Donald Stuart Leslie Friend (6 February 1915 – 16 August 1989) was an Australian artist and diarist who lived much of his life overseas. He has been the subject of controversy since the posthumous publication of diaries in which he wrote about how he sexually abused children during his time in Bali.

Early life

Born in Sydney, Friend grew up in the artistic circle of his bohemian mother and showed early talent both as an artist and as a writer. He studied with Sydney Long (1931) and

Antonio Dattilo Rubbo Antonio Salvatore Dattilo Rubbo (Napoli 21 June 1870 – Sydney 1 June 1955) was an Italian-born artist and art teacher active in Australia from 1897. Rubbo, or Dattilo-Rubbo, was born in Naples in 1870, and spent his early childhood in the N ...

(1934–1935), and later in London (1936–1937) at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman descri ...

with Mark Gertler and

Bernard Meninsky Bernard Meninsky (25 July 1891 – 12 February 1950) was a British painter of figures and landscapes in oils, watercolour and gouache, a draughtsman and a teacher.. Biography Early life and education Meninsky was born in Konotop, modern-day Ukr ...

. During World War II he served as a gunner with the AIF, and while stationed at

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

began a friendship with

Russell Drysdale Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala (Drysdale), Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennal ...

, which led to their joint discovery of Hill End, a quasi-abandoned gold mining village near

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Region, Bathurst Regional Council. Founded in 1815, Bathurst is ...

, which in the 1950s became something of an artists' colony. He also served as an official

war artist A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan (), is an island federal territory of Malaysia. It includes and six smaller islands off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capital is Victoria, which is best kno ...

and

Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated 20 ...

in 1945. After the war he lived for a time in the Sydney mansion-boarding house Merioola, exhibiting with the Merioola Group. Much of Friend's life and career was spent outside Australia, in places as diverse as Nigeria (late 1930s, where he served as financial advisor to the Ogoga of Ikerre), Italy (several visits in the 1950s), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; late 1950s – early 1960s), and

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

(from 1968 until his final return to Sydney in 1980).

Career

Friend's critical reputation in the 1940s equalled those of

William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

and

, but by the time of his death it had sunk so low that his work was totally absent from the 1988 Australian Bicentennial exhibition, a show meant to include every artist of importance since white settlement. Despite winning the

Blake Prize for Religious Art The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

in 1955, Friend made "no attempt to disguise the

homoeroticism Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, including both male–male and female–female attraction. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be tempor ...

which underlay much of his work". He was well known for studies of the young male nude, including nude male children, as well as his wit. His facility as a draughtsman may have contributed to the undervaluing of his work, which art scholar Lou Klepac said "always looked too easy – decorative, flowing and natural". In the mid-1960s, Robert Hughes described him as "one of the two finest draughtsmen of the nude in Australia", and noted his humanism and lack of sentimentality, while still maintaining that he was not a major artist. Barry Pearce, however, writing in the study which accompanied Friend's posthumous retrospective at the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

in 1990, said that Hughes' judgement seemed harsh and called for a re-evaluation of Friend as an artist whose "contribution to the richness of Australian art is due for much greater recognition". Friend published a number of illustrated books, almost all in limited editions.

Diaries

Friend's diaries were published posthumously in four volumes from 2001 to 2006 by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. He had kept a diary since the age of 14. It chronicled in half a million words a life peopled with such artists as Drysdale,

Margaret Olley Margaret Hannah Olley (24 June 192326 July 2011) was an Australian painter. She held over ninety solo exhibitions during her lifetime. Early life Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She was the eldest of three children of J ...

Jeffrey Smart Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions". Smart was born and educated ...

and

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley Order of Australia, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize, Archibald, Wynne Prize, ...

. Volume Four dealt in part with Friend's time in Bali in the 1960s and 1970s. Publicity claimed " is volume confirms Friend's quicksilver creative brilliance and extraordinary insight. He is perhaps Australia's most important twentieth-century diarist". Friend openly wrote about his pederasty and paedophilia, depicting himself in his journal as "a middle-aged

pederast Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, ...

who's going to seed". His relationships were mostly with adolescent boys. But in the 1960s Friend wrote in his diary of a 10-year-old boy: " espent the night with me. I hope life will continue forever to offer me delicious surprises ... and that I will always be delighted and surprised. He goes about the act of love with a charmingly self-possessed grace: gaily, affectionately, and enthusiastically. And in these matters he's very inventive and not at all sentimental for all the caresses." A few boys became his lifelong friends, particularly Attilio Guarracino, whom he met when Guarracino was 19 years old. The inclusion of material about his sexual relations with children led to discussion of his pederasty and criticism of inclusion of victims' names. In 2009, documentary film-maker Kerry Negara released ''A Loving Friend'', which focused on Friend's sexual relationships with "houseboys" in Bali, and through interviews with artists, critics and academics sought to establish that the "arts elite of Australia continue to deny any wrongdoing on Friend's part". At least one person named in the diary began legal action against the National Library of Australia.

Major collections

* Holmes à Court Collection *

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Bibliography

*''Donald Friend'', Robert Hughes, Edwards and Shaw, Sydney, 1965 *Donald Friend ''The Australian Landscape and its Artists'', Bay Books, Sydney 1977 pp. 58–59 *''Donald Friend: Australian War Artist 1945'', Gavin Fry and Colleen Fry, Currey O'Neill, Melbourne, 1982 *''Donald Friend 1915–1989 Retrospective'', Barry Pearce, 1990 *''The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 1'', Ed. Anne Gray, 2001, *''The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 2'', Ed. Paul Hetherington, 2003, *''The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 3'', Ed. Paul Hetherington, 2005, *''The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 4'', Ed. Paul Hetherington, 2006, *"The Lives of Donald Friend: Towards a Biography of an Australian Artist in an International Social Setting", Ian Britain, ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...

'', Melbourne March–May 2008 *''The Donald Friend Diaries'', Ed. Ian Britain, 2010, *

References

External links

Biography
* ttps://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5670847 Enlistment form – 1942 {{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Donald 20th-century Australian diarists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists 1915 births 1989 deaths Gay painters Child sexual abuse in Australia People educated at Sydney Grammar School Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Australian male painters 20th-century Australian LGBTQ people Australian gay artists Australian LGBTQ painters Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers