Introduction
Charles Conder was a talented artist and critical contributor to the Heidelberg School Movement.
Conder was born in 1868 in London, the son of a civil engineer, and a direct descendant of Louis François Roubiliac, the 18th century sculptor, Conder was sent in 1884 to Sydney, Australia, aged 16, by his father to work under his uncle at the New South Wales Lands Department.
In Sydney, he works as a land surveyor combining surveying with sketching in his spare time, he left the job in 1886 to become a lithographic apprentice for the illustrated Sydney News.
The Period around 1886-1888 were turning points for Conder; he takes art classes at the Artist’s Society of New South Wales and has tutor-ledge from French-trained landscape painter Alfred James Deplyn.
Also, in that same period, he meets the architect of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and future director, Victor Mann, plus Sydney’s leading open-air painter and legendary art teacher Julian Ashton.
Left: “Portrait of Ashton” by George Washington Lambert 1928.
Right: “The Prospector” by Julian Ashton
He attended classes conducted by Ashton, plus participates in sketching trips along the Hawkesbury River with Ashton. Winning a prize for the ‘Best Painting from Nature.’
In 1887 Conder also encountered G. P. Nerli, a travelling Italian artist with new European techniques that also influenced Conder’s development.
Nerli is believed to have had connections with the Early Australian Impressionists the Heidelberg School Movement around 1885 – 1889, which has been disputed, but his presence and influence are undeniable.
Girolamo Nerli “Lady in Green” (1897)
Works from the Heidelberg period, Nerli’s “Beach Scene” (1889) Black Rock, and Nerli’s “Fitzroy Gardens” (1889) shows this tie with the new perspective stemming from The Heidelberg School Movement.
In 1887 and 1888, Conder sends paintings to the annual exhibitions of the Art Society of New South Wales, where his ‘The Departure of the SS Orient” (1888) is purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Charles Conder “Departure of the Orient Circular Quay” (1888)
Heidelberg School Movement
What proved to be a significant moment for Conder was Tom Roberts visit to Sydney in 1888, with Roberts and Conder painting together and discussing the development of Impressionism at Coogee.
Conder then travels to Melbourne at the invitation of Roberts, where he meets the Heidelberg School group, which includes among-others Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin, and Walter Withers.
In Melbourne painting at the Beaumaris and the Mentone camp, Conder worked on several images including “A Holiday at Mentone” in 1888, “The Wreck” in 1889, before painting “Summer Idyll” (1889) and “Under the Southern Sun” (1890) at Heidelberg camp.
Charles Conder “A Holiday at Mentone” (1888)
Conder quickly befriends Streeton and soon both artist influence one another’s work; often painting in the exact locations; the same views, subjects using a high-keyed “gold and blue” palette.
Streeton believed in “Nature’s scheme of colour in Australia”; both artists painted with equal skill, imagination, subtlety, and delicacy of feeling.
In 1889 the Heidelberg Impressionists held their first exhibition, coined “The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition”, in Buxton’s Art Gallery in Melbourne.
Conder, Roberts and Arthur Streeton contributed the majority of works with Frederick McCubbin and others also contributing. In this exhibition, Conder enters 46 works.
Charles Conder “Under A Southern Sun” (Timber Splitter’s Camp) (1890)
England and France
After painting at Eaglemont Hill with Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, Conder in 1890 leaves Australia for Europe.
He continued to travel between England and Europe, studying at Académie Julian and Atelier Cormon in France; while living in France in the 1890s; he often painted scenes of bathers and the cliffs on the coast of Normandy.
Using transparent colours reminiscent of Boudin. He paints coastal towns also throughout England, but there was no market for these paintings, many of which were not exhibited until after his early death.
Producing “The Hot Sands, Mustapha, Algiers” in 1891, and by the mid-1890s, Conder became involved with art nouveau, including book illustration and painting on silk, fans, panels, screens, and dresses made of silk.
Charles Conder “The Hot Sands Mustapha Algiers” (1891)
Examples of his Art Nouveau are the fan study “The awakening” (1895) and a lithograph “Béatrix et Calyste” (1899), showing his aptitude for literature, poetry, and fascination for courtesans.
In Paris in the late 1800s, he became a legendary figure of the fin-de-siécle; he associated with leading artists and writers of the day, including artist Henry Lautrec and writer Oscar Wilde.
He is plunged into an overwhelming array of new styles and influences, especially from the Parisian nightlife, where he becomes a heavy drinker and promiscuous lover, contracting syphilis from which he would die at age 40
Charles Conder “Springtime” (1900)
Around this time, Conder sets up a studio in Montmartre, a historic district in Paris, where many artists lived, worked, or had studios in or around the city.
Which includes Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, and Vincent van Gogh.
Australian Artist’s Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts were also regular visitor’s to Conder’s studio.
Conder be-friends and becomes close to Lautrec; he introduces Lautrec to his friends in France, with both men sharing a common interest in the French bohemian lifestyle with its many cafes, guinguettes, and cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge.
Charles Conder “The Moulin Rouge” (1890)
Lautrec paints his portrait and includes Conder in proprietary sketches in some of the cafe scenes, and other works Lautrec is working on. Conder was also associated with James McNeill Whistler, Alfred Sisley and other well known artists.
Inspired by Claude Monet’s exhibition of haystack paintings, Conder travelled to Normandy’s valley of the Seine, expanding his talent as a colourist moving from a tonal palette, working and living by instinct.
He produces “Swanage Bay” (1901) plus “Stella Maris Bedford” (1901) and marries Stella Maris Belford in Paris December 1901, produces “An apple orchard in Brittany” (1902)
In 1905 Conder visited Algeciras with his wife, and produces “Gibraltar from Algeciras” (1905) and “Blue Waters” Algeciras (1905) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Producing “The Rock from Spain” (1905) before he returned home to England.
He produced Madame Errazuriz (1905) Art-Gallery NSW and produced “Ladies in a garden” (1905) Art-Gallery NSW.
“Madame Errazuriz” (1905) Art Gallery of NSW
While convalescing from the effects of stroke, Conder revisited his earlier exuberant Australian beach scenes and produced “The Sands” (1906) Newquay; this work represents a return to Plein-air painting.
He was hoping that the sea area would allow him to recover; unfortunately, he never fully recovered and died within three years.
Charles Conder “The Sands Newquay” (1906)
Conder was well regarded by many of his contemporaries, including Pissarro and Degas, the suburb of Conder in Canberra, Australia, is named after him.
A major exhibition of Conder’s work was held in 1927, and retrospective in 1967, the Art Gallery of New South Wales had one in 2003.
The National Gallery of Victoria in 2007 featured his works in the Australian Impressionism exhibition and at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2013.
Barry Humphries had one of the world’s largest collections of conders art works.
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Further Reading
http://impressionistsgallery.co.uk/artists/Artist s/ abc/Conder/96-09.html