Art in colonial Australia
Eugene von Guerard | Austria/Australia 1811-1901 | A view from Daylesford towards the Pyrenees c.1864 | Oil on canvas | Purchased 2008 with funds from Philip Bacon, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
This gallery displays Australian art from the colonial period and into the early twentieth century, highlighting the influence of European traditions on the visual culture of the various colonies. Over the nineteenth century, however, European settlers in Australia became increasingly at home in their surroundings, and their art reflects this changing relationship.
Works exploring the Australian landscape, for instance, follow the picturesque and topographical European traditions established during the eighteenth century. The earliest are watercolours by Conrad Martens, which he based on sketches of Brisbane and the Darling Downs made on a visit during the summer of 1851. On the opposite wall is JA Clark’s Panorama of Brisbane, the most important painting produced in colonial Queensland. Commissioned for the Queensland Court in the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition, this work acted as a sign of the colony’s progress and prosperity.
During the century, Indigenous Australians interacted with settler artists in many ways. The painting by the celebrated William Barak and the group of Queensland shields demonstrate the visual skills of Indigenous people. Other works feature images of Indigenous people: JH Carse’s Wallaga Lake near Bega, NSW 1877, for example, depicts an Indigenous family, in a somewhat nostalgic reference to the original occupants of this land.
Portraiture, genre subjects, nature studies and decorative arts objects were all important at the time, and the wide range of artistic forms included painting, printing, photography, furniture-making and metalwork. Colonial Australians furnished and embellished their homes with enthusiasm, and furniture in various styles is a special feature of this new display. Also on display is a fine early Tasmanian sofa in the Neo-Grec taste. This piece – along with the exceptional Presentation vase, made by noted English silversmiths Hunt and Roskell in 1864 – was recently acquired through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation’s 30th Anniversary Appeal.
