“I really think Victorian Art will prosper if we get to work. I went to Church here with my sister one evening – first time for years. I could not feel half as reverent as I do in the bush, among the great silent trees.” 

– Arthur Streeton to Tom Roberts, 1890

Nineteenth and early twentieth century artists such as John Glover, Eugene von Guérard and Tom Roberts bring to life the majesty of the natural Australian environment through the careful interplay of light and shadow. At the same time, their art reinforces a sentimental narrative of an empty landscape shaped by the hard work of early colonial settlers with no evidence of the violence and dispossession practised against Aboriginal people.

The paintings of Wurundjeri woiwurrung ngurungaeta Barak are significant for what they record about Wurundjeri woiwurrung life and stories prior to and after invasion, and also for the way Country is depicted.

Artistic interpretations developed alongside changing relationships with the natural environment. Modernist artists such as Upwey resident Fred Williams offered a new interpretation of the natural landscape with his abstract Upwey series painted in the 1960s, while Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus used his art to draw attention to Aboriginal causes.

IMAGE:

Arthur Streeton

The Valley, 1925

oil on canvas

49.5 x 75 cm

Image courtesy of Menzies Art Brands