Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of 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 ...
art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
Born and raised in
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 ...
, Victoria, McCubbin studied 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 ...
under a number of artists, notably
Eugene von Guerard and later
George Folingsby
George Frederick Folingsby (23 August 1828 – 4 January 1891) was an Irish-born Australian painter and art educator.
Folingsby was born in the County of Wicklow, Ireland. At the age of 18 he emigrated to Canada. Later he went to New York Cit st ...
. One of his former classmates,
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 ...
, returned from art training in Europe in 1885, and that summer they established 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 ...
, where they were joined 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
Charles Conder. These artists formed the nucleus of what became known as the Heidelberg School, a ''
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 ...
'' art movement named after
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 ...
, the site of another one of their camps. During this time, he taught at the National Gallery school, and later served as president of both the
Victorian Artists' Society and the
Australian Art Association
The Australian Art Association was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1912 by Edward Officer (inaugural president)
John Mather (artist), John Mather, Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum and Walter Withers.Judy Blyth, Mather, John (1848? - 1916), ''A ...
.
Concerned with capturing the national life of Australia, McCubbin produced a number of large landscapes that reflect the melancholic themes then popular in literary accounts of European settlers' interactions with
the bush. Several of these works have become icons of
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, ...
, including ''
Down on His Luck'' (1889), ''
On the Wallaby Track'' (1896) and ''
The Pioneer'' (1904).
During his first and only trip to Europe in 1907, McCubbin gained first-hand exposure to works by
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...
and the French impressionists, accelerating a shift in his art towards freer, more abstracted brushwork and lighter colours. Works from this late period, although not as well known as his earlier national narratives, are considered by many critics to be his strongest artistically. "When he died", wrote Barry Pearce, "McCubbin was one of the very few Australian painters who found an exalted resolution of vision that progressed with age, so that some of his greatest paintings were made in the last ten years of his life."
Early years and background
McCubbin was born in
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 ...
, the third of eight children of baker Alexander McCubbin (from Ayrshire, Scotland) and his English wife Anne, ''née'' McWilliams. McCubbin was educated at William Willmett's West Melbourne Common School and St Paul's School, Swanston Street.
He later worked for a time as solicitor's clerk, a
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
painter and in his family's bakery business while studying art at the
National Gallery of Victoria's School of Design, where he met
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 ...
and studied under
Eugene von Guerard. He also studied at the Victorian Academy of the Arts and exhibited there in 1876 and again from 1879 to 1882, selling his first painting in 1880. In this period, after the death of his father, he became responsible for running the family business.
Career
By the early 1880s, McCubbin's work began to attract considerable attention and won a number of prizes from the National Gallery, including a first prize in 1883 in their annual student exhibition. By the mid-1880s he concentrated more on painting the Australian bush, the works for which he became notable.
In 1883, McCubbin received first prize in the first annual Gallery students' exhibition, for best studies in colour and drawing.
In 1888, he became instructor and master of the School of Design at the National Gallery. In this position he taught a number of students who themselves became prominent Australian artists, including
Charles Conder 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 ...
.
McCubbin was exhibiting and perhaps painting in the studio of his friend Tom Roberts in the
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 ...
in Collins St by May 1888. His son, Louis, would later have a studio in the same building.
McCubbin married Annie Moriarty in March 1889. They had seven children, of whom their son Louis McCubbin became an artist and director of the
Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
1936–1950. A grandson, Charles, also became an artist.
In 1901 McCubbin and his family moved to
Mount Macedon, transporting a prefabricated English style home up onto the northern slopes of the mountain which they named ''Fontainebleau''. It was in this beautiful setting, in 1904, that he painted ''
The Pioneer'', amongst many other works, and this is the only place that McCubbin ever painted fairies. The house survived the
Ash Wednesday fires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot ...
and stands today as a testament to the artist. It was at Macedon that he was inspired by the surrounding bush to experiment with the light and its effects on colour in nature.
McCubbin continued to paint through the first two decades of the 20th century, though by the beginning of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
his health began to fail. He traveled to England in 1907 and visited
Tasmania
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, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, but aside from these relatively short excursions lived most of his life in Melbourne. There he taught 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 ...
, where his students included painter
Hilda Rix Nicholas
Hilda Rix Nicholas ( Rix, later Wright, 1 September 1884 – 3 August 1961) was an Australian artist. Born in the Victoria (Australia), Victorian city of Ballarat, she studied under a leading Australian Impressionism, Australian Impressio ...
and the photographer
Ruth Hollick.
[Hall, Barbara]
"Hollick, Ruth Miriam (1883–1977)"
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, vol. 14, 1996.
In 1912 he became the founding member of the
Australian Art Association
The Australian Art Association was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1912 by Edward Officer (inaugural president)
John Mather (artist), John Mather, Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum and Walter Withers.Judy Blyth, Mather, John (1848? - 1916), ''A ...
.
McCubbin died in 1917 from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
.
Legacy
In 1998 McCubbin's painting ''
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) sold for $2,312,500, a then-record price for an Australian painting at public auction. Widely considered to be amongst the finest paintings in Australian art history, ''Bush Idyll'' was on long term display 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 ...
between 2017 and 2020 and between late 2021 and early 2022 it formed part of the key retrospective, 'Frederick McCubbin - Whisperings in wattle boughs" at the
Geelong Gallery
The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional gallery in the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collection. The Gallery forms Geelong's Cultural Precinct wit ...
,
Geelong
Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...
.
On 25 February 2005, the 150th anniversary of his birth, the premiere of ''McCubbin: A Musical Biography of Frederick McCubbin'' by Peter Burgess was staged at
Federation Square, Melbourne.
On 22 March 2016, McCubbin's painting ''An Old Politician'' (1879), resurfaced from a private vault in an Australian bank. The painting has not been viewed in public exhibition since its sale to a private collector in the 1880s.
McCubbin's letters to Tom Roberts, from the period 1891-1916, are held in the State Library of New South Wales.
Works
"McCubbin creates an engulfing, claustrophobic landscape by barely suggesting any horizon and compressing midground and background. In contrast, the bush folk are portrayed as heroic figures."
Frederick mcCubbin - The Letter, 1884.jpg, '' The Letter (McCubbin)'', 1884
File:Frederick McCubbin - Lost - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Lost'', 1886
File:The North Wind (McCubbin).jpg, '' The North Wind'', 1888
File:Down on his luck.jpg, '' Down on His Luck'', 1889
File:Frederick McCubbin Mary 1891.jpg, ''Mary'', 1891
File:Frederick McCubbin - On the wallaby track - Google Art Project.jpg, '' On the Wallaby Track'', 1896
File:Frederick McCubbin Lost 1907.jpg, ''Lost'', 1907
File:Princes Bridge Frederick McCubbin.jpg, ''Princes Bridge'', 1908
File:Frederick McCubbin - Violet and gold - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Violet and Gold'', 1911
File:Frederick McCubbin Setting Sun.jpg, ''Setting Sun'', 1911
See also
*
:Paintings by Frederick McCubbin
*
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 ...
References
Bibliography
* Thomas, David. 1986
"McCubbin, Frederick (Fred) (1855–1917),"''Australian Dictionary of Biography,'' Vol. 10. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press.
OCLC 59254986
External links
*
ttp://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/mccubbin-frederick/ Frederick McCubbinat 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 ...
Frederick McCubbin (1855–1917)Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery
Frederick McCubbin on Picture AustraliaLandscapeFrederick McCubbin early history
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCubbin, Frederick
1855 births
1917 deaths
Heidelberg School
Australian people of Scottish descent
19th-century Australian painters
19th-century Australian male artists
20th-century Australian painters
20th-century Australian male artists
Australian landscape painters
Australian male painters
Artists from Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni