Watercolours feature in the earliest records of European exploration and settlement of Australia. Its continuous presence in the history of Queensland art has changed and evolved with shifts in culture, as well as with the demands and innovations of its practitioners. We look at the medium’s important role in enriching Queensland’s visual history. Together with…
Continue reading » “Documenting Queensland’s history through watercolour”
Public collections in Queensland have few outstanding examples of the work of our early artists. Of the major works dating from the 19th century, the Panorama of Brisbane 1880 by JA (Joseph Augustine) Clarke (1840–90), Queensland‘s first professional artist and art teacher, is undoubtedly the best known and most significant.1 Visit the nearly 4–metre–long panorama…
Continue reading » “JA Clarke’s ‘grand picture’ of Brisbane”
It’s that time of the year in Brisbane when purple reigns with a lavender canopy covering the city from October to November — and of course, our own version, captured in oil — a signal that spring is here and summer is on its way. The jacaranda painted by R. (Richard) Godfrey Rivers (1858-1925) is…
Continue reading » “What is under the jacaranda: Keeping the painting under glass”
It’s Jacaranda season in Brisbane, the time of year that splashes of fluorescent lavender coloured blooms dot the landscape and end with an eye-catching display of purple rain. Even though the flowering season is only a couple of months, the Gallery’s painting Under the jacaranda 1903 by R. (Richard) Godfrey Rivers (1858-1925) is always in full…
Continue reading » “What’s under the Jacaranda: Hidden in the X–rays”
Do you look forward to that time of year when you can walk under a jacaranda tree in full bloom — the gorgeous carpet of fallen purple blossoms caressing your feet, then looking down, the intense purple colour suddenly turns your world upside down — the grass has now become the sky! This is the…
Continue reading » “What’s under the Jacaranda: Delve into the colour purple”
The work by Vida Lahey (1882-1968), one of Queensland’s best loved artists is widely admired for her watercolour floral studies, however in Morning light, Brisbane River c.1925-30 Lahey has beautifully captured the effects of light on water, and also provides us with a little mystery which you may be able to solve for us, let…
Continue reading » “Vida Lahey provides us with a little Brisbane mystery”