George Seymour Owen’s (1844-1921) watercolours provide an accurate record of the early heritage of Brisbane and the Moreton Bay area. House under Bowen Terrace, Brisbane 1889 (illustrated) of a cottage in inner-city Bowen Terrace, is a detailed representation of a home in the young township of Brisbane. The watercolour shows the unquarried cliff along which…
Continue reading » “Go back in time when Bowen Terrace was an unquarried cliff”
The oil paintings of Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) are executed in a fine and detailed manner which invite close and careful viewing. Like many artists, Jenner used sketching or ‘underdrawing’ to develop subjects beneath oil paint layers. Here, we highlight the artist’s style and detail some of the discoveries found when we look at Jenner’s…
Continue reading » “Laying down the lines: Isaac Walter Jenner’s underdrawing”
Australian artist Isaac Walter Jenner (1836–1902) painted Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador in 1893 and reworked it in 1895 (illustrated). The grand history painting depicts the search led by British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877) to rescue the ill-fated 1845 British expedition by Sir John Franklin (1786–1847) which set out to…
Continue reading » “Isaac Walter Jenner’s grand history mystery”
This watercolour (illustrated) is a preparatory sketch for the oil painting Slab cottage, Bowen Hills 1894 (illustrated). Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) was interested in the picturesque subject rather than Brisbane’s impressive commercial and public buildings that were already embellishing Queen Street, the main thoroughfare of the city of Brisbane (illustrated). ‘Sketch for ‘Slab cottage, Bowen…
Continue reading » “Step back in time to Brisbane’s pioneering days”
Two oil paintings by Isaac Walter Jenner (1836–1902) from 1897 and gifted to the Gallery in 2020 both needed significant interventive structural and cosmetic conservation treatment before going on display this year for the first time. Ruby Awburn, then Assistant Conservator (Paintings) at QAGOMA, describes the months of careful work required to restore these important…
Continue reading » “Bringing Isaac Walter Jenner’s paintings back to life”
The exhibition ‘A Feeling for Light’ at the Queensland Art Gallery from 2 September 2023 until 28 January 2024, explores the evocative paintings of Isaac Walter Jenner (1836–1902), a self-taught marine and landscape painter. Following his arrival in Brisbane in 1883 (illustrated), Jenner spent the last two decades of his life as a major force…
Continue reading » “Isaac Walter Jenner: A force in Brisbane’s cultural life”
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.