PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Still Life in Green Vase 1939 oil on canvas laid on paper signed lower left: P Crombie dated lower right 15.5 x 16.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Flowers in a Jug 1946 oil on board signed upper left: P. CROMBIE artist's name, title and date inscribed verso (concealed) 30 x 25.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Red and White Still Life oil on canvas on board signed lower left: P. Crombie 18 x 18cm PROVENANCE: Jim Alexander Gallery, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Still Life with Orange and Jug oil on canvas on board initialled lower left: PC 10.5 x 10.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
oil on board signed lower left: P Crombie titled verso: "Flowers on a Dish" 39.5 x 54.5cm PROVENANCE The Kit and Betty Olsen Collection, Melbourne; Thence by descent The David and Susi Caddy Collection COLLECTION ESSAY The David and Susi Caddy Collection (Lots 41 -114) 'If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.' 1 The resonating tone of the David and Susi Caddy collection is an enduring spirit of wanderlust — a characteristic shared by the familial owners and the artists whose works are intertwined within the collection. For over 20 years, David and Susi Caddy have been making their yearly pilgrimage from England to Australia for three months of the year. They are now closing this chapter of their lives as they move to live full-time in England; parting with their beloved collection of Australian art, which intersects the journey of many generations roaming across Australia and abroad. David and Susi's collection effortlessly navigates a century of Australian art, while also reflecting the narrative of their well-travelled paths. Housing exemplary archetypes from the defiant tonalist painters influenced by Max Meldrum's School (later coined Meldrumites) and George Bell, the collection ambles from this period to the later modernist and abstract attitudes of the mid to late 19th-20th century. The artists spanning these eras characterised the modern Australian psyche, displaced European attitudes striving to examine and interpret the new world they found themselves in. Their gradual awareness is apparent in the subject treatment and redefined palette employed to represent the subtle tones of the Australian landscape. In 2001, David inherited a modest yet succinct selection of artworks from his uncle and aunt, Kit and Betty (née Caddy) Olsen. Betty Olsen was an artist in her own right studying under George Bell and Max Meldrum. She collected many works from her peers and acquaintances during her studies and throughout her life as a practising artist. David and Susi cared deeply for Kit and Betty and kept close contact until their passing. They admired the collection in its essence and resolved to conscientiously gather artworks that would complement it. The lives of the two couples bear striking similarities — kindred spirits driven by an inherent earnestness to explore the world. When Kit Olsen retired from Melbourne Grammar School, he had a spell working for UNESCO. Kit and Betty lived abroad in Penang followed by Afghanistan for many years. David recalls how they recounted these experiences in detail, marvelling at the beauty and diversity of the places they visited. In parallel, from infancy, David entered a lifetime of globe-trotting. Born in 1944 in Quebec, Canada, his father, an officer in the British Army, was part of a team of scientists who worked with the Americans in the development of guided weapons. David's father's work continued to establish the RAAF Woomera Rocket Range Complex in the 1950s, steering the family to settle in Adelaide. David was six months old when his mother and siblings undertook the intrepid journey by boat from Canada to Australia via England. Later in life, David's career as partner with PWC in London drew him to West Africa and South America for extended periods. Both couples admired the worldliness in the lives of the painters that they collected. One can travel the world through these pictures –the majority painted through the eyes of a decisive array of distinguished Australian artists; impressions of London, Rome, Cairo and Paris are represented. The collection includes an early example by Nora Heysen titled Red and White Roses, 1934 (Lot 56), painted the year the young artist travelled to London in her mid-twenties; Charles Blackman's moody silhouette of the Parisian Streets (Lot 67) executed in the Antipodeans archetypal style; Hayward Veal's fragmented details of the coast of Normandy and Paris Market scenes (Lot 43 and 46); Charles Bush's picturesque watercolour renditions of Venice and Cairo (Lot 50 and 48); and William Dargie's grand tour of Roman ruins (Lot 49). The collection also holds several classic examples by Dorothy Braund, an emphatic traveller, who, along with fellow artist Guelda Pyke, navigated a Kombi van through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey in the 1950s without maps, surviving by sheer bravado. 2 Complimenting the distinctly European flavour of the collection is a delightful representation of the Australian terrain; the enigmatic landscape has a way of beckoning wayward travellers home. Dorothy Braund's quintessential fixation on the beach is characterised in Hot Day (Lot 64), an impressive panoramic figurative painting and a striking example of her command of composition. A classic watercolour in deep earthy tones by Hans Heysen, In the Brachia, 1950 (Lot 54), purchased in London by its current owners is testimony to the adage that distance makes the heart grow fonder; Helen Ogilvie's galvanised-iron capped church epitomising rudimentary rural aesthetics (Lot 44); and a rare streetscape by Ernest Buckmaster depicting Collins Street's ‘Paris End' (Lot 42) illustrates the blinding Australian sun silhouetting pedestrians crossing the street one busy afternoon in 1926. Each work reflects the disparate nature of the country's landscape, its contradictions, and its unique splendours, all inherently bound by their respective artists' heritage. For the last 20 years, David and Susi's collection has proudly adorned the walls of their Toorak apartment; now bare, the images remain firmly planted in their mind's eye. After years of careful curation and preservation, this esteemed collection is now ready to journey once again to the collections of new custodians who will cherish and appreciate their intrinsic grace and sincerity. Footnotes: 1. Henry Miller, 'Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch', United States, New Directions, published 1957, p. 25 2. Dorothy Braund Retrospective, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, 2006, p. 11
§ PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Still Life of Pumpkins oil on canvasboard signed lower right: Crombie. 51 x 65cm PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 23 September 2012, lot 192 Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901 – 1984) FISH ON PLATE, 1940 oil on paper on compressed card 25.5 x 30.5 cm 36.0 x 41.0 cm (frame) signed lower right: Crombie dated and inscribed with title verso: "Fish on Plate" 1940 PROVENANCE Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 17 April 1991, lot 815 Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, acquired from the above 19 April 1991 EXHIBITED Figurative Works from the Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 4 August – 2 December 2012 on long term loan to Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria LITERATURE Nainby, B., Stanhope, Z., and Furlonger, K., The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, in association with Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 63 (illus.), 216
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Still Life oil on card signed lower left: P Crombie 31 x 26cm PROVENANCE: Deutscher- Menzies, Melbourne, 8 September 2004, lot 480 Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) A Mining Quarry c. 1920's oil on panel signed lower right: P. Crombie 24.5 x 31.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: This work holds the characteristics of Peggy's earlier works, during her time at the National Gallery School from 1922-1928. Her early work was often dark and monochromatic, influenced by the training under Bernard Hall. It was not until she became involved in Melbourne's Modernist Art scene in the 1930's, that more vibrancy and colour was introduced into her compositions.
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Pot Plant by a Blue Door 1939 oil on masonite signed lower left: P. Crombie artist name, title, and date inscribed on handwritten label verso 28.5 x 22.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Two Sailing Ships, "Little Docks" c.1925 oil on canvasboard signed lower right: Crombie titled verso 34.5 x 26cm PROVENANCE: Mossgreen, Melbourne, 11 October 2015, lot 293 Private collection, Melbourne
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) View from the Hotel Windsor Annexe 1938 oil on canvas laid on card signed lower left: P. Crombie titled and date inscribed verso 15 x 18cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
§ PEGGIE CROMBIE (1901-1984) Jolimont Railway Landscape oil on board unsigned 51 x 34cm PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 9th October 2014, lot 3079 Private collection, Melbourne OTHER NOTES: 'I think of her as a natural painter who could do no wrong. She always painted freely, aiming for unity of tone and using bold forms. In the early days her paintings were almost monochromatic. Later, when she began to use strong colours, it was like something falling from heaven – a wonderful balance of colour within tone.' Jim Alexander, Peggie Crombie, (exhibition catalogue), Jim Alexander Gallery, Melbourne 1983.
PEGGY CROMBIE (1901-1984) Pot Plant With Apples and Lemons 1939 oil on canvas signed lower left: P. Crombie dated and titled on frame verso 39.5 x 46cm PROVENANCE: Deutscher-Menzies, Sydney, 16 March 1996, lot 380 Private collection, Victoria
Peggy Crombie (1901-1984) Flowers on a Pink Chair c.1970 oil on board signed 'P. Crombie' upper left artist's name inscribed verso 65 x 51.5 cm Provenance: Private collection Melbourne
