Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

L'ALLURE DE LA COTE SAUVAGE John Peter Russell RocToul Ann Galbally Facing page John Peter Russell Australia/France 1858-1930 Roc Tout 1904-05 Oil on canvas 98.4 X128cm Gift of Lady Trout 1979 Queensland Art Gallery Right Postcard 'Sarah Bernhardt à Belle-lie', courtesy Ann Galbally I n the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the fierce wildness _ and 'savage beauty' of Belle-Ile, the small island off the coast of Quiberon in Brittany, France, exerted a powerful attraction to creative artists of a late- romantic temperament. Located far from the fatigues of critical, competitive Paris (yet comfortably near by rail from Paris to Quiberon and then a one-hour steamer trip to Le Palais, the island's tiny capital), at Belle-Ile fraught nerves and sensitive natures could refresh themselves at Nature's unspoiled source. As one famous summer resident, actress Sarah Bernhardt, reflected: I like to come each year to this marvellous island and enjoy, amidst its simple and welcoming people, the whole charm of its wild beauty and grandness, and draw new artistic strength from its vivifying and restful sky.1 Belle-Ile was far enough away to nourish a sense of being in another kingdom, another realm, where one could live by one's own rules as did Sydney-born John Peter Russell with his wife Anna Maria, called Marianne, and their six children. Indeed, he styled himself to friends 'Jean roi des Roussells — John King of the Russells'.2 What was it about the island that caused this sense of exhilaration, this refreshment and stimulation of creative talent experienced by the large number of artists, writers and performers who visited the island in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Flat, relatively featureless, its beet-growing fields broken only by pines and tiny white cottages, Belle-Ile was overwhelmingly a fishing island, centre of the vast sardine industry. As a tourist resort it rated only one paragraph in the second edition of Baedeker's Le Nord de la France (1887), which simply notes the island's capital Le Palais as having 5126 inhabitants and its main industry as being 'pêche de sardines ... fabriques de conserves alimentaires...' (sardine fishing... canned food industry...), with a brief reference to the island's 'grottes curieuses, côtes pittoresques' (strange grottoes, picturesque coastline). Flowever, it was not the expected sardine boats with their red sails nor the traditionally dressed Breton inhabitants that were the prime attractions for the artists; these could be found with a lot less trouble in the coastal towns of the Breton mainland. Rather, the overwhelming attraction was the extraordinary westernmost coastline, 'la côte sauvage'. Here where the land abruptly ends and drops into a boiling sea are to be found fantastically shaped rocks and grottoes formed over the centuries by that caressing and lashing sea. The strange shapes of the rocks had attracted fanciful names over the centuries. It was on the northernmost point of the island, Pointe des Poulains (Foals Headland), that Sarah Bernhardt built her 'fort'. From here one can see the famous 'Dog Rock' — 'Le Rocher du Chien' — painted by both Claude Monet and John Peter Russell. Moving southwards, the rock islands 'Roch Toull' or 'Roches percées' are to be seen; next, the fantastic 'Grotte de l'Apothicairerie' accessible only by boat, where on one famous occasion Russell took a nervous but appreciative Auguste Rodin. Further south, at the westernmost point of the island, is Port-Coton, behind which stands the great lighthouse. Here are to be found two tall thin adjoining rocks, 94 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965