The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureArt

Australia’s Impressionists at the National Gallery

Australia’s Impressionists at the National Gallery | Exhibition review
11 December 2016
Anna Souter
Avatar
Anna Souter
11 December 2016

Exhibition and art

Anna Souter

Australia's Impressionists

★★★★★

Dates

7th December 2016 - 26th March 2017

Entry

£7.50

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramWebsiteMap

The subject of the latest exhibition at the National Gallery comes as a bit of a surprise. The museum is renowned for having one of the best collections of European painting in the world, but the works in this show come from a bit further afield: Australia.

These are artists who, on the other side of the world, drew influence from the new group making waves in Paris and London in the late 1800s. The Impressionists would have a lasting effect on art, and it’s fascinating to see how its famous tropes were discovered, adopted and reinterpreted by the four Australian artists in the exhibition.

Three of these artists – Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder – are introduced early in a section which examines the birth of Australian Impressionism. It looks at an exhibition organised by the three men (who were close friends) called the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition, held in Melbourne in 1889. The show got its name from the small size of the paintings, most of which were completed on the lids of wooden tobacco boxes. The images are charming and intriguing, drawing the eye into the sparsely rendered scenes.

Their work later developed to include larger and more sophisticated works, many of which drew on European ideas and techniques as well as on the artists’ understanding of Australia. For example, Arthur Streeton’s 1895 painting Ariadne treats a theme from European classical mythology, but in an inescapably Australian way. His loose, textured brushstrokes depict stretches of white sand and red rocks as a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman cries into her hands. It manages to be both sad and uplifting at the same time. This could almost be a metaphor for the Australian relationship with the country’s landscape, which these painters repeatedly depict as both a romantic idyll and a harsh, dangerous reality.

None of the artists on show in the exhibition is well known outside Australia. To put on an exhibition of their work in the National Gallery over the Christmas period is a daring and admirable move. Their rendering of Australia’s shimmering light, vast open spaces and oppressive heat offers a sharp and welcome contrast to the gloomy skies and chilly wind that usually prevail in London at this time of year.

★★★★★

Anna Souter

Australia’s Impressionists is at the National Gallery from 7th December 2016 until 26th March 2017, for further information visit here.

Related Itemsfeaturedreview

More in Art

Africa Fashion at the V&A

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Penny Goring: Penny World at ICA

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Metamorphosis and flow: Orlanda Broom debuts powerful abstract show Shapeshifters at Grove Square Galleries

The editorial unit
Read More

Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Cornelia Parker at Tate Britain

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Our Time on Earth at the Barbican

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Exhibition and art

Anna Souter

Australia's Impressionists

★★★★★

Dates

7th December 2016 - 26th March 2017

Entry

£7.50

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Ithaka
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Wayfinder
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Brian and Charles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Adele lights up Hyde Park for BST Festival
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Richard Ashcroft at the O2 Arena | Live review
The Eagle Huntress | Movie review