Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Above Reproduction of engraving (after Frederick Schelbeck) from Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, vol.1, 1883: Hamilton Reach, p.369 Right Isaac Walter Jenner Hamilton Reach, Brisbane 1885 Oil on wood panel 21.7x52.4cm Purchased 1986 Queensland Art Gallery ways validating it — art as a sense of place; they now give the contemporary viewer an idea of what Brisbane was like — they are historical documents; and they give the art historian some clues as to Jenners later marginalisation — their 'sublime' characteristics were unfashionable in the decades after Federation, when Australians were seeking a national identity through somewhat fresher cultural forms. As historical documents Jenners paintings of early Brisbane record the busy shipping life of the colony. This is particularly true of Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm. The main ship in the painting is the RMS Quetta, which was regularly used on the London-Brisbane ocean mail service.4The outlook employed by Jenner was an ideal 'prospect' for capturing the impressive sweep of the Brisbane River and its lively traffic, with the rising, quite 'classical' cityscape in the background. The popularity of this vantage point is confirmed by several contemporary photographs, and by engraved illustrations in the Picturesque Atlas o f Australasia that feature the same scene.5In fact, quite a few of Jenners compositions resemble individual engravings in the volume of the atlas that deals with views of Queensland. Though it has been suggested that the artist produced some of these paintings as 'speculative' works for the publication, it is more likely that Jenner himself was taking inspiration from the large pool of popular illustrative material that was in circulation at this time. The engravings appeared in the first volume of the atlas published in 1883, thus pre-dating Jenner's paintings by several years.6 Jenner's Hamilton Reach, Brisbane, depicting the road from the Hamilton Reach to Eagle Farm, and its companion painting View o f Brisbane also seem to be based on sources available in the Picturesque Atlas. This is not to suggest that Jenner was not personally familiar with the sites featured. Rather, his adoption of the viewpoints indicates that the rendering of these scenes had already become a pictorial convention. There is no record of the paintings being exhibited in Brisbane during Jenner's lifetime, but it is interesting to note that all these works were reacquired from private English collections in the early 1980s. Whether they were taken to Britain as souvenirs of mercantile success or have had interesting, alternative histories is now impossible to trace. Many of the pictures that Jenner exhibited in Brisbane were of English themes, a fact that was critically noted by his opponents. However, the paintings he produced of his new home were apparently most popular and sold well, enabling him to earn a living as one of the few professional artists in the colony.7By 1889 his style was considered by one local commentator to be 'so familiar to us as to render a description almost unnecessary'.8 During the 1870s and 1880s the focus of artistic development in Queensland was strictly academic, with reviewers praising copies and even photographs of European works, such as the famous classical sculpture, the Laocoön.9 Because of its conservatism, Jenner's work would have been considered suitably traditional to be held up as a direct example to younger artists, and as icons of taste to tempt those in the colony wishing to become 'cultured'. When Jenner arrived in Brisbane there was little in the way of an 'art world'. Until the 1880s the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association art shows offered a limited showcase for the developing Queensland art community. The newly established Technical College was providing training, and the existence of a small but influential 'establishment' gave hope for an increasingly prosperous market for local art. J. A. Clarke was the only teacher of drawing until Jenner's arrival, and Clarke believed that there was, as yet, no place for larger art associations, as there were: not sufficient number of artists, whether amateur or professional, resident in or near Brisbane to furnish new and original work for the periodical exhibition and therefore any attempt of the kind must inevitably end in failure.10 Jenner and Clarke clashed consistently on several issues, including education, politics and artistic subject matter. Jenner's goal was to establish a network for professional artists, while Clarke was more interested in fostering the practical skills required by the growing colony. Jenner's defensiveness about technical training can of course be attributed to the 'self-taught' tag that was so much a part of his persona. His rival was also an outspoken nationalist, while Jenner never transposed his love of Britain.1 Both artists painted views of Brisbane, but while we have access to the work of Jenner, Clarke was not as prolific and his only extant major work, Panorama of Brisbane, is now installed in the State Government Executive Building. It had been commissioned for the Queensland Court of the 1880 International Exhibition in Melbourne, and was large-scale, while Jenner's Queensland works were much smaller, as they were usually intended for domestic sale. Despite his lack of formal training, Jenner tutored at Technical College classes and exhibited widely, winning the Rockhampton School of Arts silver medal in 1885. In the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition he exhibited two works depicting the aftermath of the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa, which he had witnessed (from a distance) while travelling to Brisbane aboard the SS Roma in 1883. Jenner also exhibited in the Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne in 1888-89; interestingly, the five works by Jenner listed in the official catalogue are English seascapes rather than Queensland scenes.12 As early as 1884 Isaac Jenner had started to campaign through the local newspapers 54 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965