Rural landscape Australia
Gwen Barringer was a South Australian artist, known for her watercolours. Barringer was noted for watercolours of flowers and landscapes, to which she invested a fairyland-like glamour and remained immune to trends and changing fashions. She is represented in the State galleries of South Australia and Victoria, and the National Gallery, Canberra. Barringer studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts under H. P. Gill, Archibald Collins and Hans Heysen. She was a council member of the South Australian Society of Arts for over 30 years, and was also well known as a teacher.
Theodore Penleigh Boyd was a British born Australian artist. Penleigh Boyd was a member of the Boyd artistic dynasty: his parents Arthur Merric Boyd and Emma Minnie Boyd (née à Beckett) were well-known artists of the day, and his brothers included the ceramicist Merric Boyd and the novelist Martin Boyd. Penleigh Boyd is best known as a landscapist with an accomplished handling of evanescent effects of light. A notable influence was artist E. Phillips Fox, who introduced him to plein air techniques when they were neighbours in Paris.
Arthur Merric Boyd was an Australian painter. He and his wife Emma Minnie (née à Beckett) established a lifestyle of being artists which many generations followed to create the popular image of the Boyd family. Boyd travelled and painted a good deal on the continent of Europe, and returned to Australia about the end of 1893, where he lived mostly in Sandringham and other suburbs of Melbourne for the rest of his life. He occasionally sent good work to the exhibitions of the Victorian Artists' Society, but never mixed much in the artistic life of his time.
Emma Minnie Boyd, born Emma Minnie Beckett, was an Australian artist. She exhibited publicly between 1874 and 1932 with the Victorian Society of Artists, the International Centenary Exhibition of 1888 (Melbourne), the Royal Academy of Arts (London) and in a joint exhibition with her husband at Como House in Melbourne in 1902.
Emma Minnie Boyd had a talent for watercolour landscapes, although she painted in both watercolour and oil, depicting interiors, figures, portraits, still lifes and floral studies. She is part of the Boyd artistic dynasty that began with Emma and her husband Arthur.
Louis Buvelot, born Abram-Louis Buvelot, was a Swiss landscape painter who lived 17 years in Brazil and following 5 years back in Switzerland stayed 23 years in Australia, where he influenced the Heidelberg School of painters. Buvelot is best known for his great contribution to Australian art. His works, mostly oil landscapes, are quite well regarded, but perhaps his impact was even greater as a tutor of several members of the Heidelberg School. His enthusiasm for plein air painting (that is, painting directly in the open air) was a key characteristic of those artists' work.
Ray Austin Crooke was an Australian artist known for for serene views of Islander people and ocean landscapes, many of which are based on the art of Paul Gauguin. He won the Archibald Prize in 1969 with a portrait of George Johnston. His painting The Offering (1971) is in the Vatican Museum collection. Many of his works are in Australian galleries. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1993 Australia Day Honours, "in recognition of service to the arts, particularly as a landscape artist".
Norah Gurdon was an Australian artist. Gurdon attended the National Gallery School from 1901 to 1908, being taught by noted artists Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall. An accomplished landscape and still-life painter, Gurdon exhibited her works with the Victorian Artists Society while still a student. She established her artistic prowess early on by winning the major category for oil painting in the 1909 City of Prahran's Art Exhibition Prize.
Norah Gurdon was a regular and successful exhibitor of work, exhibiting with the Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, and the Australian Art Association. In the 1920s she held many solo exhibitions at the Athenaeum Gallery, and later at the Women's Industrial Arts Society in Sydney, and the Royal Queensland Art Society in Brisbane.
Lindsay Bernard Hall was an English-born Australian artist, teacher and art gallery director. He studied painting at the South Kensington School of Art, Antwerp and Munich, and worked for several years in London. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and was one of the original members of the New English Art Club. In 1891 he was appointed director of the National Gallery of Victoria and master of the School of Arts in Melbourne. Hall's paintings were usually interiors, nudes, or paintings of still life.
Harold Brocklebank Herbert was an early 20th century Australian painter and printmaker, an illustrator and cartoonist. A traditionalist, as an art teacher he promoted representational painting, and as a critic was an influential detractor of modernism. He was the first war artist to be appointed for Australia in the Second World War, serving for 6 months with the Australian Infantry Forces in Egypt in 1941 and in the Middle East in 1942. Herbert continued the Australian impressionist style and exercised particular skill with watercolour washes and his etchings, lithographs and cartoons are in an economical, sketchy style.
Constance Jenkins Macky was an Australian-born American artist and teacher. She was known for her portraits, landscape paintings, and still life paintings. She was a member of the San Francisco Art Association, and the California Society of Women Artists.
Frances Vida Lahey was a prominent artist in Queensland, Australia. She exhibited widely from 1902 until 1965. Vida Lahey was one of the first female artists in Queensland and Australia, who regarded themselves as professionals and who sought to earn a living from practising their art. Vida Lahey is represented in major Australian art galleries, including the National Gallery of Australia.
Sydney Long was an Australian artist. He was influenced by the Heidelberg School but after 1895 Long moved from the Heidelberg School's approach to the Australian landscape (a fusion of Victorian genre painting and a Barbizon-like plein air informal realism). In practice this resulted in a new school of Australian Paganism, reflected in the literature of the period as much as in the art. Long's greatest triumph in this style was The Spirit of the Plains (1897).
Matthew James MacNally was a well known Australian watercolourist during the first half of the twentieth century. Since his death there have been two major exhibitions of his work, one at John Martin's Art Gallery in Adelaide (1946) and a retrospective at the Benalla Art Gallery (1974).
John Mather was a Scottish-Australian plein-air painter and etcher. As a painter, Mather was involved in the bohemian Artists' Camps of Sydney. In 1912 along with Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum, Walter Withers Mather formed the breakaway Australian Art Association. Three of Mather's own paintings, Autumn in the Fitzroy Gardens in oils, and Morning, Lake Omeo and Wintry Weather, Yarra Glen, both watercolours, were purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria.
Frederick McCubbin was a renowned Australian artist, a central figure in the Australian Impressionism movement, and a significant member of the Heidelberg School. Born in Melbourne in 1855, his early life was shaped by the colonial expansion of Australia, fostering a deep appreciation for the Australian landscape that would profoundly influence his art. McCubbin's art education was thorough, studying under notable artists at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where he later became a drawing master, educating future Australian artists.
Frederick McCubbin is celebrated for his unique depiction of the Australian bush, portraying the everyday life and struggles of settlers and bushmen with authenticity and sensitivity. His works like "Down on His Luck" and "The Pioneer" showcase this theme, highlighting the resilience and heroism of the Australian pioneers. These paintings are not just artworks; they are narratives that encapsulate the spirit of the nation, making Frederick McCubbin a pivotal figure in Australia's art history. His innovative approach to painting, characterized by an intimate connection with the landscape and a nuanced use of light and color, helped forge a distinct Australian art identity.
His paintings are housed in prestigious galleries across Australia, serving as testaments to his lasting impact on the nation's cultural heritage. Collectors and art enthusiasts revere McCubbin not only for his artistic prowess but also for his role in nurturing a unique Australian art narrative.
For those intrigued by Frederick McCubbin's legacy and wishing to stay informed about sales and auctions of his works, signing up for updates is a practical way to remain connected to the world of this eminent artist, ensuring you're alerted to new opportunities to engage with his enduring artistry.
Hilda Rix Nicholas was an Australian artist. Born in the Victorian city of Ballarat, she studied under a leading Australian Impressionist, Frederick McCubbin, at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1902 to 1905 and was an early member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. After travelling to Tangier in 1912, Rix held several successful exhibitions of her work, with one drawing, Grande marché, Tanger, purchased by the French government. She was one of the first Australians to paint post-impressionist landscapes, was made a member of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français, and had works hung in the Paris Salon in 1911 and 1913. Returning to Australia in 1918, Rix Nicholas once more took up professional painting, and held an exhibition of over a hundred works at Melbourne's Guild Hall. Many sold, including In Picardy, purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. Following a period painting in rural locations in the early 1920s, Rix Nicholas returned to Europe. In 1926, Rix Nicholas returned to Australia. Though she continued to paint significant works including The Summer House and The Fair Musterer, Rix Nicholas, a staunch critic of modernism and disdainful of emerging major artists such as Russell Drysdale and William Dobell, grew out of step with trends in Australian art. Her pictures followed a conservative modern style, portraying an Australian pastoral ideal.
Harold Septimus Power, usually known as H. Septimus Power or H. S. Power, was a New Zealand-born Australian artist, who was an official war artist for Australia in World War I. He exhibited in 1899 with the Melbourne Art Club and soon after moved to Adelaide where he worked as an illustrator and political cartoonist. In 1904, he was commissioned by the trustees of the Art Gallery of South Australia to paint an animal scene. He was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Animal Painters. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. After war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Australian government appointed official war artists to depict the activities of the Australian Imperial Force in the European theater of war. Power was appointed in 1917 and was attached to the 1st Division, A.I.F. from September to December of that year and then again in August the following year. Official War Artist during the First World War and was renowned for his depiction of animals, in particular horses, on the field of battle.
Ruth Sutherland was an Australian painter and art critic. She was a founding member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. She had a joint exhibition of oils, watercolours and pastels with fellow artists Dora Wilson and May Roxburgh in 1918. She enjoyed doing landscapes, renting a cottage in Lilydale with Bernice Edwell and Florence Rodway to sketch the surrounding country. She also exhibited with the Yarra Sculptors' Society.
Jessie Constance Alicia Traill was an Australian printmaker. Trained by Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, and by painter and printmaker Frank Brangwyn in London, Traill worked in England and France in the period immediately preceding World War I. During the war she served in hospitals with the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Traill is best known for a series of prints created in the early 1930s depicting the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Critic and art historian Sasha Grishin describes her as "one of the great Australian artists of the 20th century".
John William Tristram was an Australian artist who painted primarily in watercolour. He commonly signed his paintings "J. W. Tristram". Tristram's watercolours were typically soft and delicate. He was best known for his coastal scenes and rural landscapes which were often nocturnes or low light depictions of dawn or dusk. His works can be found in the collections of many Australian public galleries including: National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia and Queensland Art Gallery.
William Blamire Young, commonly known as Blamire Young, was an English/Australian artist who painted primarily in watercolour. In 1911 he held an exhibition at Melbourne of small pictures, some of which had similar qualities to the Japanese coloured wood-cuts of the eighteenth century. He was commissioned by the Postmaster-General of Australia, Charles Edward Frazer, to produce new designs for the first Commonwealth of Australia stamps. This design was first issued on 2 January 1913 and continued to be in use till 1935 concurrently with other stamps. In 1976 he was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post for his work as designer of the first Australian postage stamp.