Australian Impressionism: The Heidelberg School and National Identity
Australian Impressionism, a late 19th-century movement, is considered the first truly Australian art movement. The 1889 9 x 5 Impressionism Exhibition featured works painted on cigar box lids (9 x 5 inches). Key artists Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and Charles Conder formed the Heidelberg School, camping in Heidelberg (now a Melbourne suburb) and painting en plein air. They helped create a national identity by depicting Australia's unique light and landscape, contrasting with earlier British immigrant artists who painted European-style scenes. The group included female artist Jane Sutherland, who painted day trips at Box Hill Camp due to social constraints; her work entered public collections only in the 1960s. Notable works include Conder's 'Under a Southern Sky', Streeton's 'The Railway Station, Redfern', Roberts' 'Shearing the Rams', and McCubbin's 'On the Wallaby Track'. The movement combined Impressionist capture of modern life with Realist celebration of rural laborers.
Key facts
- The 9 x 5 Impressionism Exhibition of 1889 featured works painted on cigar box lids measuring 9 x 5 inches.
- The Heidelberg School included Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and Charles Conder, who camped in Heidelberg, a suburb of Melbourne.
- Australian Impressionists painted en plein air to capture the intense Australian light and landscape.
- The movement helped forge a national identity by depicting Australia as it was, unlike earlier British immigrant artists.
- Jane Sutherland was a female Australian Impressionist who painted at Box Hill Camp on day trips; her work was not in public collections until the 1960s.
- Roberts' 'Shearing the Rams' (1890) exemplifies the celebration of rural labor and Australian light.
- Frederick McCubbin's 'On the Wallaby Track' (1896) shows a traveling family resting in the bush.
- The Heidelberg School was not an official academy but a group of artists who lived and painted together.
Entities
Artists
- Tom Roberts
- Arthur Streeton
- Charles Conder
- Jane Sutherland
- Frederick McCubbin
Institutions
- National Gallery of Australia
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Art Gallery of Ballarat
- Heidelberg School
Locations
- Australia
- Heidelberg
- Melbourne
- Box Hill
- New York
- USA
- Canberra
- Sydney
- Ballarat