Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

widespread acceptance of Aesthetic furnishings, as well as focusing attention on Aesthetic interests in Japanese art and artefacts and oriental draperies and carpets.'' In 1885 a writer in the Melbourne Bulletin could state that 'people are beginning to get a little tired now of Japanese ornaments, and enterprising manufacturers are searching every country for new and picturesque styles'.12The writer was perhaps premature in predicting the imminent demise of the Japanese craze which continued to flourish in the 1880s, but the link between the taste for japonaiserie and trade and commerce was a vital one. It was the ease and cheapness with which Aesthetic furnishings and bric-à-brac could be procured that allowed artists to decorate their studios in the Aesthetic fashion and to position themselves as leaders of taste in society. By the mid-1880s it had become quite common for artists to arrange their studios in a quasi-Aesthetic manner, if one can judge from comments in Once a Month which praised the first Melbourne studio of Arthur Loureiro as: a room deserving that name, and not disfigured by absurdities such as Japanese fans and grotesques, peacock feathers in strange groupings etc. etc., which but too often are to be seen in such places dignified by the term 'art decorations'.13 Despite the occasional expression of reservations, most artists seem to have reacted positively to the fashion for art decoration which was popularly presented as a sign of 'the increasing artistic taste of the present times'. As contemporary styles in decoration appeared to move from the studio into the domestic interior, the prestige of the artist was enhanced. Decorating firms announced their intention to cater for 'all the requisites for furnishing according to modern ideas'. In Melbourne, the Misses Pearce of the Kalizoic establishment promised to undertake the complete embellishment of any house, leaving it 'decorated and fitted up in the most modern and artistic style'.14 Messrs Cullis, Hill and Co. specialised in the usual array of draperies, muslin curtains, oriental fabrics and other paraphernalia, available at sale for the 'lowest possible prices'15Draping walls and furniture was high fashion at the time and art critics noted how cunningly-placed draperies could break all the hard outlines of an artist's studio.16In 1889, with some business acumen, Cullis Hill agreed to decorate Buxton's Art Gallery free of charge for the famous '9 by 5 Impression Exhibition': Drapings of soft liberty silk of many delicate colours, were drawn, knotted and looped among the sketches, while Japanese umbrellas, screens and handsome Bretby jardinières completed a most harmonious arrangement of colour.17 The taste for japonaiserie was deeply enmeshed in popular culture of the day. Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta The Mikado, first staged in Sydney in 1885, delighted Australian audiences with its 'real Japanese costumes' and authentic scenery obtained expressly from Japan.18 Meanwhile, a Japanese troupe entertained Sydney people at the 'Japanese Village' at the Exhibition Building, a subject represented by Phil May and Constance Roth in drawings for the illustrated press.19 Perhaps reaping some of the benefits of the popularity of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, the Mikado Bazaar in the Sydney Arcade, King Street, offered the public 'ingenious Japanese art productions directly imported from Japan' and 'inexpensive novelties for presentations to their friends'.20The 'Fashion Notes' of the Melbourne journal Table Talk similarly drew the attention of its readers to a very large assortment of Japanese goods and valuable bric-à-brac currently being shown in the Royal Arcade, including 'all kinds of Japanese ornaments of superior quality'.21 If artists were able to decorate their studios in the latest styles relatively cheaply, the bric-à-brac and paraphernalia of the studio nevertheless held a symbolic meaning beyond its monetary value. The setting and props of the studio conjured up an exotic, special environment, a sanctuary for the artist, his patrons and friends. Studios became symbols of the imagination, places where art was inspired and created. The scene in The sitting is replete with the 'atmosphere' of art.22Nerli probably modelled his studio on contemporary Italian ones which were profusely decorated and richly cluttered. Some sense of this Tom Roberts (seated) in his studio at Grosvenor Chambers. Photograph courtesy Mitchell Library, Sydney Photograph of Ugo Catani's studio in Collins Street, Melbourne, from Illustrated Sydney News, 1 August 1891, p.7 66 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965