Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

3 'He kindly gave me artistic possession of the old weatherboard homestead' (Streeton, Argus, p.49). Streeton claimed that this took place in 1887; however, Mary Eagle has demonstrated that Davies did not own the property until April 1888, and suggests that Davies made his offer 'after the collapse of Heidelberg land speculation in November 1888' (Mary Eagle, The Oil Paintings of Arthur Streeton in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p.27). 4 Arthur Streeton to Tom Roberts, n.d. [early 1891 ], Tom Roberts Papers, MS A2478, Mitchell Library, Sydney; quoted in Eagle, p.29. 5 Betty Churcher, Director of the National Gallery of Australia, described the painting as 'an icon' in a submission to the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Michael Lee (see Valerie Lawson, 'A deal for $3.5m and "Summer" Is the nation's', Sydney Morning Herald, 22 August 1995, p.15). The exhibition 'Golden Summers: Heidelberg and Beyond', curated by Jane Clark and Bridget Whitelaw, began its national tour at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, in October 1985. Despite being one of Streeton's favourite works and described as 'the most famous of the Heidelberg School pictures', Golden summer, Eaglemont was virtually invisible from 1892 to 1919 (when Streeton reacquired it from its purchaser's estate for 60 pounds), and from 1924 (when he sold it to another private collector for 1000 pounds), to Its appearance — freshly cleaned — in the 'Golden Summers' exhibition in 1985. 6 Terry Smith, 'Teaching art history: A tutorial on Arthur Streeton's Still glides the stream ... 1890', in Art Education Society NSW Conference — Papers, Government Printer, Sydney, 1982, p.38. 7 Fanny Withers, 'A short biography of Walter Withers', manuscript, c.1919; reprinted in Andrew Mackenzie (comp.), Walter Withers: The Forgotten Manuscripts, Mannagum Press, Lilydale (Vic.), 1987, p.114. 8 Streeton, Argus, p.49. 9 Fanny Withers, in Mackenzie, p.116. 10 Fanny Withers, in Mackenzie, p.109. 11 A. F. Weber, The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century: A Study in Statistics, Macmillan for Columbia University, New York, 1899, p.150. 12 Michael Dunn, 'The art of Girolamo Nerli 1860-1926', in Peter Entwisle, Michael Dunn & Roger Collins, Nerli: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (NZ), 1988, p.12. 13 Illustrated In Entwisle and others, p.114. 14 De Libra [James Green], Australasian Art Review, 1 August 1899, p.23; quoted by Roger Collins, 'Towards a Nerli chronology', in Entwisle and others, p.80. DANCING ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE Sydney Long Spirit of the Plains pp.76-79 1 Long's birth was registered on 17 November 1871, but according to his birth certificate he was born on 20 August 1871. His father is recorded as having died on 11 February 1871, However, for many years Long maintained that he was born on 15 November 1872, changing this to 15 August 1878 in the later years of his life. 2 Long's father died before his birth, so Long was not born to affluence. Throughout his life he was concerned with the need for some kind of acceptance from whatever establishment he was dealing with. 3 Spirit of the Plains was exhibited at the 'Exhibition of Australian Art in London', Grafton Gallery, London, 1898, cat. no. 29, and was reproduced In The Studio, London, XIII, no.62, May 1898, p.269. 4 By Tranquil Waters was exhibited at the Art Society of New South Wales, 1894, cat. no. 272, and was purchased from the exhibition by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Conditionally upon the artist cutting down lower portions giving more definition' (trustees minutes, 26 September 1894, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). 5 See Deborah Edwards, Stampede of the Lower Gods: Classical Mythology in Australian Art, 1890s-1930s, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1989. 6 Joanna Mendelssohn, The Life and Work of Sydney Long, McGraw-Hill, Sydney, 1979, cat. no. 20. 7 Mendelssohn, cat. no. 22 8 Society of Artists, Sydney, 1896, cat. no. 81. 9 'The Latest Art Exhibition', Sydney Mail, 9 October 1897, p.765. 10 'Society of Artists Exhibition', Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 2 October 1897, p.10. 11 'Art and other matters', Bulletin, 23 October 1897, p.14. 12 'Society of Artists Exhibition', Sydney Morning Herald, 2 October 1897, p.7. 13 Sydney Long, 'The trend of Australian art considered and discussed', Art and Architecture, January 1905. 14 Quoted in Bernard Smith, Australian Painting 1788- 1960, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1962, p.101. 15 The Art Gallery of New South Wales Library appears to have subscribed to The Studio since it was first published, and Angus & Robertson's bookshop apparently distributed Studio publications. 16 Long reworked some of his Australian successes when he was in London. The 1914 version of Spirit of the Plains in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, is one of these, as are the various etchings and aquatints of Spirit of the Plains, executed in 1918. THE ILL-FATED PIERROT: Charles Conder in Europe Charles Conder Le Retour de Pierrot pp.80-83 1 Charles Conder, quoted In John Rothenstein, The Life and Death of Conder, Dent, London, 1938, pp.152-3. 2 Conder, in Rothenstein, pp.153-4. 3 Rothenstein, p.158. 4 Rothenstein, p.226. 5 Quoted in Rothenstein, p.74. 6 T. Martin Wood, 'A room decorated by Charles Conder', The Studio, vol.34, no.145, 1905, p.205. 7 Rothenstein, p156. 8 Rothenstein, p.160. 9 Conder, in Rothenstein, pp.157-8. 10 Rothenstein, p157. RESTLESS MIND, STILL LIVES A. M. E. Bale Leisure moments pp.84-87 1 Judith Rodriguez, 'More than a sentimental moment' Alice Bale's studio interior', The Australian Antique Collector, 42nd ed., July-December 1991, p.54. 2 File note, 17 January 1994, artist's files, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. 3 Victoria Hammond &Juliet Peers, Completing the Picture: Women Artists and the Heidelberg Era, Artmoves, Hawthorne East (Vic.), 1992, p.34. 4 See Biography, in A. M. E. Bale [exhibition catalogue], Castlemaine Art Gallery, Castlemaine (Vic.), 1977, unpag. 5 See Joan Kerr, biographical entry on Bale, Alice Marian Ellen, In Heritage: The National Women's Art Book, ed. Joan Kerr, Art and Australia, Roseville East (NSW), 1995, p.307. 6 Hammond & Peers, p.36. It seems quite possible that, despite being a woman in a male-dominated enterprise, Alice Bale might have expected to win the award; according to documentation in the exhibition catalogue A. M. E. Bale, she had already 'won nine major prizes in the course of her studies, a record only exceeded by one other student, Charles Wheeler, in 1907'. 7 See footnote 8, Conversations with Alan Sumner, in Juliet Peers, More Than Just Gumtrees. A Personal, Social and Artistic History of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors in association with Dawn Revival Press, Melbourne, 1993, p.193. 8 Janine Burke, Australian Women Artists, 1840-1940, Greenhouse Publications, Collingwood (Vic.), 1980, p.34. 9 'A. M. E. Bale', Art in Australia, March 1924, quoted In Burke, p.33. 10 Hammond & Peers, p.37. 11 See Deborah Cherry, Painting Women: Victorian Women Artists, Routledge, London, 1993, p.86. 12 Victorian Artists' Society Papers, MS 7593, La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, reproduced in Hammond & Peers, p.19. 13 Peers, p.192. 14 A. M. E. Bale [exhibition catalogue], unpag. LOOKING FOR THE 'BEAU MONDE' IN BRISBANE Godfrey Rivers Under the Jacaranda pp.88-93 My thanks to Dr Rod Fisher, Department of History, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, for making materials held in the Applied History Centre available to me. I have also been able to draw on the considerable research undertaken on Rivers's career and on aspects of Under the jacaranda by the Queensland Art Gallery's Glenn R. Cooke and John Massy, and by Joanna Strumpf, who wrote her Honours thesis for the University of Queensland on Rivers. My thanks also to Lynne Seear, co-editor of this publication, for her advice and assistance in the preparation of this paper. 1 Source unlisted, quoted in W. Ross Johnston, The Call of the Land: A History of Queensland to the Present Day, Jacaranda Press, Milton (Qld), 1982, pp.145-6. 2 John Massy, 'Artwork of the month', Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, September 1995. Although there is no positive proof that the male figure is Rivers, it is generally assumed to be a self-portrait. Identification of the site of the painting has been made by Ross McKinnon, Curator of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. 3 Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens Heritage Walk (brochure), Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, n.d. Under Hill's supervision, the emphasis of the Gardens was more scientific than recreational, and he was responsible for the successful introduction, propagation and distribution of a number of imported species in addition to the jacaranda, many of which became the basis of the colony's lucrative primary industries. For more information on the early history of the Gardens, see Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens Heritage Walk brochure and Ross D McKinnon, 'The Old Botanic Gardens of Brisbane: An historical survey 1828-1984', in Brisbane: People, Places and Pageantry, Brisbane History Group Papers no.6, Brisbane History Group, Petrie Terrace (Qld), 1987. The jacaranda tree was blown over in a storm in 1980. 4 Johnston, pp.145-6. 5 John Docker, The Nervous Nineties: Australian Cultural Life in the 1890s, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1991, p.xxiv, commenting on Marilyn Lake's study of the Bulletin. 6 Leigh Astbury, City Bushmen: The Heidelberg School and the Rural Mythology, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985, p.2; see also Ronald Lawson, Brisbane In the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia (Qld), 1973, p.3. This trend was recognised by at least one contemporary source. The Australian in its editorial of 18 October 1879 wrote: 'the present is pre-eminently the age of great cities', quoted in D. P. Crook, Aspects of Brisbane society in the eighteen-eighties, unpublished Honours thesis, University of Queensland, 1958, p.2. 7 Michael Roe, 'The Australian legend: An exchange', p.364, quoted In Lawson, p.4. Lawson also quotes N. G. Butlin, 'The shape of the Australian economy, 1861-1900', Economic Record, 34, 1958, p.21 : 'Australian development is mainly the story of urbanisation. The building of cities absorbed the greater part of Australian resources diverted to developmental purposes' (Lawson, p.2) and N. G. Butlin, Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861-1900, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1964, p.6: '... the process of urbanisation is the central feature of Australian history' (Lawson, p.3). 8 Since 1881 Brisbane had more than doubled its population. During this period, Brisbane was growing at a rate that had not been experienced in Australia 304 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965