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The Heidelberg School was an Australian
art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...
of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism.
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by
Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, so ...
and
Walter Withers Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists. Biography Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the son ...
, two local artists who painted ''
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
'' in
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
on the city's rural outskirts. The term has since evolved to cover painters who worked together at "artists' camps" around Melbourne and
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
in the 1880s and 1890s. Along with Streeton and Withers,
Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...
,
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
and Frederick McCubbin are considered key figures of the movement. Drawing on naturalist and
impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...
ideas, they sought to capture Australian life,
the bush "The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia and New Zealand where it is largely synonymous with '' backwoods'' or ''hinterland'', referring to a natural undeveloped area. The fauna and flora contained within this a ...
, and the harsh sunlight that typifies the country. The movement emerged at a time of strong
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
sentiment in Australia, then a group of colonies on the cusp of federating. The artists' paintings, not unlike the bush poems of the Bulletin School, were celebrated for being distinctly Australian in character, and by the early 20th century, critics had come to identify the movement as the beginning of an Australian tradition in Western art. Many of their most recognisable works can be seen in Australia's major public galleries, including the
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
, the
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
and the
Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...
.


History

The name refers to the then rural area of
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
, east of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
, where practitioners of the style found their subject matter, though usage expanded to cover other Australian artists working in similar areas. The core group painted together at "artists' camps", the first being the
Box Hill artists' camp The Box Hill artists' camp was a site in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia favoured by a group of '' plein air'' painters in the mid to late 1880s who later became associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressio ...
, established in 1885. Besides
Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, so ...
and
Walter Withers Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists. Biography Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the son ...
, other major artists in the movement included
Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...
, Frederick McCubbin and
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
.Heidelberg Artists Trail
/ref> See below for a list of other associated artists.


9 by 5 Impression Exhibition

In August 1889, several artists of the Heidelberg School staged the
9 by 5 Impression Exhibition The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was an art exhibition in Melbourne, Australia. It opened on 17 August 1889 at Buxton's Rooms on Swanston Street and featured 183 works, the majority of which were painted by Charles Conder, Tom Roberts and Arthur ...
at Buxton's Rooms,
Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertical ...
, opposite the
Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection between ...
. The exhibition's three principal artists were
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
, Tom Roberts and
Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, so ...
, with minor contributions from Frederick McCubbin,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
students R. E. Falls and Herbert Daly, and sculptor
Charles Douglas Richardson Charles Douglas Richardson (7 July 1853 – 15 October 1932) was a British-born Australian sculpture and painter. Training Trained at the Artisans School of Design, Trades Hall, Melbourne and later the National Gallery School, Melbourne and t ...
, who exhibited five ''sculpted impressions''. Most of the 183 works included in the exhibition were painted on wooden cigar-box lids, measuring 9 by 5 inches (23 × 13 cm), hence the name of the exhibition. Louis Abrahams, a member of the
Box Hill artists' camp The Box Hill artists' camp was a site in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia favoured by a group of '' plein air'' painters in the mid to late 1880s who later became associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressio ...
, sourced most of the lids from his family's tobacconist shop. In order to emphasise the small size of the paintings, the artists displayed them in broad Red Gum frames, some left unornamented, others decorated with verse and small sketches, giving the works an "unconventional,
avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...
look". The Japonist décor of Buxton's Rooms featured Japanese screens, umbrellas, and vases with flowers that perfumed the gallery, while the influence of Whistler's
Aestheticism Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pro ...
also shone through in the harmony and "total effect" of the display. The artists wrote in the catalogue: The exhibition caused a stir with many members of Melbourne's 'intelligentsia' attending during its three-week run. The general public, though somewhat bemused, responded positively, and within two weeks of the opening, most of the 9 by 5s had sold. The response from critics, however, was mixed. The most scathing review came from James Smith, then Australia's foremost art critic, who said the 9 by 5s were "destitute of all sense of the beautiful" and "whatever influence he exhibitionwas likely to exercise could scarcely be otherwise than misleading and pernicious." The artists pasted the review to the entrance of the venue—attracting many more passing pedestrians to, in Streeton's words, "see the dreadful paintings"—and responded with a letter to the Editor of Smith's newspaper, '' The Argus''. Described as a manifesto, the letter defends freedom of choice in subject and technique, concluding: The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition is now regarded as a landmark event in Australian art history. Approximately one-third of the 9 by 5s are known to have survived, many of which are held in Australia's public collections, and have sold at auction for prices exceeding $1,000,000. File:Charles Conder - Centennial Choir at Sorrento, 1889.jpg, Charles Conder, ''Centennial Choir at Sorrento'', 1889 File:Charles Conder - Going home (The Gray and Gold) - Google Art Project.jpg, Charles Conder, ''Going Home'', 1889 File:Tom Roberts Saplings.jpg, Tom Roberts, ''Saplings'', 1889 File:Tom Roberts Violin Lesson.jpg, Tom Roberts, ''The Violin Lesson'', 1889 File:Arthur Streeton Twilight East Melbourne 1889.jpg, Arthur Streeton, ''Twilight, East Melbourne'', 1889 File:Arthur Streeton - The National Game, 1889.jpg, Arthur Streeton, ''The National Game'', 1889


Grosvenor Chambers

Built "expressly for occupation by artists" by the art decorating firm
Paterson Bros. The Paterson Bros. art decorating firm, consisting of brothers James, Charles Stewart and Hugh Paterson, was established in Melbourne in 1873 and steadily grew in popularity. (From the 1870s, the term ‘art decorator’ in Australia implied the ...
(established by Hugh and James Paterson, brothers of ''plein airist'' and associate of the Heidelberg School
John Ford Paterson John Ford Paterson (1851, Dundee – 30 June 1912, Carlton, Victoria, Carlton), often referred to as Ford or J. Ford Paterson, was a Scottish-born Australian artist. He specialised in landscapes. Biography While still a teenager, he began his st ...
),
Grosvenor Chambers Grosvenor Chambers, at number 9 Collins Street, Melbourne, contained the first custom-built complex of artists' studios in Australia. The construction costs were almost £6,000 and the building opened in April 1888. The owner was Charles Stewar ...
opened at the eastern end of Collins Street in April 1888 and quickly became the focal point of Melbourne's art scene, as well as an urban base from which members of the Heidelberg School could receive sitters for portraits. The architects arranged the lighting and interior design of the building after consulting Roberts, who, along with Heidelberg School members
Jane Sutherland Jane Sutherland (26 December 1853 – 25 July 1928) was an Australian landscape painter who was part of the pioneering plein-air movement in Australia, and a member of the Heidelberg School. Her advocacy to advance the professional standing of fe ...
and
Clara Southern Clara Southern (3 October 1860 – 15 December 1940) was an Australian artist associated with the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. She was active between the years 1883 and her death in 1940. Physically, Southern was t ...
, was among the first artists to occupy studios in the building. They were soon followed by Conder, Streeton, McCubbin, Louis Abrahams and John Mather, among others.Significant sites
National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
Many of the artists decorated their studios in an
Aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
manner, showing the influence of
James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
. Roberts' use of
eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
s and
golden wattle ''Acacia pycnantha'', most commonly known as the golden wattle, is a tree of the family Fabaceae native to southeastern Australia. It grows to a height of and has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks) instead of true leaves. Sickle-shaped, these ...
as decorations started a fad for Australian flora in the home. He also initiated in-studio '' conversaziones'' at which artists discussed recent artistic trends and read the latest art journals. The presence of Roberts, Streeton and Conder at Grosvenor Chambers accounts for the high number of urban views they included in the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition, including Roberts' ''By the Treasury'', painted from the vantage point of his studio and featuring the Old Treasury Building on
Spring Street Spring Street may refer to: * Spring Street (Los Angeles), USA * Spring Street (Manhattan), New York City, USA * Spring Street, Melbourne, Australia * Spring Street, Singapore * Spring St (website), a US based lifestyle website Subway and trolle ...
.


Sydney

Roberts first visited Sydney in 1887. There, he developed a strong artistic friendship with
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
, a young painter who had already gone on ''plein air'' excursions outside Sydney and picked up some impressionist techniques from expatriate artist
G. P. Nerli Girolamo Pieri Pecci Ballati Nerli (21 February 1860 – 24 June 1926), was an Italian painter who worked and travelled in Australia and New Zealand in the late 19th century influencing Charles Conder and Frances Hodgkins and helping to m ...
. In early 1888, before Conder joined Roberts on his return trip to Melbourne, the pair painted companion works at the beachside suburb of Coogee. When a severe economic depression hit Melbourne in 1890, Roberts and Streeton moved to Sydney, first setting up camp at
Mosman Bay Mosman Bay is a bay of Sydney Harbour adjacent to the suburb of Mosman, 4 km north-east of the Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Three ferry wharves, Mosman Bay, South Mosman and Old Cremorne, are within the bay, all being serve ...
, a small cove of the harbour, before finally settling around the corner at
Curlew Camp Curlew Camp was an artists' camp established in the late 19th century on the eastern shore of Little Sirius Cove, now part of Mosman Bay in Sydney. It was home for some years to several leading Australian artists, such as Arthur Streeton and To ...
, which was accessible by the Mosman ferry. Melbourne artist Albert Henry Fullwood stayed with Streeton at Curlew, as well as other ''plen air'' painters on occasion, including prominent art teacher and Heidelberg School supporter
Julian Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery '' ...
, who resided nearby at the Balmoral artists' camp. Ashton had earlier introduced Conder to ''plein air'' painting, and in 1890, as a trustee of the National Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, secured the acquisition of Streeton's Heidelberg landscape ‘''Still glides the stream, and shall forever glide''’ (1890)—the first of the artist's works to enter a public collection. The more sympathetic patronage shown by Ashton and others in Sydney inspired more artists to make the move from Melbourne. Streeton won acclaim in Sydney for his harbour views, many of which were collected by
Eadith Walker Dame Eadith Campbell Walker (18 September 1861 - 8 October 1937) was an Australian heiress and philanthropist. Life and career Eadith Campbell Walker was born at The Rocks, Sydney, the only child of Scottish parents, Thomas Walker, a merchant ...
and Howard Hinton, two of the city's leading art patrons. In a poem dedicated to the artist, composer and outspoken sensualist
George Marshall-Hall George William Louis Marshall-Hall (28 March 1862 – 18 July 1915) was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915. According to his birth certifica ...
declared Streeton's Sydney the "City of laughing loveliness! Sun-girdled Queen!", which became the title of one of his harbour views. The National Gallery of Victoria notes: From Sydney, Streeton and Roberts branched out into country New South Wales, where, in the early 1890s, they painted some of their most celebrated works.


Influences and style

Like many of their contemporaries in Europe and North America, members of the Heidelberg School adopted a direct and impressionistic style of painting. They regularly painted landscapes ''
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
'', and sought to depict daily life. They showed a keen interest in the effects of lighting, and experimented with a variety of brushstroke techniques. A number of art critics, including Robert Hughes, have noted that the "impressionism" of the Heidelberg School had more in common with Whistler's tonal impressionism than the broken colours of the French impressionists. Indeed, the Heidelberg School artists did not espouse any
colour theory In the visual arts, color theory is the body of practical guidance for color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. Color terminology based on the color wheel and its geometry separates colors into primary color, seconda ...
, and, unlike the more radical approach of the French artists, often maintained some degree of
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
emphasis on form, clarity and composition. They also sometimes created works within the
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc ...
conventions of Victorian painting. The Australians had little direct contact with the French impressionists; for example, it was not until 1907 that McCubbin saw their works in person, which encouraged his evolution towards a looser, more abstracted style. The Heidelberg School painters were not merely following an international trend, but "were interested in making paintings that looked distinctly Australian". They greatly admired the light-infused landscapes of
Louis Buvelot Louis Buvelot ( Morges 3 March 1814 – Melbourne 30 May 1888), 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 H ...
, a Swiss-born artist and art teacher who, in the 1860s, adapted French
Barbizon School The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...
principles to the countryside around Melbourne. Regarding Buvelot as "the father of Australian landscape painting", they showed little interest in the works of earlier colonial artists, opining that they looked more like European scenes that did not reflect Australia's harsh sunlight, earthier colours and distinctive vegetation. The Heidelberg School painters spoke of seeing Australia "through Australian eyes", and by 1889, Roberts argued that they had successfully developed "a distinct and vital and creditable style". The notion that they were the first to objectively capture Australia's "scrubby bush" gained widespread acceptance in the early 20th century, but has since been disputed; for example, art historian Bernard Smith identified "an authentic bush atmosphere" in
John Lewin John William Lewin (1770 – 27 August 1819) was an English-born artist active in Australia from 1800. The first professional artist of the colony of New South Wales, he illustrated the earliest volumes of Australian natural history. Many of his ...
's landscapes of the 1810s, and John Glover in the 1830s is seen to have faithfully rendered Australia's unique light and sprawling, untidy gum trees.


Associated artists

There was no official membership of the Heidelberg School, but artists are said to be part of the movement based on their adoption of ''plein airism'' and impressionist techniques, as well as their attendance at the Melbourne and Sydney "artists' camps". Heidelberg School artists also often trained together at the
National Gallery of Victoria Art School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Galler ...
, and staged group exhibitions at the Victorian Artists' Society. Art historians have included the following people in the movement: * Louis Abrahams *
Julian Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery '' ...
*
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
* David Davies * Emanuel Phillips Fox *
Ethel Carrick Fox Ethel Carrick, later Ethel Carrick Fox (7 February 1872 – 17 June 1952) was an English Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter. Much of her career was spent in France and in Australia, where she was associated with the movement known as ...
* Albert Henry Fullwood *
Ina Gregory Georgina Alice Gregory (18 October 1874 – 5 June 1964) was an Australian artist. Gregory was born on 18 October 1874 in East Melbourne to Alice (née Topp) and John Burslem Gregory, barrister-at-law. She was the second of seven children. Her ...
* Tom Humphrey *
John Llewellyn Jones John Llewellyn Jones (1866 – 13 December 1927), often referred to as Llewellyn or J. Llewellyn Jones, was an Australian artist and photographer who was associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. ...
* John Mather * Frederick McCubbin * Leon Pole *
Jane Price Jane Rebecca Price (18 February 1860 – 24 May 1948) was an Australian painter who was a foundation member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. Two of her works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria and two ...
*
Charles Douglas Richardson Charles Douglas Richardson (7 July 1853 – 15 October 1932) was a British-born Australian sculpture and painter. Training Trained at the Artisans School of Design, Trades Hall, Melbourne and later the National Gallery School, Melbourne and t ...
*
Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...
*
Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, so ...
*
Clara Southern Clara Southern (3 October 1860 – 15 December 1940) was an Australian artist associated with the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. She was active between the years 1883 and her death in 1940. Physically, Southern was t ...
*
Jane Sutherland Jane Sutherland (26 December 1853 – 25 July 1928) was an Australian landscape painter who was part of the pioneering plein-air movement in Australia, and a member of the Heidelberg School. Her advocacy to advance the professional standing of fe ...
* Tudor St. George Tucker *
Walter Withers Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists. Biography Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the son ...


Locations

*
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
*
Beaumaris Beaumaris ( ; cy, Biwmares ) is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town of Anglesey. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from th ...
*
Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
* Box Hill (see
Box Hill artists' camp The Box Hill artists' camp was a site in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia favoured by a group of '' plein air'' painters in the mid to late 1880s who later became associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressio ...
) *
Bulleen Bulleen ( ) is an eastern suburb in Melbourne, Australia, 13 km north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Bulleen recorded a population of 11,219 at the 2021 census ...
* Templestowe *
Warrandyte Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Warrandyte recorded a population of 5,541 at the . Warrandyt ...
*
Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards o ...
*
Research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
*
Diamond Creek Diamond Creek is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Diamond Creek recorded a population of 12,503 at the 20 ...
*
Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 30 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Ferntree Gully re ...
*
Kallista Kallista is a locality within Greater Melbourne beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area Urban Growth Boundary, 36 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Kal ...
*
Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capital. It has a population of 393,115 people, covers ...
*
Mount Dandenong Mount Dandenong is a small township/suburb of Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Mount Dandenong recorded a population of 1,2 ...
* Kalorama * Silvan * Lilydale *
Yarra Glen Yarra Glen is a town in Victoria, Australia, 40 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Yarra Glen recorded a population of 3,012 at the . History The R ...
*
Coldstream Coldstream ( gd, An Sruthan Fuar , sco, Caustrim) is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream is the home of the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army. Description Coldstream l ...
* Yering * Mentone *
Sydney artists' camps Artists' camps flourished around Sydney Harbour in the 1880s and 1890s, mainly in the Mosman area making it "Australia's most painted suburb", but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century. They developed as a result of the enthus ...


Legacy

Writing in 1980, Australian artist and scholar Ian Burn described the Heidelberg School as "mediating the relation to the bush of most people growing up in Australia. ... Perhaps no other local imagery is so much a part of an Australian consciousness and ideological make-up." Their works are known to many Australians through reproductions, appearing in bars and motels, on stamps and as the covers of paperback copies of colonial literature. Heidelberg School artworks are among the most collectible in Australian art; in 1995, the
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
acquired Streeton's ''
Golden Summer, Eaglemont ''Golden Summer, Eaglemont'' is an 1889 landscape painting by Australian artist Arthur Streeton. Painted ''en plein air'' at the height of a summer drought, it is an idyllic depiction of sunlit, undulating plains that stretch from Streeton's Eag ...
'' (1889) from a private owner for $3.5 million, then a record price for an Australian painting. McCubbin's ''
Bush Idyll ''Bush Idyll'' is a 1893 painting by Australian artist Frederick McCubbin, and widely regarded as one of the finest masterpieces in Australian art history. The painting depicts a girl and boy - who is playing a tin whistle - lying on the ground ...
'' (1893) briefly held the record price for a publicly auctioned Australian painting when it sold at
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...
in 1998 for $2.31 million. Many
period film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
s of the
Australian New Wave The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the ea ...
drew upon the visual style and subject matter of the Heidelberg School.Gray, Anne (ed.) ''Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia''.
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
: National Gallery of Australia, 2002. , p. 12
For '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), director
Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...
studied the Heidelberg School as a basis for art direction, lighting, and composition. ''
Sunday Too Far Away ''Sunday Too Far Away'' is a 1975 Australian drama film directed by Ken Hannam. It belongs to the Australian Film Renaissance or the "Australian New Wave", which occurred during that decade. The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian o ...
'' (1975), set on an outback
sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...
, pays homage to Roberts' shearing works, to the extent that ''
Shearing the Rams ''Shearing the Rams'' is an 1890 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. It depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed. Distinctly Australian in character, the painting is a celebration of pastoral life and work, e ...
'' is recreated within the film. When shooting the landscape in ''
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith ''The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith'' is a 1972 Booker Prize-nominated Australian novel by Thomas Keneally, and a 1978 Australian film of the same name directed by Fred Schepisi. The novel is based on the life of bushranger Jimmy Governor, the su ...
'' (1978), cinematographer Ian Baker tried to "make every shot a Tom Roberts". ''
The Getting of Wisdom ''The Getting of Wisdom'' is a novel by Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. It was first published in 1910, and has almost always been in print ever since. Plot introduction Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence ...
'' (1977) and ''
My Brilliant Career ''My Brilliant Career'' is a 1901 novel written by Miles Franklin. It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879–1954), one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, ...
'' (1979) each found inspiration in the Heidelberg School; outback scenes in the latter allude directly to works by Streeton, such as ''The Selector's Hut''. The Heidelberg School is examined in ''
One Summer Again ''One Summer Again'' is a 1985 Australian docudrama miniseries about the painter Tom Roberts and the Heidelberg School art movement. Set in and around the city of Melbourne in the late 19th century, the film traces Roberts' career and his relatio ...
'', a three-part
docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...
that first aired on ABC television in 1985. The movement featured in the Australian citizenship test, overseen by former prime minister
John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...
in 2007. Such references to history were removed the following year, instead focusing on "the commitments in the pledge rather than being a general knowledge quiz about Australia." The movement has been surveyed in major exhibitions, including the nationwide blockbuster ''Golden Summers: Heidelberg and Beyond'' (1986), and ''Australian Impressionism'' (2007), held at the National Gallery of Victoria. Inspired by their acquisition of Streeton's 1890 painting '' Blue Pacific'', the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
hosted an exhibition titled ''Australia's Impressionists'' between December 2016 and March 2017, focusing on works by Streeton, Roberts, Conder and John Russell, an Australian impressionist based in Europe. In 2021, from April to August, the National Gallery of Victoria will host the exhibition ''She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism''.Grishin, Sasha (7 April 2021)
"She-Oak and sunlight: ‘the best feelgood show I have seen since COVID’"
''Conversation''. Retrieved 13 April 2021.


Gallery

Image:Jane Sutherland - Obstruction, 1887.jpg, Jane Sutherland, ''Obstruction, Box Hill'', 1887 Image:John Mather Louis Abrahams.jpg, John Mather, ''The Artist (Louis Abrahams) at His Easel'', 1887 Image:Julian Ashton - The Corner of the Paddock, 1888.jpg, Julian Ashton, ''The Corner of the Paddock'', 1888 Image:Charles Conder - A holiday at Mentone - Google Art Project.jpg, Charles Conder, '' A holiday at Mentone'', 1888 Image:Down on his luck.jpg, Frederick McCubbin, '' Down on His Luck'', 1889 Image:Leon Pole Village Laundress.jpg, Leon Pole, ''The Village Laundress'', 1891 Image:Tom Roberts - A break away! - Google Art Project.jpg, Tom Roberts, '' A break away!'', 1891 Image:Arthur Streeton - Fire's on - Google Art Project.jpg, Arthur Streeton, '' Fire's on'', 1891 Image:Albert Henry Fullwood The Swing.jpg, Albert Henry Fullwood, ''The Swing'', 1892 Image:David Davies - Moonrise - Google Art Project.jpg, David Davies, ''Moonrise'', 1893 Image:Walter Withers Tranquil Winter.jpg, Walter Withers, ''Tranquil Winter'', 1894 Image:Emanuel Phillips Fox - Art Students, 1895.jpg, Emmanuel Phillips Fox, ''Art Students'', 1895


See also

* John Russell, Australian impressionist who spent much of his career in France * Iso Rae, Australian impressionist who spent much of her career in France General: *
Visual arts of Australia Australian art is any art made in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, from prehistoric times to the present. This includes Aboriginal, Colonial, Landscape, Atelier, early-twentieth-century painters, print makers, photographers, an ...
*
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * *


External resources


In the Artist's Footsteps
{{Western art movements Impressionism Culture of Melbourne Victorian era Heidelberg, Victoria