Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

since Melbourne in the 1850s (Graeme Davison, ' "New, brawny, uneven and half-finished": Brisbane among the Australian capital cities', in Brisbane in 1888: The Historical Perspective, Brisbane History Group Paper no.8, Brisbane History Group, Petrie Terrace (Qld), 1989, p.152); see also Lawson, pp.19-20. Such growth did not support the Bulletin's nationalistic mythology In another way, for Brisbane's population during this period was predominantly migrant-based, and although immigration levels were reducing during the 1890s, It was not until 1901 that the majority of the city's population was Queensland-born. The migrant population in Queensland exceeded the national average throughout the nineteenth century, due largely to a highly successful campaign to attract settlers to the colony (Ross Fitzgerald, From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia (Qld), 1982, p.304. See also Davison, p.153). 9 Canadian journalist Gilbert Parker, Round the Compass in Australia, Hutchinson, London, 1892, quoted in Davison, p.151. 10 Fitzgerald, p.305 and Lawson, pp.196-7 & p.239. One of the few cultural pursuits that was widely followed was the theatre, but it was sometimes lamented that the theatrical tastes of most Brisbane audiences ran more to melodrama and light operettas than to an appreciation of serious drama or opera. Appealing on the basis of civic pride, the Brisbane Courier encouraged strong attendances to a series of operas being staged in Brisbane, urging that such patronage was: '... in a sense, a test of the real value of the claims we lay to an artistic side in our community. If we respond satisfactorily, if we give to the operas the recognition they have deservedly received In the South, we shall step at once from the irksomeness of being looked upon as a more or less provincial town to the position of being considered one of the principal cities of the Commonwealth ...' ( Brisbane Courier, 15 June 1901, quoted in Lawson, p.215). Nor could the behaviour of theatre audiences be praised. The Brisbane Courier also reported that during some performances 'larrikins in the gallery threw paper darts and spat tomato juice on those seated below' and that 'in the most pathetic parts of the piece, mimicry of ducks and other animals was loudly Indulged In' ( Brisbane Courier, 15 March 1901, quoted In Lawson, p.216). The perceived lack of appreciation for more sophisticated theatrical presentations was not confined to Brisbane however, one reviewer suggesting that the average Australian 'frankly admits that he goes to the theatre to be amused, not to be instructed or elevated. There is no pretension about visiting the theatre for love of dramatic art, or because it represents a serious criticism of life' (E. Ballantyne, 'Impressions of the Australian stage', pp.182-92, quoted in Lawson, p.216). 11 D. S. Thistlewayte's speech as reported in the Telegraph, 16 August 1888, quoted in Julie K. Brown & Margaret Maynard, Fine Art Exhibitions in Brisbane, 1884-1916, Fryer Memorial Library, University of Queensland, St Lucia (Qld), 1980, p.186. 12 His appointment appears to have caused some resentment amongst the Society's founders, local artists Oscar Fristrom, L. W. K. Wirth and Isaac Walter Jenner, and a number of other members, and his continued role In the Society, In various official positions, appears to have been a factor In the formation of a breakaway group, the New Society of Artists, In 1904. The two societies did not reconcile until 1916, the year after Rivers settled permanently in Tasmania, where he was Instrumental in the movement towards establishing a public art gallery in Hobart. For a history of the dispute and eventual reconciliation between the two societies, see Brown & Maynard, pp.184-97. 13 Local artist and former student of Rivers, Gwendolyn Grant, quoted in Joanna Strumpf, Looking beyond biography: Interpretation of two works by Richard Godfrey Rivers, BA (Honours) thesis, The University of Queensland, St Lucia (Qld), 1996, p.37 (originally published in the Daily Mail, and subsequently In Keith Bradbury, Gwendolyn and W. G. Grant: Their Art and Life, G. R. M. Grant, Brisbane, 1990, p.9). 14 Strumpf, p.32. 15 The pianist is suggested to be Selina Rivers's sister, Susan, who married into the prominent, landowning McConnel family (Strumpf, p.30). 16 Michael Cannon, Life in the Cities, Nelson, Melbourne, 1975, p.218 & pp.231-2. 17 This description of Rivers was common during his initial time in Brisbane. 18 See Bronwyn Mahoney, 'A sense of place: Jenner and Brisbane history', In Brought to Light: Australian Art 1850-1965, Queensland Art Gallery Collection, eds Lynne Seear &Julie Ewington, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 1998, p.52. 19 Brisbane Courier, 1 August 1894, p.7. 20 Brisbane Courier, 31 July 1894, p.4. 21 Brisbane Courier, 1 August 1894, p.7. 22 These costs were later refunded by the government (Bettina MacAulay, 'A humble beginning for Queensland's National Art Gallery', in Brisbane: Housing, Health, the River and the Arts, Brisbane History Group Papers, Brisbane History Group, Brisbane, 1985, p.113). 23 Rivers was president of the Queensland Art Society In 1892-1901, 1904-08 and 1911, and vice president In 1902-03, 1913 and 1915. 24 R. Godfrey Rivers, 'Sunlight in pictures', In Queensland Art Society Annual Report, Queensland Art Society, Brisbane, 1898, p.25. 25 Maynard & Brown, p.188. Certainly, the early acquisitions of the Queensland National Art Gallery during the period of Rivers's honorary curatorship showed a strong bias towards the purchase of British paintings, particularly from the annual Royal Academy exhibitions. 26 Strumpf, p.34, from information provided by Ross McKinnon. 27 David R. McConnel, 'On the planting of trees in a sub-tropical city', in Queensland Art Society Annual Report, 1898, pp.8 & 9; these sentiments were reflected by the writer Anthony Trollope, who wrote of his favourable impressions of Australia's 'addiction' to public gardens, suggesting that 'a taste for gardens' produced a 'humanizing influence' on the colonies (Anthony Trollope, Australia and New Zealand, vol.l, 2nd edn, Chapman and Hall, London, 1873, p.214). 28 Brown & Maynard, p.187. 29 Brisbane Courier, 28 July 1898, p.2. 30 Roberts attained the position ahead of Max Meldrum who had also applied for the position with the endorsement of the prime minister and members of the Senate (David Seibert, 'The Queensland College of Art 1881-1985', The Professional Officer, August/September 1985, p.100). 31 P. Stanhope Hobday, art master at Brisbane Polytechnic and one-time president of the Queensland Authors' and Artists' Association, quoted on the occasion of Roberts's retirement, in 'Art Master to retire', press clippings file, 1937, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. 32 Sporting facilities were located In the Gardens and In the adjoining Queens Park (absorbed Into the Gardens In 1916 but filled and planted with exotics by 1919), McKinnon, p.143. 33 This was commented on by a late nineteenth-century visitor to the Gardens: 'It is beautifully planted with all the choicest trees, shrubs, and flowers of this prolific climate, and Its great attractiveness Invites the citizens to Its agreeable shades and riparian vistas for al fresco repasts' (Michael Davitt, Life and Progress in Australasia, Methuen & Co., London, 1898, p.247). 34 Mark Kershaw, Colonial Facts and Fictions: Humorous Sketches, Chatto &Windus, London, 1886, p.63. 35 The Queensland Art Society lists the following works by Rivers as exhibited at Its Annual Exhibitions: Garden Reach (oil), exhibited 1894 Customs House, from the Gardens (oil), exhibited 1902 Under the Jacaranda (oil), exhibited 1903 An alien in Australia (oil), exhibited 1904 Bamboos in the Gardens (oil), exhibited 1909 In the Botanic Gardens (watercolour), exhibited 1912 The Town from the Gardens (watercolour), exhibited 1912 Sketch, Botanic Gardens (medium unlisted), painted 1906; exhibited 1938 (RQAS Golden Jubilee Exhibition) Also of interest are a number of works exhibited with the Society featuring jacarandas: Jacaranda (watercolour), exhibited 1909 A Jacaranda (medium unlisted), exhibited 1909 Jacaranda (oil), exhibited 1914 Jacaranda, Wirra Wirra, Gregory Terrace (oil), exhibited 1914 36 Virginia Spate, 'The sunny south: Australian Impressionism', in World Impressionism: The International Movement, 1860-1920, ed. Norma Broude, H. N. Abrams, New York, c.1990, p.123. 37 Government House was relocated to the suburb of Ashgrove in 1910. L'ALLURE DE LA COTE SAUVAGE John Peter Russell Roc Toul pp.94-97 (Translations from French to English by Annick Bouchet) 1 'J'aime à venir, chaque année, dans cette île admirable, au milieu de sa population simple et accueillante, goûter tout le charme de sa beauté sauvage, grandiose, et puiser sous son ciel vivifiant et reposant de nouvelles forces artistiques (Sarah Bernhardt, ¡n Gil Blas, 1896, quoted in Anatole Jakowsky, Belle-lle-en-Mer, Editions La Nef de Paris, Paris, n.d. p.62). 2 This Inscription appeared on two separate paintings dedicated to his friend and fellow Islander Otto Friedrichs; see Ann Galbally, The Art of John Peter Russell, Sun Books, South Melbourne, 1977, cat. nos 137 & 194. 3 'Je me fixe à Kervillaouen, dans une petite maison où je trouve une chambre et une salle à manger d'auberge, cabaret où viennent les pilotes. Je trouve aussi un compagnon, Claude Monet. Je ne connaissais le peintre que par un échange de lettres, mais nous sommes devenus vite amis et d'une amitié qui a duré. C'est en sa compagnie que j'ai vu les côtes de la Mer sauvage, le Talus, Port-Goulphar, Port-Coton, toutes ces entrées de mer parmi les falaises, rochers énormes...' (Gustave Geffroy, La Bretagne, Paris, 1905, p.334). 4 Claude Monet, letters to Mme Hoschédé, 18 and 20 September 1886, Collection D. Wildenstein, Paris. 5 See Galbally, cat. no. 180. 6 'Troisième Exposition', 10 octobre - 25 novembre 1905 [exhibition catalogue], Salon d'Automne, Paris, no. 1388. See also Galbally, cat. no. 168. 7 C her M' B oisard . V euillez garder cette toile ( d 'O rphée ) EN ATTENDANT 3'™ ACTE? SALUT ET EN AMITIÉ JOHN RUSSELL 14/3/11 ART FOR THE BOURGEOIS DREAMERS OF PARIS Rupert Bunny Bathers pp.98-101 1 The painting Bathers was originally exhibited at the New Salon in Paris In 1906 as 'Une Scène au Bain'. Later it was shown at the Athenaeum Gallery in Melbourne in 1928 as 'Bathers' and was also exhibited at Anthony Hordern's Gallery in Sydney as 'The Bathers'. It was then placed on loan (for prospective purchase) to the National Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, where it resided for ten years. (There seems to have been some problems with this loan agreement. In the Melbourne Age of 27 April 1940, a journalist called 'Rambler' wrote about the Castlemaine Art Gallery Collection. He relates a story about '... a certain picture sent on loan to Sydney National Gallery by another celebrated Australian artist who had returned after a long sojourn abroad. This artist had made a reputation in Europe; his pictures hang in the Luxembourg and other famous galleries. He was asked for a loan of the picture for the Sydney Gallery, and he readily complied with the request. For ten years his picture hung there. Then ENDNOTES 305