''A holiday at Mentone'' is an

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

painting by the Australian artist

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 ...

. The painting depicts a beach in the

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 met ...

suburb of Mentone on a bright and sunny day. Conder's depiction of people engaged in seaside activities and the brilliant noonday sunshine mark the painting as distinctively Australian in character. The painting was first exhibited at Victorian Artists' Society Spring exhibition in November 1888, one month after Conder, aged only 20, arrived in Melbourne from Sydney. Conder had 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 ...

in Sydney the previous year and again at Easter 1888, where the pair had painted together at

Coogee Beach Coogee Beach may refer to: *Coogee, New South Wales, beach in Sydney, NSW, Australia *Coogee, Western Australia Coogee is a southern coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. History The suburb takes its ...

. On arrival in Melbourne, Conder initially based himself at Roberts'

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 ...

studio and ''A Holiday at Mentone'' was Conder's first Melbourne painting. The work shows evidence of being influenced by Japanese art while a similar bridge motif was commonly used by the influential American painter James McNeill Whistler. One of

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, sou ...

's descendants suggested that Roberts is the figure in the grey suit on the pier and Streeton is the man lying down on the beach. Perhaps Conder's best known painting, ''A holiday at Mentone'' has been described as a "critically acclaimed masterpiece of the Australian Impressionist style of painting" and a "singularly Australian work". Terence Lane, senior curator of Australian Art at 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 ...

described the painting's staging as "stilted, almost surreal" but the composition as "splendidly abstract and the sunshine brilliantly Australian". The painting is now part of the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

References

External links

''A holiday at Mentone''
�� Art Gallery of South Australia collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Holiday at Mentone, A Australian paintings 1888 paintings Heidelberg School Arts in Melbourne Collections of the Art Gallery of South Australia Water in art