Jane Clark—Australian Impressionism

Was McCubbin an Impressionist? To coincide with Frederick McCubbin—Whisperings in wattle boughs, Senior Research Curator, at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Jane Clark, will present an online illustrated lecture exploring Impressionism in Australia, beginning with his establishment of an outdoor painting camp at Box Hill in 1885 with fellow artists, Tom Roberts and Louis Abrahams; investigating a mysterious French episode; and on to his turn-of-the-century work in the bush at Mount Macedon—where, he told Roberts, he found ‘life, colour, charm’ and ‘pictures everywhere’. Jane Clark has previously held positions as Curator of Major Special Exhibitions and of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria; then Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s in Australia. Co-Curated the 1985–6 exhibition Golden Summers: Heidelberg and beyond for the National Gallery of Victoria and its national tour. Frederick McCubbin—Whisperings in wattle boughs In the Gallery’s 125th anniversary year, this exhibition celebrates the first major work to enter the collection in 1900: Frederick McCubbin’s A bush burial (1890). Made possible through public subscription, this exceptional acquisition and moment in the institution’s history is marked by bringing A bush burial into dialogue with a tightly focussed selection of other iconic McCubbin works in which he elaborates and redefines the Australian bush and the human subjects within it. Frederick McCubbin—Whisperings in wattle boughs brings together McCubbin’s key ‘pioneer’ subjects and additional paintings that elaborate the artist’s unending fascination with the colour and nature of the bush, sourced from national and state institutions, regional Victorian galleries and private collections. This in-focus exhibition will also include portraits by McCubbin of some of the subjects—often family and friends—that populate his enduring great narrative pictures. Frederick McCubbin—Whisperings in wattle boughs is on display at Geelong Gallery from Saturday 2 October 2021 - Sunday 13 February 2022. https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/mcc...