''Morning Light'' is a

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

painting by the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n artist

Elioth Gruner Elioth Lauritz Leganyer Gruner (16 December 1882 – 17 October 1939) was an Australian artist. Gruner won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting seven times, the most of any Australian artist besides Hans Heysen. One of Gruner's winners of th ...

. The painting depicts a small herd of dairy cows in a grassy field in the morning with a man, the farmer, in the foreground. Hailed as the high point of isEmu Plains series" and "one of his greatest masterpieces", ''Morning Light'' was awarded the

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

in 1916. ''Morning Light'' was largely 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 ...

'' at

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

—now an outer western suburb of

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 Mountain ...

but then a rural area—on a farm owned by James Innes. Elioth Gruner's 1919 painting ''

Spring Frost ''Spring Frost'' is a 1919 painting by the Australian artist Elioth Gruner. The painting depicts a small herd of dairy cows in the early morning. Gruner's most well-known painting, ''Spring Frost'' was awarded the Wynne Prize in 1919. ''Spring F ...

'' also shows this farm. Gruner was influenced by Melbourne artist

Max Meldrum Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwa ...

's tonal theory as well as the brushwork of E Phillips Fox. The work also shows influence from modernist contemporaries

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Visual arts of Australia, Australian artist and pioneer of Modernist art, modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. ...

and

Roland Wakelin Roland Wakelin (17 April 1887 – 28 May 1971) was a New Zealand-born Australian painter and teacher. Early life Roland Shakespeare Wakelin was born on 17 April 1887 in Greytown, New Zealand. He studied at Wellington Technical School from 190 ...

. The work was first exhibited at the Society of Artists' annual exhibition in Sydney in November 1916 and made Gruner's reputation. After winning the Wynne Prize the work was immediately purchased by 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 importa ...

and remains part of its collection.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Morning Light''
— Art Gallery of New South Wales collection 1916 paintings Australian paintings Cattle in art Collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Wynne Prize Paintings by Elioth Gruner