Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

nn A T TH E N .S.W . SO C IETY OF A JifiSTÍ," SUO II''. myth. Indeed, the nature of Australian mythology was a major concern for the artist. In an article entitled 'The trend of Australian art considered and discussed', he argued for the necessity of a national mythology, based around the proposition that Aboriginal people were soon to be extinct and their memories could therefore be honoured. This text by Long has been rightly commented on for its racism and jingoism; however, it does show that at the turn of the century Sydney Long understood the need for his country to develop its own mythological language. As he wrote: The vagueness of his motives [sic] will render the artist dependent on delicate colour harmonies for the representation of his ideas — ideas which he, perforce, must treat in a symbolic and decorative manner.13 Above Yet Long's myth of a bush spirit, leading her 'At the N.S.W. Society of dancing birds on an elaborate treble clef Artists' Show', cartoon by formation through the gum treed plains, D. H. Souter, Bulletin, is based on a European, not Australian, 9 October 1897. sensibility. Sydney Long was a self­ Photograph courtesy consciously modern artist. In Sydney, in John Oxley Library the 1890s, modern art and literature meant Brisbane French Symbolism, English decorative Left arts, and moonrise. In 1901 the Bulletin's literary critic, A. G. Stephens, wrote that: Sydney Long Verlaine's cult of faded things, extolling the Pan C.1916 hinted hue before the gross colour, finds a Etching and aquatint natural home in Australia — in many aspects on cream wove paper a Land of Faded Things — of delicate purples, 28x41.5.cm delicious greys, and dull dreamy olives Bequest of Mrs Mabel and ochres.14 Dorothy Archer 1983 Queensland Art Gallery The modern art magazine, The Studio, had Sydney Long been readily available in Sydney since its initial publication in 189315and the artist Pan 1898 who was most admired by many Oil on canvas Australian artists, albeit at a distance, 104.9 X 177cm was the French symbolist, Pierre Puvis Gift of J. R. McGregor de Chavannes. His set piece paintings with 1943 their shallow frieze-like spaces quoted The Art Gallery of austere archaic classicism. New South Wales, Sydney It is that sense of space without depth that is used by Long in Spirit o f the Plains, but he subdues the vertical strokes of the trees, pushes them back in a receding rhythm, and instead places across his stage a pubescent nymph, piping her birds in an elaborate dance. She is not yet an angel, the moon rises to the side of her head, not into a halo as in the later etching and painting, but her features are defined in shadow.16Bearing in mind the awkwardness of Long's attempts at figure painting, the critic of the Daily Telegraph probably had a point when he criticised Long's drawing. After over a century Spirit o f the Plains remains one of the great beauties of Australian art. The girl leads her captivated birds in an elegant dance across a moonlit plain. The mood of twilight magic is created by the oddly satisfying tonal relationships of greys, blues, and pink- flushed pastel. The populating of the Australian bush with nymphs and gods served to develop a mythology of the burgeoning nation. As opposed to many traditional views of the landscape, which depicted it as a site of industry or pure majesty, Long created a lyrical vision, inspired by his European contemporaries, but achieved with Australian imagery. Dr Joanna Mendelssohn is Senior Lecturer in Art History at the College of Fine Arts, University of Sydney. DANCING ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE 79