Sydney artists' camps
Encyclopedia
Artists' camps flourished around Sydney Harbour in the 1880s
and 1890s
, mainly in the Mosman
area making it "Australia's most painted suburb", but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century. They developed as a result of the enthusiasm for painting en plein air
fostered by the Barbizon
and Impressionist
movements in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, and were modelled on the artists' colonies which grew up in France and parts of the British Isles. In them, free-spirited young men gathered to live cheaply together in the open air, trying to capture the beauty of their surroundings in paintings and drawings. Financial stringency during the depression of the 1890s
made life in the camps even more attractive for Australian artists trying to establish themselves in a difficult market.
. One centred on the weekender built by Bulletin
cartoonist Livingston Hopkins "Hop" on land he leased near Edwards Beach, in north Balmoral. Among the artists who joined Hop at the camp was Julian Ashton
, who, while teaching more formally at his school in the city, also encouraged his students to paint out-of-doors. A.J. Daplyn, another keen promoter of the new style of landscape painting, also stayed at the camp, as did many of the artists working for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886–89), including A.H. Fullwood, Frank P. Mahony
, John Mather
and Frederic Schell.
According to the custom of the time, women did not live in the camps. They were frequent visitors, however, and many women became enthusiastic landscape painters. Other notable visitors were writers Robert Louis Stevenson
, who spent a night at Balmoral under canvas, and Ada Cambridge
, who included lyrical descriptions of the camp in her 1891 novel A Marked Man
and later, in her Thirty Years in Australia (1903). As she noted:
. This had been set up by the Oxford Street
businessman Reuben Brasch and his family, who came to stay at the camp by boat, crossing the harbour from Parsley Bay.
The Melbourne painters Tom Roberts
and Arthur Streeton
moved to Sydney in the early 1890s, looking for wider opportunities to sell their work. Both spent considerable periods at Curlew and the paintings they did at this time, of Sydney Harbour, Mosman Bay and nearby Cremorne Point
, are among the masterpieces of Australian art.
Curlew was a well established camp, with many home comforts, including a billiards tent. Residents combined to pay a cook, and there was a youth to take care of odd jobs. Arthur Streeton described life there in evocative letters. His friend the composer Marshall Hall
, visiting from Melbourne, was inspired by the harbour setting to write his "Hymn to Sydney", which began:
The art patron Howard Hinton, a frequent visitor, came to know Roberts, Streeton and other painters at the camp. Some of the works he bought from them were donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales
and many became part of the Hinton collection at the Armidale Teachers' College. They can now be seen at the New England Regional Art Museum.
At the time of the "Bohemians in the Bush" exhibition, the site of Curlew Camp was accessible only by water or bush track, and had reverted more or less to its natural condition. In order to ensure the preservation of this area, described as "one of the sacred sites of Australian painting", Mosman Council in 2005 commissioned a heritage study which recommended the creation of a Curlew Camp Artists' Walk, following the route taken from the Mosman ferry. It also recommended improved access to the camp site itself, construction of a viewing platform and interpretative signage. Work began on this project in 2007.
This Wikipedia article is substantially built upon the essay " Artists' Camps" in the Dictionary of Sydney
written by Robin Tranter, 2008 and licensed under CC by-sa. Imported on 14 January 2010.
1880s
The 1880s was the decade that spanned from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1889. They occurred at the core period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Most Western countries experienced a large economic boom, due to the mass production of railroads and other more convenient methods of travel...
and 1890s
1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
, mainly in the Mosman
Mosman, New South Wales
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.-Localities:In February...
area making it "Australia's most painted suburb", but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century. They developed as a result of the enthusiasm for painting en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
fostered by the Barbizon
Barbizon school
The Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...
and Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
movements in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, and were modelled on the artists' colonies which grew up in France and parts of the British Isles. In them, free-spirited young men gathered to live cheaply together in the open air, trying to capture the beauty of their surroundings in paintings and drawings. Financial stringency during the depression of the 1890s
Panic of 1890
The Panic of 1890 was an acute depression, although less serious than other panics of the era. It was precipitated by the near insolvency of Barings Bank in London. Barings, led by Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, faced bankruptcy in November 1890 due mainly to excessive risk-taking on poor...
made life in the camps even more attractive for Australian artists trying to establish themselves in a difficult market.
Balmoral
Some of the earliest camps, established before the spread of suburbia, were at Balmoral BeachBalmoral, New South Wales
Balmoral is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmoral is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore....
. One centred on the weekender built by Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
cartoonist Livingston Hopkins "Hop" on land he leased near Edwards Beach, in north Balmoral. Among the artists who joined Hop at the camp was Julian Ashton
Julian Ashton
Julian Rossi Ashton was an Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney....
, who, while teaching more formally at his school in the city, also encouraged his students to paint out-of-doors. A.J. Daplyn, another keen promoter of the new style of landscape painting, also stayed at the camp, as did many of the artists working for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886–89), including A.H. Fullwood, Frank P. Mahony
Frank P. Mahony
Francis P. Mahony, also known as Frank Mahony, was an Australian artist and member of the Dawn and Dusk Club.Although christened "Francis Mahony", he later added 'Prout' and usually signed his work 'Frank P...
, John Mather
John Mather (artist)
John Mather was a Scottish-born, Australian plein-air painter and etcher.Mather was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of John Mather, a surveyor, and his wife Margaret, née Allan. Mather worked as a house decorator.Mather studied art at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts...
and Frederic Schell.
According to the custom of the time, women did not live in the camps. They were frequent visitors, however, and many women became enthusiastic landscape painters. Other notable visitors were writers Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, who spent a night at Balmoral under canvas, and Ada Cambridge
Ada Cambridge
Ada Cambridge , later known as Ada Cross, was an English writer.Overall she wrote more than twenty-five works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works...
, who included lyrical descriptions of the camp in her 1891 novel A Marked Man
A Marked Man
A Marked Man is a 1917 Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. The film is considered to be lost.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Cheyenne Harry* Molly Malone - Molly Young* Harry L. Rattenberry - Young...
and later, in her Thirty Years in Australia (1903). As she noted:
… a cluster of tents, a little garden, a woodstock, a water tub – almost hidden in the trees and bushes until one was close upon it; and the camp looked out upon the great gateway of the heads, and saw all the ships that passed through, voyaging to the distant world and back again.
Curlew Camp
Equally well known was Curlew Camp, on the eastern shore of Little Sirius Cove, below today's Taronga ZooTaronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Officially opened on 7 October 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman...
. This had been set up by the Oxford Street
Oxford Street, Sydney
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in Sydney, Australia running from Whitlam Square on the south-east corner of Hyde Park in the central business district of Sydney to Bondi Junction in the Eastern Suburbs. Close to the CBD in particular, the street is lined with numerous shops, bars and...
businessman Reuben Brasch and his family, who came to stay at the camp by boat, crossing the harbour from Parsley Bay.
The Melbourne painters Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
and Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
moved to Sydney in the early 1890s, looking for wider opportunities to sell their work. Both spent considerable periods at Curlew and the paintings they did at this time, of Sydney Harbour, Mosman Bay and nearby Cremorne Point
Cremorne Point, New South Wales
Cremorne Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Cremorne is located 6 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of North Sydney Council....
, are among the masterpieces of Australian art.
Curlew was a well established camp, with many home comforts, including a billiards tent. Residents combined to pay a cook, and there was a youth to take care of odd jobs. Arthur Streeton described life there in evocative letters. His friend the composer Marshall Hall
Marshall Hall (musician)
George William Louis Marshall-Hall was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915...
, visiting from Melbourne, was inspired by the harbour setting to write his "Hymn to Sydney", which began:
City of laughing loveliness! Sun-girdled Queen!
Crowned with imperial morning, bejewelled with joy...
The art patron Howard Hinton, a frequent visitor, came to know Roberts, Streeton and other painters at the camp. Some of the works he bought from them were donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
and many became part of the Hinton collection at the Armidale Teachers' College. They can now be seen at the New England Regional Art Museum.
Bohemians in the bush
In 1991 the Art Gallery of New South Wales presented an exhibition, "Bohemians in the Bush", in celebration of the artists' camps, bringing together an impressive collection of works from the period. The exhibition also aimed to recreate the social context in which the artists lived, and something of the atmosphere of the busy city where many of them earned their livings as teachers and illustrators.At the time of the "Bohemians in the Bush" exhibition, the site of Curlew Camp was accessible only by water or bush track, and had reverted more or less to its natural condition. In order to ensure the preservation of this area, described as "one of the sacred sites of Australian painting", Mosman Council in 2005 commissioned a heritage study which recommended the creation of a Curlew Camp Artists' Walk, following the route taken from the Mosman ferry. It also recommended improved access to the camp site itself, construction of a viewing platform and interpretative signage. Work began on this project in 2007.
See also
- Art colonyArt colonyright|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
, especially MontsalvatMontsalvatMontsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, Victoria, Australia, established by Justus Jorgensen in 1934. It is home to over a dozen buildings, houses and halls set amongst richly established gardens on 48,562 m2 of land...
, an artist's colony in Eltham, Victoria, Australia, established by Justus Jörgensen in 1934.
External links
- Article (CC-by-sa) on "Artist's Camps" by Robin Tranter in the Dictionary of SydneyDictionary of SydneyThe Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. The project is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney, the State Library of New South Wales, the State Records Authority of...
- Mosman council self guided walking tours and printable Curlew Camp artists walk brochure
- National Gallery of VictoriaNational Gallery of VictoriaThe National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
essay on Australian Impressionism, "Sydney and the Hawkesbury" section. - Video (YouTube) of the Curlew Camp walk, filmed and narrated by the Cumberland Courier (local newspaper syndicate)
- Oral history recording of John Dansie (2002) in "Mosman Voices" discussing Curlew Camp and Sirius Cove
Dictionary of Sydney
The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. The project is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney, the State Library of New South Wales, the State Records Authority of...
written by Robin Tranter, 2008 and licensed under CC by-sa. Imported on 14 January 2010.