Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

resh eyes the landscape :~ .. ~'~-. ~( ·. ~ Olo1•er. an Eni:l,.h art– ist, in 1830 At the a~e M 83 deputed rrom h t.. homeland and comfort- • b I e circumstance< to etlle as a patriarchal !armer In Van Dleman·., nd. The Important ,lnhn lover exhibit ion, a<sem– bled lrom public and prl– •ate collection• by John McPhee , Curator at ueen Victorh1 .'\rt Gel– ler y, Launceston, and now shovdng at Queens– land Art Gallery, dispels an,v notion <If •ome &till hold it, that all the early Colonial paint.era viewed the Australlan landscape with English eyes, Insight Here, where examples nf Olo1•er'• English works carry on to those done in Tasmania, full Insight can be ~alned into the change that occurred In the vision of the artist, who for so long had fol– lowed the fashionable trends derh·ed from Claude Lnrralne, Wilson, Salvator Rose And Gain– sborouith, and then look– ed at the Australian I an d sc a p e with fresh eyes, Tn !five "°"'' nf Gln– ttr's hack,rround and ca– reer llullu details ,.,111 he found In the 10·el1 pre– pared ealalncuei : Re 11•11 bom In 1767 In a vlUage near Leicf!ster. The •on of & small farm– er. he developed f!erly a lo\'e of nature and land– scape painting. He first taught hlm– aell, then made vls!Ls to London to take les.~nns from William Payne, Wh05e tricky apllt brush technique, which gives a virtuoso handling and lightness Lo fol iage, he continued 10 pracllu. Sublime apot.~. and made the in– dlsptnslble Grand Tour of Italy, In 18PS "" mo,•ed to l,mukm, where lnune– di•tel, hi, t • lm '°"" lo ..,.., heirht• Hts ronu·1bu ·1ons to t h e r i r s t •:;hibltion , I RO ~, of thP. ne"·ly formed fioc1et1· of \Vater- ln 1794 he mol'ed to color Painters dre\\• ~rea t LI c h f I e id and gained attention. Quick succ~ss with his He 11as presiden t of paintings And as a teach- the Society In 1807-8. f!r of drn•ing and paint- Oiol'er's oils In the Ing. rnnd manner never u·on Even In search of the u,e acolAln1 or his wa ter– picturesque and the 1ub- colon, and they did ,1ot lime In nature , as "'"" please the Ro,ral Aude– the faohlonable trend) he my, which rejected him. visited Britain's beauty I Ne1·erthele.s, • luge canva.1 nr his g&ined a gold medal In the Paris Salon 1814. Appeal G I o ,,er · , ,',t,,\'le hAfi much popu lu nppeal. HO\l.'HPr, '1r "·a.~ no 1n– n0\'ator, Rnd ~ h1le onP. arlmlrrs hi hrilhan t r se– cu1lon onr r."n not O\'Pr– look his per~e\ (>ranee 1n the C()ll\'Pnt1on., mhen t~d from •h• 18th cen tu rt·, ,.. h 11 e contemporaries, not•bly 1\trnor nnd Cnn– SL a b I e , \\'ere breitklnF( ne11· ground, Ho\\'el'er. !he Engl"h &ection Includes tine ..,,.,_ omples of Glover's to•te lnr the sublime, such 85 the oil "English PR5torar, The Lake District." One u,oun the fluid, ,rracelul, conlrolled wa.h 11,a,.Jnr "The Pool" 1 amon,r others, and lhe Intimate, direct obserTl– tlon nr nolure In lhe drawlnp, But then passing on to G lm·er•• Tasmanian pir– tures. ont mar\'els ho"· tn the el'enln~ of his life And Rfltr II sucrP.~Sft.l'I CR• reer In England, he re– freshed hi~ spirit In 1 , e new land, "'here he _.,.,. tlnued lo pRJnt until his death In 1849. He ell.St Mide the pre– conceived nolion, of aca– d em t c-romantlc com– posilinn, As no other C<llontal pnlnter of his days, he obserl'ed with • keen, pristine e1·e th, tru• rharacterlsttc, nr eu– caJrpt.,, and thr1r ~·•y or <1ottln~ Ihe hills: he studl•d the bri~hL light ll'hich rills Hcnl,1· - and flattens - the lnndsc•pe, a nrl, rnn•t lmpnrtnntlr. h1& e,rnrP. ..rrt thr c~i.r n– tl• I feel nr broad ex– pnn.e. Space ~par.I! ts 110 lonlZ'tr ren– rlered M a 11ostalgic t h r u , I. throueh dark foreground •~houetl."5 Into a dbtance lost 1n mt,t or a blaze or light: b ut. letting !l'errthlng In the picture ,.1anrl out more cieari)', the 1•ie11·er's Glover's "Potterdole Land– scape With Cottle." The pointing is in the Rex Non Kivell Collection, Notional Library of Australia. LEFT: Glover's "Lon– don from Hamp- stea;:J Heath." ART Rf VIEW 11y Dr Grrt1urlr l.rn ~er e,ve Is led to roam freely lrnm side to •Ide &nd up end down In a horizon– tally expanding space. I Orten fallen trees in the forerround point lat– enn,·. and the arran11e– n,eni of other detail em– Ph•sLm & breadth of horizontal progression. Some decades will pass before painters will create something so es– sentialll' Australlon In landscape art u Cawood On The Ouse River and t he Patterdale land– &capes. And not to tor~et the bllss-flliPd pointlnii "My Han·e-,t Home", II I, • matter nt reJN'I that ln·o most r••lshlnr palnllnrs are nnt lnclad– ect. They are: "A View of the Art.lsl's House Rnd Oa r d en. ~!ills Plain", w h Ic i, hA• noL been 01•aiiable fnr the itlner•– ry, and ''The Rh·er Nile from Mr. Glol'er·s Farm", n·hlch \\'U "' l11ded from the Brisbane showing.