Landscapes in Oz

Charles Conder, A holiday at Mentone, 1888

Not THAT Ross Cameron writes:

...As a PSA for those TOP readers living down under, especially in Melbourne, there’s an exhibition of Australian Impressionists at the NGV [National Gallery of Victoria]. Turns out COVID was a good time to take paintings off the wall and give them a clean. Disclaimer, I’m not employed by or affiliated with NGV in any way shape or form. I don’t even live in Melbourne (though I lived there for nine months about a decade ago for work).

As a landscape photographer, I find these works inspirational. I might even have to buy the book of the exhibition.  ;~)

Ross
(from a comment)

From this video, I found this nice quote from Guest Curator Anne Gray: "Friendship between artists is so, so important."

Australians will want to buy the book from the Museum, but if any Americans are interested it's available from Amazon, and for those elsewhere in the world, from The Book Depository.

"She-Oak and Sunlight" kicked off yesterday and runs through August 22. Thanks Ross! (And by the way, around here you are the Ross Cameron.)

Mike

P.S. A "she-oak" is "Any of various Australian trees in the genera Casuarina or Allocasuarina."

Book o' this Week:
Sugar is the silent nutritional crisis that is hiding in plain sight. The best book about it might be the prescient 1972 classic Pure, White and Deadly by the British scientist John Yudkin. Recommended. <—This is a portal to Amazon; also available at the Book Depository for global delivery with free shipping.

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Bruce Hedge: "Hi Ross from here in Central Victoria—thanks for alerting me to the NGV's Australian Impressionists exhibition...just a quick note to say that the NGV's current 'Triennial' is simply sensational—I've been twice; but I must go again before it closes on April 18...it has a Steiglitz and a Weston (or Steichen?) in the small photography display as part. I'd never seen a genuine print before, and they were illuminating! Sorry to all of you in the rest of the world, but it has been a life-saver here. We are indeed fortunate to have such an extraordinary gallery here when we can't travel to the other great galleries around the world."

Comments

[Hugh Conacher]

...and for those of us who can't see the show, it's a well designed and informative website.

[Dan]

America and much of the world is in the midst of an epidemic that is killing millions. No, not just Covid 19, but obesity. Our food has been designed by chemists to keep us satisfied but never full. It is marketed in ever more insidious ways and delivered “free” to our doorsteps.

When 42% of your population is obese you are in a crisis, yet any politician who dares to do something about the problem would be run out of office.

I am sad to say I don’t see any correction in sight.

[Kent David]

Next week, I’m off to see this one:

https://theconversation.com/clarice-beckett-exhibition-is-a-sensory-appreciation-of-her-magical-moments-in-time-153720

Also I’m Australia, but just down the road from Melbourne...

[Hans Muus]

Mike, I ordered ‘She-oak and Sunlight’ immediately, through the Book-Depository, as I live in the Netherlands. What a pleasant surprise - not only for me, but also for my girlfriend I am sure, it will arrive just before her birthday. Thank you ! And looking at the Charles Condor painting you included, ‘A holiday at Mentone’, I realised once more how silly IMO the ‘I always should wide open’ stance is.
And now that I am here, what an impressive letter you wrote to the Craigslist crook. A truly civilised way to deal with things like these.

[Pak Ming Wan]

Looking through the highlights, the Roberts and McCubbin works are some of the most iconic paintings in Australia's modern history. This looks like an amazing exposition. The NGV itself is also well situated. You can walk to it from the city, taking a longer path through the Botanical gardens and Yarra, to give your mind more space to take in the art (as opposed to just turning up in a car park). Melbourne is so lucky to have public spaces so freely open in these times...

Pak

[Rod S.]

Thank you, Ross and Mike, for alerting us to the exhibition and link. It's a lovely surprise. I'm not in Melbourne, so the website link is appreciated.

The exhibition features some works of Arthur Streeton, who was the subject of his own in-depth exhibition recently at The Art Gallery of NSW, in Sydney. That exhibition really opened my eyes to the friendships that existed between the painters of that period, which served to inspire and challenge them to try out new approaches.

Here's the interactive tour, which I found a bit clumsy to view the works themselves:

https://live.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/virtual-visit/streeton/