Souvenir of South Yarra

Dublin Core

Title

Souvenir of South Yarra

Subject

Landscape

Description

Streeton’s watercolour depicts a view of the Melbourne skyline from South Yarra. He builds up the landscape with monochrome washes of brown paint moving from the darkest, most saturated marks of the trees in the foreground, to the sheer treatment of the buildings in the background. Details of windows, domes and spires are delicately defined with fine lines on top of the light wash. The sky and river are presented in milky white, generating the atmosphere of an overcast day. The building to the left is recognisable as Government House in Kings Domain, adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens. With this geographic anchor, it is likely one of the domed buildings depicted is Flinders Street Railway Station and the tallest spire may belong to St Paul’s Cathedral.

The suburb of South Yarra is of particular significance to Streeton. Upon their arrival in Melbourne in 1874, the Streeton family lived in South Yarra and his earliest paintings depict scenes around the area (Wray, 1993, p. 12-15). Following years abroad, Streeton moved to a South Yarra home which boasted views of the bay, the Botanic Gardens, and mountain ranges in the distance (Wray, 1993, p. 155). From this vantage point, he painted many panoramas of the Melbourne skyline (Wray, 1993, p. 162).

Streeton originally rose to fame as part of the Heidelberg School of Artists (Galbally, 1990). Their plein air works were considered groundbreaking for their realistic depiction of the Australian landscape, distinct from traditional European scenes of rolling green hills (Heidelberg Artists Society). Though radical at the time, their infamous 9 x 5 Exhibition was indicative of a growing national sentiment as artists sought to create a contemporary vision of the Australian land and its people (Wray, 1993, p. 41). Capturing Australian qualities of light, heat and vegetation fuelled Streeton, who won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 1928 (Wray, 1993, p. 166-7; Galbally, 1979, p. 15).

Later in life, Streeton settled in Toorak with his wife Nora, a violinist, who was introduced to Melbourne musical circles (Wray, 1993, p. 115, 148). From this, it is possible that Nora and Louise Hanson-Dyer crossed paths. A relationship between the Streetons and the Dyers is evidenced by the Arthur Streeton Catalogue, published in 1935, which records two oil panels painted in 1921 in possession of James Dyer: 'St Mary’s and North Head' and 'Zoological Gardens and Bradley’s Head.' The whereabouts of these works today is unfortunately unknown.

For his immense contribution to art and his hand in revolutionising depictions of the Australian environment, Streeton was knighted in 1937 (Galbally, 1979, p. 87).

References

Galbally, 1990: Ann Galbally, ‘Streeton, Sir Arthur Ernest (1867-1943)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988. Accessed online 21 December 2017, URL: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/streeton-sir-arthur-ernest-8697.

Galbally, 1979: Ann Galbally, Arthur Streeton, East Melbourne: Lansdowne Editions, 1979.

Heidelberg Artists Society: Traditions of the Heidelberg School of Painters. This website provides information regarding the history of the Heidelberg School of Artists. URL: http://www.has.org.au/our-history/

Wray, 1993: Christopher Wray, Arthur Streeton: Painter of Light, Milton: Jacaranda Wiley, 1993.

Creator

Arthur Streeton (1867 - 1943)

Source

Book of autographs of visitors to Louise Hanson-Dyer, manuscript, The University of Melbourne

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1927

Contributor

Reetika Khanna

Format

Watercolour, 270 x 200 mm

Type

Image

Citation

Arthur Streeton (1867 - 1943), “Souvenir of South Yarra,” Special Collections and Grainger Museum, accessed March 29, 2024, https://spcgm.omeka.net/items/show/10.

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