Tate Adams and the Australian Printmaking Revival of the 1960s

Abstract

In this thesis, I describe and analyse the art and accomplishments of Tate Adams and substantiate his importance to the Australian printmaking revival of the 1960s. Although the name of Tate Adams occurs within the literature, where he is discussed as a major figure of the print revival, to date there is no substantive account of his contribution. My study addresses this omission.

This study differs from the existing literature in its comprehensiveness, in its breadth and depth of analysis and through new material introduced from a fresh perspective. Structured as a monograph, I site Adams’ contribution within the context of his life, especially the past twenty years, and my particular differentiation is to have witnessed this first-hand. The wider biography, organised in periods of artistic activity, explores Adams’ cultural production from his beginnings as an early Irish modernist to a final efflorescence as a painter of gouaches taking his place within the history of Australian art.

In this thesis, I trace the ideas and the source of those ideas that have shaped Adams’ thinking about printmaking, explore the relationships through which he contributed to the maturation of printmaking, discuss his teaching philosophy and its efficacy, elucidate his development as an artist and explore his influences. I argue that Adams, in Melbourne in the 1960s, was a dominant force in the revival of printmaking in Australia. The methodology developed in this study has a foundation in oral history, drawing on testimonies of the subject, witnesses and participants. The inclusion of Adams’ anecdotes gives a presence to the artist and his nuanced thinking about his life and its circumstances.