Halves make a whole

A simple semicircle encompasses some big ideas, Anya Samarasinghe writes.

Gretchen Albrecht’s (b.1943) Cardinal has a special place in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s collection.

It was acquired the same year it was made, in 1981, during her time as the Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago. It is the first of Albrecht’s hemispheres and stands as a key marker of the artist’s distinctive visual language and a landmark in Aotearoa’s art history.

At first glance, Cardinal might appear a straightforward yet compelling arrangement of purple and red in a semicircle format. However, in the art gallery’s archives and collection, we can gain further insight into Cardinal’s genesis and Albrecht’s practice.

A handwritten note accompanying a crayon sketch reveals the artist’s deliberate calibration of word, meaning, form and image. Albrecht highlighted the dictionary definition for "cardinal", pointing to its "fundamental" and "important" implications - "on which something hinges".

Albrecht’s canvas hinges two parts together, bringing the violet and scarlet shades into conversation. Her notes reveal the symbolic associations of the colours of the robes of kings and cardinals (purple and scarlet). The contrast between the two colours found inspiration in Piero della Francesca’s The Resurrection (c.1460) as Albrecht was struck by the "violet form curving over [the] scarlet/reddish shield" of the sleeping soldiers.

Traces of historical European art are threaded together throughout Albrecht’s career. During the late 1970s, Albrecht’s travels to Italy influenced her conception and execution of Cardinal, as the Romanesque and Gothic architectural lunettes (semicircle shape) and Renaissance frescoes sparked creative impulse.

Along with The Resurrection, Cardinal invokes elements of Piero della Francesca’s La Madonna del Parto, a 15th-century fresco. This work features a pregnant Madonna gently placing her hand on her stomach, flanked by two angels who open the canopy, revealing the scene.

The tear in the Madonna’s dress mirrors the bifurcated canvas of Cardinal, where the two pieces are merged. Albrecht’s division and subsequent union of the parts speak to the physical labour of birth and the duality of the mother/child relationship. The symbolism of the pomegranates in the canopy of La Madonna del Parto relates to Christ’s Passion (his death), echoing the cyclical nature of life and death, and reflecting Albrecht’s interest in dichotomies.

Albrecht’s artwork is energised by its rich layers of interpretation, giving colour, shape and gesture a painterly reality. Cardinal is on display in the "Fault Lines" exhibition at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Anya Samarasinghe is a curatorial intern at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.