Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

Italian lineage emerges in a photograph of Ugo Catani's studio in Mutual Chambers in Collins Street, Melbourne, dating from 1891 or earlier. Described as being arranged with excellent taste', Catani's studio has something of the same studied disarray seen in The sitting. The studio is stacked high with framed pictures, the effect softened here and there by strategically placed draperies, oriental carpets, ornaments and plants.23What may seem to be the excessive clutter of such interiors was also not unusual in popular decorating styles of the period.24 As Australian artists became more professionalised in the 1880s, their studios assumed additional roles as a reflection of their artistic careers. In 1888 the Melbourne art decorator, businessman and speculator C. S. Paterson built Grosvenor Chambers in Upper Collins Street, the first building in Australia expressly erected to accommodate artists. At a smoke-night held to celebrate its opening, some were surprised to find an artist 'nearly as comfortably disposed as a bank manager' and studios 'almost as rich in decoration and upholstery as a dentist's or photographer's room'. An illustration of the smoke-night in the Australasian Sketcher contrasted the bedraggled and unkempt 'Old Time Artist', toiling alone at his easel, with the sophisticated 'Artist of Today', resplendent in top hat and tails.25 In a parallel situation, the following year several Sydney artists moved into 'very handsome studios' in Paling's new buildings in George Street where they were said to be in 'the thick of luxurious living'. Working under one roof helped artists to develop a sense of community and group identity, at the same time as the public and art critics found that they could more conveniently do the rounds of the studios.26 As portrayed in his major painting, Mrs L. A. Abrahams 1888 (National Gallery of Victoria), Tom Roberts's studio in Grosvenor Chambers had the reputation of being one of the best in Melbourne. Roberts's picture is a more traditional portrait than The sitting and the manner in which Mrs Abrahams's figure is silhouetted against a plain muslin backdrop recalls the example ofWhistler. Yet though the decoration of Roberts's studio is noticeably more subdued and restrained than Nerli's, it, too, relies for effect on inexpensive, exotic props such as the Japanese fan and lantern, hanging scroll, lacquer tray and pampas grass, reed and floral arrangements.27With his considerable entrepreneurial talents, Roberts developed the idea of the studio as an intellectual forum by introducing art conversaziones where the latest French and other journals were discussed, and singing and artistic conversation indulged in.28Under his direction, members of the public were inducted into the unfamiliar world of the studio when he and his fellow artists opened their studios to the public on 'Studio Wednesdays', following the London custom of opening the studio to visitors for inspection of pictures prior to exhibition. One of the pleasures of the newly fashionable studio visit was being able to compare actual objects and accessories with their painted representation in the artist's picture.29 On his arrival from Sydney to live in Melbourne in October 1888, Charles Conder spent some time sharing Roberts's studio in Grosvenor Chambers before he established his own studio in Melbourne Chambers in Collins Street. Souvenirs of Sydney were 'scattered all over the room' of his new studio, including sketches by Phil May, F. B. Schell, Frank Mahony, Julian Ashton, Nerli and Constance Roth.30 In February 1889 Conder wrote to his cousin Maggie, explaining how he had started a studio and taken in students: ... five young ladies with pink frocks and turned up straw hats come &sit in two mornings a week ... My studio is decorated with liberty silks and muslins (more muslin than silk) &looks quite charming. Mrs Caffyn the lady whose portrait I painted some time ago had lent me some bric-à-brac to put in it &if it doesn't make a good room to work in it is a pretty room to look a t. . 31 An artist's studio now needed to be sufficiently attractive and adaptable to entice prospective students to the altar of art, to serve as the setting for a fashionable portrait, or as a space where pictures were displayed and sold before the widespread advent of private commercial galleries.32 Sydney artists proved as adept as their Melbourne counterparts in engaging the attention of their public and potential patrons. During the 1889 Spring Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that local artists, having recognised the fact that the patrons of art were chiefly from Belgravia, not Bohemia, were now 'broadening the bounds of their most excellent hospitality'. On the Saturday preceding the opening of the exhibition, the Art Society held its annual banquet where guests could dine surrounded by the pictures of the year; during the exhibition, the Society staged a 'brilliant' conversazione at its new rooms in Pitt Street.3 Tom Roberts 1856-1931 Mrs L. A. Abrahams 1888 Oil on canvas 41x36cm Purchased 1946 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Artists had also adopted the practice of holding 'at homes' in their Sydney studios. The studio of Constance Roth became an intellectual centre, a lively meeting place for actors, musicians and artists. Reflecting Roth's status as a leading art decorator and artist, her Elizabeth Street studio was regarded as one of the finest in Sydney. It consisted of two large rooms, the first being for the reception of visitors. There was a magnificent oriental carpet, olive green velvet curtains and Indian red walls, while the working room of the artist was decorated with a divan piled up with cushions of many colours, picturesque lounges, AROUND THE STUDIOS 67