Strange land reveals riches

Philip Bacon is one of Australia’s most respected art dealers and a noted philanthropist. But like anyone setting out on a new venture, he had to start somewhere. In 1974 he opened Philip Bacon Galleries in Brisbane and was looking for artists to represent. He was still a ‘baby art dealer’ when he decided to call on Fred Williams, the celebrated landscape artist. 

‘I was going around Australia, knocking on artists’ doors, asking, “Would you like me to represent you?”,’ he recalls. ‘He was very gracious and said, “I’m represented solely by Rudy Komon – but thank you”. We had a cup of tea and that was it.’ 

Williams died in 1982 and since the 1990s Bacon has represented his estate, astutely guided by the artist’s widow, Lyn Williams. Fast-forward three decades, and Bacon and Lyn Williams are each supporting the return season of A Winter’s Journey – the multimedia concert of Schubert’s Winterreise featuring landscape images by Fred Williams. 

Bacon saw A Winter’s Journey when it was first staged in 2022. 

‘The production was so elegant, perfect and restrained – but exciting as well,’ he says. ‘It was the best marriage of artforms.’ 

What is it that makes Fred Williams paintings so uniquely recognisable? Bacon says Williams found a visual language to render the Australian landscape both familiar and strange. 

‘There was nothing beautiful about the landscape that he saw around Melbourne,’ he says. ‘Those amazing straight horizons that he invented, with those little scrubby trees – tiny little ideas of a tree, almost like a thumbnail sketch, a squiggle – but we know exactly what he was depicting… He started off quite cubist, very influenced by Cézanne, and he really developed his own handwriting – he had a huge influence on younger artists. 

‘The later works that Williams did when he was commissioned by Rio Tinto to go to the Pilbara are amazingly beautiful, almost abstract pictures, that could have been painted by a New York School painter,’ Bacon says. ‘When you fly up there, it’s what he saw – just exquisitely beautiful. He is so inventive.’ 

In parallel with his day job as an art dealer, Bacon is heavily involved with the wider cultural sector both as a philanthropist and non-executive director. He currently sits on the boards of the Brisbane Festival, and Bundanon, and in the past has served on the council of the National Gallery of Australia, the board of Opera Australia, and the Council for the Order of Australia. 

‘As soon as I had enough money to live on, I started supporting the things that I believed in. Nearly all my philanthropy is arts-related, because that’s my world. It’s given me the wherewithal to do it.’ 

‘Everybody’s happy enough to go along [to concerts] and think they’re doing their bit by paying for a ticket, but that’s just the start of it,’ he says. 

‘You love music, and you go along, but you should really think about getting involved. It’s really fulfilling. I can promise you – you’ll get much more out of it than you put in.’