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Arts & Communication Realist art of Kenneth Jack and rural towns

subject in what Adorno would call the high art not safe Allen writes that Eugene von Guérard’s painting, Stony
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for consumption or so overly simplified that viewers do Rises, Lake Corangamite (1857), depicts the romanticized
not need to think. Although Jack’s work can be considered view of the Aboriginal people as being fully at home
realistic, in at least one sense, it is not oversimplified as in their land while also suggesting that their lifestyle is
considerable thought went into shading choices, color on borrowed time due to the arrival of Europeans and
choices, angles, and vistas, and what to include and “civilization.” The painting depicts a sunset, which Allen
exclude. Eagleton highlights that absences and gaps can sees as symbolic of the fading away and disappearance of
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reflect ideology as the gaps may exclude what society does the Aboriginal traditional lifestyle, at least the ones closer
not want seen or said. Rothenberg’s somewhat extreme to the urban areas. He also references the “melancholy
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or idealist position that “symbolist or expressionist forms glow” of the sunset paintings of the Heidelberg School
of art […] are not ideological” runs contrary to Wolff’s of Australian impressionists . By contrast, Jack very often
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view, reflecting Althusser’s theory of ideology that all art is paints midday and labels it as such to suggest timelessness
imbued with ideological aspects. Rothenberg also argues, and tranquility and a sustainable way of life. It is still highly
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inconsistently perhaps, that abstract art is more complex to plausible that the paintings can still function as ideology, in
understand than realist art and thus knowledge of abstract terms of promoting a rural lifestyle.
art is something that elite parents can teach their children,
thereby increasing their cultural capital. 64 5. The invisible community that speaks to
Although some of Jack’s paintings are clearly done our consciousness
in the early morning or dusk, others are plainly titled To me, people speak by their absence in Jack’s work. If
“Midday” or “Noon.” 65,66 Furthermore, in Jack’s discussion they were present (in numbers), then they might be taken
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of one of his paintings, he mentions characters sheltering for granted and their very presence might even become
from the midday sun. The typical lack of vehicles and annoying (in art as in real-life). On the other hand, many
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people conveys midday heat in small, remote towns. Jack of the Queensland towns depicted by Jack are so small
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mentions his characters’ need to conserve energy, which is that having very few people in the vista is not necessarily a
clearly portrayed as an ethic, perhaps because it suggests break with realism. Nonetheless, the focus on empty streets
calmness and time devoted to relationships rather than and old, often deteriorating and decaying, buildings points
to work. People having time on their hands is perceived to the community that established them and lives on in
to be a virtue and a prized condition of life. This is also that space or just out of sight—and we think of idealistic
reflected in the solitary dogs sheltering under verandas and noble community values that march on in the face of
showing their sanity by not being “mad dogs” “out in the isolation, loneliness, poverty, and other types of struggle
midday sun.” Although dogs in paintings are obviously that the decaying buildings speak to and witness. Enmities
stationary, they are usually painted by Jack as standing are rendered invisible, as are all other human foibles and
still, lying down, or not obviously running. 69,70 The dogs weaknesses; nothing is allowed to spoil the tranquility of
are also in a contemplative and peaceful mood, in contrast the scenes. The elderly buildings speak of pathos, but the
to the stresses/stressors of city life, as Jack would have realism and, in many cases, bright colors, suggest another
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seen them, following in the footsteps of Banjo Paterson message—being unashamed and unselfconscious—and
(for an example, refer to his 1889 poem “Clancy of the hence the vistas take on a renewed vigor and boldness. If
Overflow” and his 1892 poem “In Defence of the Bush,” there is pathos or sentimentality, then no-one apologizes
written as a reply to Henry Lawson). The defense of “the for it or dwells on it. The image is of a resolute, unified
bush” can be seen as ideological in Paterson’s era because community—a World War II memorial in a civic square
it indirectly supported the state’s agenda and the agenda of would fit in well.
some private capital and rural communities to make rural The question that I (as one viewer of the art) am
life appear sustainable if not desirable. 71,72 Poems could faced with is as follows: Can I keep my values amid the
function as ideology when they were enlisted in the fight to struggle over the long term and then attain such peace
help ensure that the remoter rural areas attracted sufficient within myself? 76,77 The community has kept going, it still
people, investors, and technology and were able to maintain exists, despite people exiting to make their way to the
basic services for the various scattered communities. cities and the coast. We can withstand their going. Will
These aspects remain valid and applicable even today. For anyone come in to replace them? Do we even have reason
example, Scottish National Party politicians have been to keep on going? There may be perpetual anxiety that the
raising their concerns about declining human populations
in specific remote areas of their country, including the 4 The Heidelberg Movement began with Tom Roberts’ (1856–
Highlands and Islands. 73
1931) return from England in 1885.

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.3481