Last Word: Penelope Seidler on Sydney Ball

Penelope Seidler AM LFRAIA

It is not surprising that Sydney Ball commenced his career in the 1950s as an architectural draughtsman before he embarked on art studies, as his work has always maintained a strong sense of spatial awareness and a commanding appreciation of colour and light.

I recall seeing Ball’s work in the pioneering exhibition The Field in 1968 after his return from his studies in New York. Since then I have followed his career for almost 50 years and I remember his exhibition at the Bonython Art Gallery in Adelaide in 1969 with his ground-breaking Modular series. He returned to New York soon after where he then had direct contact with the formidable abstract expressionists, who dominated the art world, and with the revered art critic, Clement Greenberg. Ball then produced his astounding Stain paintings from 1971-79, which dazzled us all. I am proud that his huge luminous painting Herriot Wall was selected by myself and Harry to hang in the Ambassador’s apartment in the Australian Embassy in Paris, where it held pride of place for many years and attracted international acclaim.

Ball received much recognition during those years but in the next two decades while he travelled extensively and was teaching, his presence was not so visible. It is always difficult for an artist to maintain credibility over a lifetime, but with the dawn of a new century there came a renewed appreciation for his earlier work and his new Structures series was widely praised by art critics and enthusiastic collectors. His oeuvre was re-evaluated and his work was back in vogue. Ball was recognised as an exceptional artist throughout his career: the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchased his Infinex Lumina 4 2010 in 2011 and his Great Falls 1976 in 2013, while architects regularly sought him out for new commissions and collectors continued to support each new body of work.

Sydney Ball, a quiet and gentle man, was still producing excellent work into his eighties. He was an inspiration to us all.