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Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter,
lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone ( lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...
and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the
Heidelberg School The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...
, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western art.


Early life

Conder was born in
Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...
, the second son, of six children, of James Conder,
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
and Mary Ann Ayres. He spent several years as a young child in India until the death of his mother (aged 31 years) on 14 May 1873 in
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...
, when Charles was four; he was then sent back to England and attended a number of schools including a boarding school at
Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...
, which he attended from 1877. He left school at 15, and his very religious, non-artistic father, against Charles's natural artistic inclinations, decided that he should follow in his footsteps as a civil engineer. In 1884, at the age of 16, he was sent to Sydney, Australia, where he worked for his uncle, a
land surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...
for the
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
government. However he disliked the work, much preferring to draw the landscape rather than survey it. In 1886, he left the job and became an artist for the "
Illustrated Sydney News ''The Illustrated Sydney News'' was a monthly English language newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History First published on 8 October 1853 by Walter George Mason (1820 – 12 March 1866), William Edward Vernon and Ludolf ...
", where he was in the company of other artists such as Albert Henry Fullwood, Frank Mahony and
Benjamin Edwin Minns Benjamin Edwin Minns (17 November 1863 – 21 February 1937) was an Australian artist, recognised as one of Australia's foremost watercolourists. Minns was born in Dungog, New South Wales, Australia and had lessons in painting and drawing at I ...
. He also attended the painting classes of
Alfred James Daplyn Alfred James Daplyn (1844 – 19 July 1926) was an English-born Australian artist. Born in London, Daplyn studied there at the Slade School of Fine Art, the National Academy in New York City, under Jean-Léon Gérôme at École nationale su ...
and had joined the Art Society of New South Wales.Ursula Hoff,
Conder, Charles Edward (1868–1909)
, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 3, MUP, 1969, pp 446–447.


Career

In 1888, Conder moved to
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 me ...
where he met other Australian artists including Arthur Streeton, and shared a studio with
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 ...
, whom he had previously met in Sydney. Short of cash, the attractive Conder apparently paid off his landlady by sexual means, catching syphilis in the process, which was to plague the later years of his life. During his two years in Melbourne, Conder worked with the other members of the school and produced a number of famous works, including ''Under The Southern Sun''. This painting clearly shows the burning sunlight and desolation that can be inflicted by an Australian
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
. In 1890, he moved to Paris and studied at the
Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the numbe ...
, where he befriended several avant-garde artists. In Sydney and later Melbourne Conder associated with
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 mo ...
, an itinerant Italian painter and the bearer of new European influences who has been credited with shaping Conder's development. The extent of the influence has been debated, but the fact of it is undeniable. Like Conder, Nerli was a bon-vivant whose appreciation of the 'dam fine' 'Melbourne girls' survives in a letter to a mutual friend, Percy Spence. Regarded as his greatest Sydney painting, ''Departure of the Orient – Circular Quay'' (1888) was the culmination of Conder's new mastery of form and brushwork. Painted from the vantage point of an upstairs room at the First and Last Hotel, overlooking the bustling harbour and ferry berths at Circular Quay in Sydney Cove, this work depicts the dockside scene at the moment when the 'Orient' has cast off for her voyage to England. The theme of lively urban streetscapes and rainy atmospheric conditions was one that derived originally from Japanese art and informed the work of the American-born James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who in turn inspired a generation of international artists conversant with the principles of French Impressionism. Following successful sale of this work to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Conder departed for Melbourne in October 1888 to join Roberts and the circle of painters working there. He returned to Europe in 1890, where he became fully involved with Aestheticism and mixed with leading artists and writers of the day including Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley. Conder was a fun-loving man who painted with an often humorous touch. While staying with Tom Roberts in his famous
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 Stewa ...
studio, he painted '' A holiday at Mentone'' (1888), which shows men and women at the beach relaxing while clothed from head to foot–the men in suits and hats; the ladies in long, girdled dresses with boots and pretty hats. The man and woman at the front of the painting face away from each other, yet possibly are interested in each other, each watching the other from the corner of their eye. The mood is one of simple elegance and with a relaxed feel, as in the background people are strolling along the beach into the distance. The composition of the painting has possibly been borrowed from a work by Whistler in which a bridge similarly transects the picture. Conder among other painters such as Frederick McCubbin had been directly or indirectly influenced by Whistler.


Europe

Conder left Australia in 1890, and spent the rest of his life in Europe, mainly Britain, but visiting France on many occasions. His art was better received in Britain than in Paris. In 1892,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the l ...
painted his portrait, this sketch is owned by the Aberdeen Art Gallery. In 1895, Conder came to Dieppe, attempting to socialise among the artistic community and the English families with their attractive daughters, as described by Simona Pakenham in her study of the English people there in the century before World War I. His friends remembered him as " a sick man, unable to face reality". In spite of drunken spells and disreputable company, Conder's powers as an artist were then at their height. He made a specialty of painting on silk, relatively easy on silk fans, but he excelled on one occasion when he painted a series of white silk gowns worn by Alexandra Thaulow, wife of Norwegian painter Frits Thaulow, while she stood on a table, the gowns becoming "coloured like a field of flowers". He met
Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...
in Dieppe, but they did not like each other. He continued to paint, but his output was severely affected by the continual poor health, including paralysis and a bout of
delirium tremens Delirium tremens (DTs) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, shiver ...
. He married a wealthy widow, Stella Maris Belford (née MacAdams) at The British Embassy Paris on 5 December 1901, giving him financial security. His later works are not nearly as well regarded critically as his earlier Australian paintings.


Later life and death

He spent the last year of his life in a sanatorium, and died in
Holloway Sanatorium Holloway Sanatorium was an institution for the treatment of those suffering temporary mental illness, situated on of aesthetically landscaped grounds near Virginia Water, Surrey, England, about south-west of Charing Cross. Its largest buildings ...
of " general paresis of the insane", in modern terms tertiary syphilis. In death, Conder's work was rated highly by many notable artists, such as
Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
and
Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is esp ...
. The Canberra suburb of Conder, established in 1991, was named after him. Satirist Barry Humphries is a major aficionado and collector of the artist, and at one time had the world's largest private collection of Conder's work.Clive James, "Approximately in the Vicinity of Barry Humphries", ''London Review of Books'', 6–9 October 1983


See also

*
Australian art 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 ...


References


Bibliography

* Galbally, Ann. ''Charles Conder: the last bohemian,'' Miegunyah Press: Melbourne University (2002
Catalogue reference and book summary
*Gibson, Frank & Dodgson, Campbell
''Charles Conder; his life and work''
(London: John Lane, 1914). *Pakenham, Simona. ''Sixty Miles from England: The English at Dieppe 1814-1914'', (London, Macmillan, 1967). *Rothenstein, John. ''The Life and Death of Conder'', (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1938; New York: E.P. Dutton, c.1938). * *Art Gallery of New South Wales: highlights from the collection (2008), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *'K' is for Conder: Charles Conder retrospective (2003), Public Programmes Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Charles Conder 1868–1909'' (2003), Ann Galbally (Australia) (Author), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Barry Humphries (Australia, b.1934) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales'' (2000), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook'' (1999), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections'' (1994), Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook'' (1988), Annabel Davie (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''The Artist & the City'' (1983), Brian Ladd (Australia) (Author), Alan Krell (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook'' (1972), Editor Unknown (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Charles Conder: 1868–1909'' (1966), Dr Ursula Hoff (England; Australia, b.1909, d.2005) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly'' (Jan 1960), Hal Missingham (Australia, b.1906, d.1994) (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875–1952 (1953), Bernard Smith (Australia, b.1916, d.2011) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting (1953), Hal Missingham (Australia, b.1906, d.1994) (Author), National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''100 years of Australian painting'' (1948), Bernard Smith (Australia, b.1916, d.2011) (Author), National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''150 years of Australian art'' (1938), Lionel Lindsay (Australia, b.1874, d.1961) (Author), Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. *''Fifty years of Australian art 1879–1929'' (1929), George Galway (Australia) (Author), Royal Art Society of New South Wales Press (Australia), New South Wales, Australia. *Elwyn Lynn (author) ''Charles Conder'' ''The Australian Landscape and its Artists'', Bay Books 1977 pp 60–65


External links

*
Charles Conder
at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Charles Conder – Short Biography at Yellow Nineties Online
(ArtCyclopedia)

* ttp://www.pictureaustralia.org/search/charles%20conder Charles Conder on Picture Australia
Conder collection
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...

An early taste for literature 1888
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.
Review of Conder exhibition
("Nineteenth-century Art Worldwide" on-line magazine) {{DEFAULTSORT:Conder, Charles 1868 births 1909 deaths Académie Julian alumni Heidelberg School People from Tottenham Deaths in mental institutions Deaths from syphilis 19th-century Australian painters 19th-century Australian male artists Symbolist painters Australian landscape painters Australian male painters Infectious disease deaths in England English emigrants to colonial Australia