HAZEL CHURCH
Hazel
10 May 1948 – 14 September 1998
GRAEME INSON
Glebe
17.9.1998

Dear Robert and family

I was deeply saddened to learn of Hazel’s death.

The painting class and I often talked of her, wondering how she was faring and hoping against hope for her cure. Alas, it was not to be.

Hazel Church brightened our lives. In our small class her smile, cheerfulness under adversity, sense of humour and her intelligence were greatly esteemed. The joyful vigour with which she attacked her painting was an example to all and done, we knew, under an unspoken of cloud. She was more than admired — she was loved by us all and her brightness will live in our memory — an outstanding woman and a joy to know.

To you all I and those who knew her here at the studio extend our profound sympathy and thank you for your loving care.

Sincerely,

Graeme Inson


Graeme Inson, “God” according to Hazel, was Hazel’s painting teacher.
He died on 10 May, 2000, aged 77.

Graeme Inson (1923-2000) spent a decade as Max Meldrum's (1875-1955) assistant, and acted as keeper of the flame in Sydney through many years of private art classes. Meldrum was the founder of a doctrine known as tonalism. He believed that the principles of art could be taught along scientific lines according to a set of fixed principles. The Meldrumite palette was restricted to only five tones, with outlines being strictly forbidden. In his novel, A Curate in Bohemia, Norman Lindsay has the student Meldrum, in the character of McQuibble, asking rhetorically: "Are there such things as lines in nature?" Inson taught Hazel never to use outlines.

See: Peter and John Perry, Max Meldrum & Associates: Their Art, Lives and Influences, (Castlemaine, Vic.: Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, 1996).
-- John McDonald, SMH, November 21-22, 2009, p. R14.
A site established in memorial to Graeme Inson by his stepsons is at this link.



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Last Updated 7 December 2000