description

Series 1 Correspondence, 1926-52

The correspondence mostly dates from the last twenty years of MacDonald’s life. The subjects include portraits by John Longstaff, MacDonald’s appointment to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (1928) and the National Gallery of Victoria (1936), relations with Trustees, offers of art works, art sales, exhibitions, MacDonald’s criticisms of contemporary art, his departure from the National Gallery of Victoria in 1941-42, Lionel Lindsay’s criticisms of the Sydney press, Sir Keith Murdoch, art competitions, Archibald Prize, experiences of official artists during World War II, MacDonald’s broadcasts and writings for the press and William Dobell’s portrait of Joshua Smith. The principal correspondents are L. Bernard Hall, Sir John Longstaff, Sir Lionel Lindsay, Daryl Lindsay, Sir Arthur Streeton, Will Ashton, William Dargie, Ivor Hele, Datillo Rubbo and Charles Wheeler.

Folder

  1. Letters from Dame Mary Gilmore (1938-49) and Sir John Longstaff (1929-38)
  2. Letters from Sir Lionel Lindsay (1927-47), Sir Arthur Streeton (1929-38) and Stan Smith (1936)
  3. Letters from James R Jackson, Napier Waller, L. Bernard Hall, Dora Wilcox, John Rowell, W. Lister Lister and others, 1926-30
  4. Letters from Hans Heysen, Dora Wilcox, W Maloney, L. Bernard Hall, John Shirlow, John Rowell, Norman Lindsay, Robert Menzies, Sydney Long, Will Ashton, Ida Leeson, Percy Grainger and others, 1931-40
  5. Letters from Daryl Lindsay, W.F. Bowles, Hugh McCrae, Tristan Buesst, Will Ashton, John Brackenreg, Sir Owen Dixon, Sir Bernard Heinze, William Dargie, Ivor Hele, Rev. E. Davidson and others, 1941-49
  6. Letters from Bill Bowles, Charles Wheeler, Patricia Excell and others, 1950-52
  7. Correspondence with Julius Kien offering paintings to the National Gallery of Victoria, Aug.–Dec. 1939
  8. Correspondence with John Galvin (Singapore) relating to the Ho Kom Tong Collection of porcelain and Chinese wares, held in Hong Kong, 1941-46
  9. Handwritten drafts of letters by MacDonald to Robert Menzies, Sir Owen Dixon, Lady Wavertree, newspaper editors and others, 1936-48

Series 2 Diaries, 1917-47

Only two diaries have survived, together with some fragmentary diaries recording MacDonald’s activities at the end of World War I. The 1944 and 1947 diaries have detailed entries and provide a good record of his activities.

Folder

  1. Notebook including diary notes, 1917-18
  2. Diary-letter written in Canada, Oct 1918
  3. Diary, with detailed entries, 1944 (written in a 1938 diary)
  4. Diary, with detailed entries, 1947 (last entry 13 April)

Series 3 National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1928-49

MacDonald took up the position of Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1929. He resigned in 1936 in order to return to Melbourne. This small series contains a few miscellaneous documents written or received by MacDonald as Director and also some later papers, mainly relating to the Archibald Prize. Some related papers can be found in Series 7.

Folder

  1. Catalogue of exhibition of contemporary French art (1928), draft of a broadcast about the Gallery, incomplete report of the Director (January 1930), notes of a meeting of the Gallery and Hanging Committee (n.d.), correspondence with W.H. Gill of the Fine Art Society about a Tom Roberts Memorial Exhibition (1931-32), drafts of letters to the press on criticisms of Julian Ashton (1933) and other papers
  2. Letter on duties and rights of Director of the Gallery (1936), typescript draft of 1937 annual report of the Trustees of the Gallery, 1938 annual report of the Gallery, lists of winners of Archibald Prize and other prizes

Series 4 National Gallery of Victoria, 1928-50

MacDonald was Director of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1936 to 1941. He kept a considerable number of papers relating to the staff, building and policies of the Gallery, the powers of the Director, relations with the Trustees, purchases, use of the Felton Bequest, exhibitions and the Art School. Most of the files contain a mixture of papers and there is often overlap or duplication between files. Further papers on the Gallery can be found in Series 7.

Folder

1.

Papers concerning alterations to the Gallery, 1937-40

2.

Correspondence and papers relating to collection of paintings and drawings sent to the United States, including letters of Sydney Ure Smith, Will Ashton, H.C. Richards and Theodore Sizer, 1937-41

3.

Notes on the history of the Gallery, copies of legislation relating to the Gallery, copy of a letter to E. Pitt on the loan exhibition of modern works (1937), reports on the National Gallery Art School (1939-41), correspondence about the estate of David Davies (1941), notes on directors of galleries and other papers

4.

Papers relating to powers of the Director and Trustees of the Gallery, its buying policy, copies of papers on Felton Bequest purchases, catalogues and other subjects, 1937-40

5.

Documents relating to the Felton Bequest purchases and an Illustrated Catalogue, 1928-41

6-7.

Minutes of meetings of Trustees and committees, agenda papers, reports and copies of correspondence between MacDonald and E. Pitt, 1936-39

8

Minutes of meetings of Trustees and committees, agenda papers, reports, copies of correspondence and newspaper cuttings, 1938-41

9-10.

Papers relating to Chinese pottery (Kent Collection), the National Gallery Art School, the Director’s office, pictures in the Gallery not in the loan collection, lending policy, country loans, art dealers in Melbourne, cataloguing of prints, A.O. Barrett Prize, conservation of pictures, 1936-41

11.

Minutes of meetings of Trustees, agenda papers, papers concerning acquisitions, valuations, the Felton Bequest, appointments, a lecture by George Bell and other matters, 1937-43

12.

Minutes of meetings of Trustees and committees, a Felton Bequest application, a published document about a landscape painting by Cézanne acquired under the Felton Bequest (1938), resolutions of the Commonwealth Jubilee Citizenship Convention, 1938-50

13.

Documents relating to an old Flemish altarpiece acquired by the Gallery in 1938, including an article on the altarpiece, handwritten notes by MacDonald on sculpture in the Low Countries, Retable of the Passion and a pamphlet on the care and cleaning of sculpture

14.

Papers relating to the Ullmann Collection of medieval scupltures and paintings, 1940-41


Series 5 Speeches, 1939-49

MacDonald gave many speeches and talks as a gallery director including broadcasts about artists by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1940 in a series called ‘Adventures in art’.

Folder

1.

Manuscripts and typescripts of speeches, lectures and broadcasts, including talks about the National Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Victoria and a lecture on ‘Pen and wash’, 1939-41

2.

Manuscripts and typescripts of lectures, including a speech on the National Gallery of Victoria entitled ‘After us the deluge’, c.1949

3-4.

Manuscripts and typescripts of broadcasts in the ‘Adventures in art’ series, including Goya’s ‘Portrait of a lady’, Tiepolo’s ‘The banquet of Cleopatra’, Jean Antoine Houdon, Tom Roberts, John Longstaff and Arthur Streeton and correspondence with Sydney Ure Smith about these programs, 1940


Series 6 Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, 1947-52

This small series comprises agenda papers, minutes and correspondence of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board during the time in which MacDonald was a member and Chairman. The letters are from Frank J. McKenna (Secretary of the Board), R.A. Hohnen, R.G. Menzies, R.C. Mills, Will Ashton and MacDonald.

1 folder


Series 7 Writings, 1918-52

MacDonald wrote numerous essays and compiled notes and lists containing details of Australian and overseas artists and schools of art, paintings, art criticism and many other cultural, literary, historical and political topics. Some of the material in this series is in notebooks and ranges from 1918 until his death.

Folder/items

  1. Manuscript and notes on language including a letter to the Radio Times (1948) about pronunciation and articles entitled ‘Word confusion’ and ‘Maiming the language’
  2. Notebook containing notes on moonlight (May 1920) and other subjects and pencil sketches
  3. Notebook arranged alphabetically on artists, concepts and terminology, mostly manuscript but including some cuttings
  4. Notebook arranged alphabetically on artists, concepts and terminology, including book reviews and other cuttings
  5. Notebook entitled ‘Contemporary art’ with newspaper clippings, particularly relating to William Dobell’s portrait of Joshua Smith, 1935-48
  6. Notebook arranged alphabetically on many subjects, particularly the activities of the National Gallery of Victoria and its Trustees, including some cuttings, 1929-41
  7. Notebook arranged alphabetically and dated 1941 with entries on miscellaneous subjects and notes on Australian landscape
  8. Notebook arranged alphabetically on miscellaneous subjects, including some cuttings, 1939-48
  9. Notebook about pronunciation of words, c.1945
  10. Notebook containing alphabetical listing of artists, critics, collectors, writers and other individuals and some subjects
  11. Notebook entitled ‘Biographical notes on Australian artists’, together with letters (1945-48) and newspaper clippings
  12. Manuscript and typescript articles entitled ‘Art for man’s sake, ‘The necessity for a Ministry of Arts’, ‘What should the children be taught?’ (1919), ‘Galleries – their physical shape, their governance and their sovereignty’, ‘Buying National pictures’, ‘Musical interpretation’ and other writings on art and photography
  13. Manuscript and typescript articles entitled ‘Fantasy’, ‘Lay judges’, ‘Words’, ‘Why a picture is great’, ‘The underminers’, ‘Picture criticism’, ‘Picture galleries’, ‘Notes on the observations and mixing of tones’ and other writings
  14. Manuscript and typescript articles on portraiture, ‘Art in the ‘88s’, ‘Why not Periphrastic sesquidpedalianism’, ‘Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson’, ‘Turandot’, ‘Australian landscape’, ‘Pen and brush’ and other writings
  15. Miscellaneous notes on art and some cuttings
  16. Notes and press cuttings on contemporary art and realism, including a typescript article by Robert Hartman ‘The anatomy of modern art’ and catalogue of Contemporary Art Society exhibition (1941)
  17. Files of notes on French art, ‘Genre’, Goya’s ‘Portrait of a lady’ and ‘The Jews’
  18. Files of notes on Leonardo da Vinci, ‘Van Eyck and the early Netherlandish Paintings in the Melbourne National Gallery’ and Tiepolo
  19. Lists of busts, notes on Australian art (including W.B. McInnes, John Longstaff, Ivor Hele)
  20. Chronologies
  21. Correspondence and article by MacDonald on Lionel Lindsay for the Print Collectors’ Quarterly (1932-33), three drafts of a speech on Tom Roberts, manuscript and typescript on Charles Wheeler (drafts and typescript)
  22. Manuscript and typescript articles including ‘Drawing for watercolour’, ‘Heysen’s drawings’, ‘Let there be sculpture by Jacob Epstein’ and other writings and cuttings
  23. Manuscript and typescript articles entitled ‘Still life’, ‘Relics’, ‘The migrations of art’ and ‘Chinese art’,
  24. Manuscript and typescript notes on ‘Greek art’, ‘Greek sculpture’ and notes on Early Christian, Gothic and Primitive art. The ‘Gothic’ folder includes three pencil drawings of horses.
  25. Manuscript and typescript articles on bookplates, ‘Colour’ and general notes on Australian art
  26. Manuscript and typescript notes on Egyptian and Assyrian art and English art
  27. Manuscript and typescript notes on the Flemish and Dutch School
  28. Manuscript and typescript articles and notes on Maud Sherwood, ‘Art and letters’, ‘Home to roost’, ‘Chartres windows’ and other subjects
  29. Manuscript and typescript articles and notes on the Howard Spensley Collection, H.B. Harrison, ‘Collectors’, Slade professors and other subjects and a roneoed article by MacDonald on the Jubilee Exhibition of Australian Art
  30. Manuscript articles and notes on ‘Australia floral and fauna differences’, ‘The Gods etc’, ‘Expression’, ‘Racial traits’, the role of the gallery and the trustees, and a portion of an article about English art critics, especially R.A.M. Stevenson.
  31. Typescript article about the National Gallery of Victoria and art (82pp)
  32. Incomplete essay on history of art, incomplete article on modern art, and other notes and comments
  33. Manuscript and typescript articles and notes on ‘Carnegie Survey’, ‘Australia in America: the gum trees of California’ (1926), ‘Canberra as it really is’, lists of paintings and other notes
  34. Manuscript and typescript articles and notes on ‘Thoughts on travel’, ‘The benefits of travel’ and ‘Playing safe’ (on the history of art), together with newspaper cuttings and miscellaneous notes
  35. -36. Newspaper cuttings and miscellaneous notes, 1933-45

Series 8 Miscellaneous papers, 1931-52

This series comprises papers on the Commonwealth Literary Fund and the Art Galleries and Museums Association of Australia and New Zealand, exhibition catalogues and photographs.

Folder

1.

Correspondence about the Commonwealth Literary Fund, including letters of H.S. Temby, Kenneth Binns, H.C. Richards and Lionel Lindsay, 1943-44

2.

Constitution, agenda papers, minutes, correspondence and notes of the Art Galleries and Museums Association of Australia and New Zealand, 1936-44. Correspondents include MacDonald, A.R. Penfold and H.C. Richards

3-4.

Printed catalogues of art exhibitions including exhibitions of contemporary Australian art (c.1931), Chinese ceramics (1939), modern British art (1940), W.B. McInnes (1940), Norman Wilkinson (1945), Rupert Bunny (1946)

5.

Curricula vitae, biographical notes, personal documents, financial papers, a letter written by MacDonald in France in 1918, letters to newspapers, notes about a pension and three Christmas cards, 1918-52

6.

Letters, roneoed papers, financial papers and cuttings, 1929-52 including a letter of Bill Bowles and 23 photographs of his sculpture and a letter and drawing from four artists from the Melbourne Savage Club (1939)

   
Folio

Photographs of MacDonald and his family and a drawing by Robert Southey of a young child


Box list

Box

Series

Folder/item

1

1

1-9

1

2

1-2

2

2

3-4

2

3

1-2

2

4

1-4

3

4

5-13

4

4

14

4

5

1-4

4

6

1

4

7

1-2

5

7

3-7

6

7

8-13

7

7

14-23

8

7

24-33

9

7

34-36

9

8

1-6

January 2000