Just went to the big exhibition of
Australian Impressionism at the National Gallery of Victoria, a major retrospective of the work of five important artists' work between 1883 and 1897. (Calling it impressionism rather than "Heidelberg School" is an attempt to claim a place in a global history of art, one in which French impressionism isn't the only one: this one was inspired by Whistler and Bastien LePage and the move to paint directly on your canvas on site which one Australian learned about in Spain from someone who'd studied in Paris.) Tom Roberts is terrific, Frederick McCubbin's bush scenes lovely, Charles Conder's inspired and Jane Sutherland's evocative, but the one who took my breath away
was Arthur Streeton. "Golden Summer, Eaglemont" (1889), the painting above, came down from Canberra for this exhibit... lucky me! You really can't tell from this reproduction but this big broad canvas is bold and coarse, the colors are exactly those of a late afternoon north of here, and it draws you in in into the folds of the landscape, closer and closer to the ground with the nearly horizontal rays of the setting sun. The only thing better, well different, was Streeton's sketch for it, which was included in the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition - this movement's Secession. With the brilliant idea of offering paintings only (or mainly) in the 9 by 5 format (many were painted on cigar box lids), painted quickly, mostly
en plein air and shown in broad unornamented red gum frames, the show was a sensation! (Some critics sneered - just what they wanted!) More of the 9 by 5 paintings have been reunited for this show than any time since 1889, and it's worth going just to feel their vitality and adventurousness. The whole exhibition is deeply satisfying, and fills in a gap in my (pretty thin) sense of the history of Australian art. The great painters of the 20th century must have known these paintings... at times I felt the seeds being sown for later works, especially, surprisingly, Fred Williams!
was Arthur Streeton. "Golden Summer, Eaglemont" (1889), the painting above, came down from Canberra for this exhibit... lucky me! You really can't tell from this reproduction but this big broad canvas is bold and coarse, the colors are exactly those of a late afternoon north of here, and it draws you in in into the folds of the landscape, closer and closer to the ground with the nearly horizontal rays of the setting sun. The only thing better, well different, was Streeton's sketch for it, which was included in the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition - this movement's Secession. With the brilliant idea of offering paintings only (or mainly) in the 9 by 5 format (many were painted on cigar box lids), painted quickly, mostly en plein air and shown in broad unornamented red gum frames, the show was a sensation! (Some critics sneered - just what they wanted!) More of the 9 by 5 paintings have been reunited for this show than any time since 1889, and it's worth going just to feel their vitality and adventurousness. The whole exhibition is deeply satisfying, and fills in a gap in my (pretty thin) sense of the history of Australian art. The great painters of the 20th century must have known these paintings... at times I felt the seeds being sown for later works, especially, surprisingly, Fred Williams!
