In Black & White

Tate Adams’ (1922–2018) artistic career began and ended as a painter. Only a few of his early paintings survive. Connemara Girl was the only painting he kept. The work is typical of the small-scale figurative paintings he produced in Ireland before immigrating to Australia, and speaks of his reverence for Ireland.

Adams would live into his nineties, a life of continuous artistic exploration. Largely thought of as a printmaker, Adams taught the first diploma of printmaking in Australia at RMIT. His colleagues and students number among the well-known in Australian art.

Adjusting to the onset of macular degeneration in the latter half of his life, and when living almost reclusively in Townsville, Adams synthesised his artistic knowledge to create large-scale gouaches. In Black & White is a celebration of these large-scale black gouache paintings and the prints that derived from them.