Development of Early Australian Impressionism

The term ‘Australian Impressionism’ is a retrospective one that has been applied since the late twentieth century. Early Australian Impressionists can be to some extent defined by how they explored their own interpretation of the European movement of the late 19^th century. 

Early Influences and development

The Impressionists were a group of painters who worked from around the mid and late 1800’s. They painted people, landscapes, and objects as they really look. They studied the way that colour changes as it travels from one object to the next, at how light, shadows, and reflections affect the colour of their subject matter. These early pioneers in the style wanted to capture images in a fleeting moment. 

The first impressionism in Europe was practiced by Claude Monet in the late 1860s. Later in the 1880s, Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir were also impressionist painters

He wanted his paintings to look like they had been created spontaneously with brushstrokes that were quick, short, bold and visible, of works that are unfinished, or at least appear unfinished. 

Monet was a pioneer in this style in which he explored iridescence, or a surface’s tendency to change colour with changes in lighting, rather than carefully planned out beforehand with detailed drawings on canvas. 

Before Monet, another influential painter was Gustave Courbet who painted what he saw, in a realistic style, and did not idealise his subjects. The difference between the two styles was clarified in a famous argument that occurred at the Salon des Refusés in 1863.

France played a major role in the development of art across the world in the 19th century. Claude Monet one of France’s most prominent artist of the time, focused on painting his thoughts using bold colours and indistinct forms, his style influenced many other artists, including Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Pierre Auguste Renoir. It was this influence which led Renoir to eventually have a change of heart and began using a more free-flowing style. 

Some Australian artists also echoed these styles when they traveled to France to study and absorbed French aesthetics through exhibitions abroad. In general, the European/French influence on the Australian movement cannot be denied. In a sense, Europe provided a vehicle for the Australian movement to take off.

Australian impressionism was in part a reflection of European Impressionist movements that had been underway for at least 12 years before it became evident in Australia. 

The Early Australian Impressionists, such as Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin, used a technique of painting that was quite different from the European impressionists. They used a denser application of paint and were more focused on simplifying form, shapes and movement on site, capturing the natural light and atmosphere of the subject matter as it happened, not stopping until all the paint was applied to desired effect in a single sitting rather than filling in all the detail back in studio.

The Australian impressionist strove for a true representation of their observed subject matter and intended to convey the artist’s own personal response to it, believing that their style of painting should reflect their regional identity, which became known in Europe as the ‘Australian School’. 

Heidelberg School Movement 

One of the most important innovation of the Heidelberg school Impressionists was their choice on how their portrayed their subject matter. These artists were among the first to distill memories of Australia’s sun-drenched landscape on its audience. 

The movement’s aim was not to imitate the French Impressionists which amongst other techniques used small broken line brush strokes, but to capture the Australian landscape in its raw and unrefined state, painting in the open air and using color to express the unique Australian light with broader brushstrokes. The movement’s founders and most prominent artists encouraged painting from life plein air rather than from memory back at a studio, and as a result, their artworks are frenetically realistic.

What Heidelberg School Impressionists focused on was a fleeting description of Australian life, painting with spontaneity, intense sense of design, using colour and shades, rendering paint in an attempt to capture how the light shone and shined on their subject throughout a single day. 

The Heidelberg School Impressionists gave a sense of Australia as it was in the 1880-90s with a new modernist viewpoint. They epitomised the natural world of Australia and its people in their representation of a dynamic landscape painted with expressive brush strokes. Often painting from life at the equivalent of a single hour, these works are marked by an emotion saturated attitude.

What makes the movement so interesting is that it was the first colonial movement of its kind to emerge in the country and that it was an Australian movement, and not a European one. 

This new movement of artist started with painting and sketching excursions to Box Hill in 1886, then Beaumaris and Mentone 1887 led by Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton and later on joined by English Born Sydney artist Charles Conder, in 1889 they established a hilltop camp at Eaglemont with Streeton taking artist possession of a weatherboard 8-10 room homestead sitting on the summit of Eaglemont hill with views of the Yarra valley with the kind permission of the owner Mr. C M Davis.

These excursions allowed artists to paint in a pure landscape and to see new works by the other artists. Robert’s and Streeton’s paintings from these excursions show the combined influence of the plein air Impressionists, naturalist painters, of the great painters of Europe and Britain.

Roberts strong passion and his dedicated to his craft, put him into a leadership role with this group of artists, and is considered to be a very important figure in the development of landscape painting in Australia. The contribution of Tom Roberts at this time was significant; he left an important legacy both as practitioner and as teacher. 

Early exhibition

The Press Reaction from the time was 

“Dreadful paintings” the people thronged the exhibition to see these dreadful paintings, ironically within 2-3 days nearly all the paintings had sold. 

The early Australian Impressionists were also criticised for their attempt to merge the natural forms of early 19th century Romanticism and the French Impressionist movement with a brutal realism. 

Legacy 

This early development of Australian Impressionism in the late 19^th century was an important event in the history of Australian art, the Australian Impressionism movement has been seen as a bridge between traditional Impressionism and modernist art in Australia. 

The movement reached to such heights that it became an international style and was exhibited in Europe. The glorious flourishing of Australian impressionism led to the recognition of Australia as a distinct region with its own painters, whose paintings have been well-received in the international art scene. 

It played a pivotal role in exposing the world to the distinct identity of Australian artists and hence contributed to developing a positive international image for Australia, becoming known as “Australian Style”, it also had an impact on the development of Australia’s national identity, with Tom Roberts being one of the pivotal influences on this evolving Australian identity, through his iconic paintings such as “A Break Away”, “Shearing the Rams”, and “Golden Fleece”. 

Australians celebrate the heroism of the hardworking, pugnacious men working in the Outback. The painting is also a symbolic representation of the Australian pioneering spirit that was being celebrated at this time, as well as some of Australia’s earliest institutions, such as the shearing shed. Such paintings by Robert drew on literary sources to promote what was considered a heroic national self-image.

Australian Impressionist works are housed in major Australian public collections, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, and the National Library of Australia. 

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Further Reading

https://nga.gov.au/ausimpressionism/