- 95
ARTHUR STREETON
Estimate
80,000 - 100,000 AUD
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Description
- Arthur Streeton
- NOON, OLINDA
- Signed lower right
- Oil on canvas
- 61.5 by 73.8 cm
Provenance
David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, April 1937
T. T. Maurice, Wellington, New South Wales; purchased from the above
Australian Paintings, James R. Lawson, Sydney, 1 October 1976
Miss M. J. Bell, Sydney
P. L. Pickles & Co., Fabulous Home Contents - The Estate of Miss M.J. Bell, Point Piper, 15 March 1986, lot 276
Private collection, Sydney; purchased from the above
Exhibited
David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, April 1937, no. 18
Condition
Traditional gold ornate timber frame. 15cm vertical crease to the canvas upper left in the sky - could have been in existance prior to the picture being painted. Canvas loose in the frame - could be adjusted by re-fitting the keys to the reverse. Fine cracking to the under-painting of the trees lower left. UV inspection confirms no retouching.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
A view on Streeton's property 'Longacres', the present work was painted quite late in the artist's career; probably between 1935 and 1937. It is not mentioned in The Arthur Streeton Catalogue of 1935 and in February 1938 the artist wrote to his friend S. W. Pring that he had 'not done a landscape for 9 months.'1 During this period Streeton would escape domestic disharmony in town by going up to the hills, gardening and occasionally painting 'away among all my lovely trees at Olinda (hundreds planted with my own hands 10 and 12 years ago on 6 acres)'2
Streeton clearly retained a sharp eye and a firm hand into his late sixties. Noon, Olinda supports the judgement of Harold Herbert (in a review of Streeton's 1938 Melbourne exhibition): 'No painter is better equipped with powers of observation and an accurate colour sense than Sir Arthur Streeton. His impressions are finely direct in execution. There is no fumbling or faltering. The sheer mastery of his medium of is delightful.'3
The artist's pleasure in his self-made paradise is here clearly evident, in the charm of the domestic detail- the milk-cow was shared with the next-door neighbours - in the verve of the brushwork and in the easy harmony of the composition. With the sun behind and to the left of the artist's (and viewer's) shoulder, it strikes full on the blackwood leaves and the bulb-spotted cocksfoot grass, registering a cool greenness in the midday heat. Behind the foreground tree rises that characteristic Streeton device, 'the glorious statuesque mass of a cumulus cloud.'4 The artist employed this motif throughout his career, from Australian December, 1887 (Newcastle Region Art Gallery) to The River, 1996 (National Gallery of Victoria) to The Land of the Golden Fleece, 1926 (versions in the National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia) to The Cloud, 1936 (private collection). Here serves to double or shadow the arboreal form, as well as picking up the foregound highlights of fenceposts, milk pail and white shirt.
We are most grateful to Oliver Streeton for his assistance in cataloguing this work.
1. Arthur Streeton, letter to S. W Pring, 12 February 1938, quoted in Mary Eagle, The Oil Paintings of Arthur Streeton in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p. 208
2. Arthur Streeton, letter to Sydney Ure Smith, 10 December 1937, in Ann Galbally (ed.), Letters from Smike: The Letters of Arthur Streeton 1890-1943, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1989, p. 210
3. Harold Herbert, 'Sterling Work. Sir A. Streeton', The Argus, 2 August 1938, p. 4
4. Harold Herbert, 'Arthur Streeton. Great Painter of Australia. Brilliant Flower Pieces', The Argus, 11 June 1935, p. 7
Streeton clearly retained a sharp eye and a firm hand into his late sixties. Noon, Olinda supports the judgement of Harold Herbert (in a review of Streeton's 1938 Melbourne exhibition): 'No painter is better equipped with powers of observation and an accurate colour sense than Sir Arthur Streeton. His impressions are finely direct in execution. There is no fumbling or faltering. The sheer mastery of his medium of is delightful.'3
The artist's pleasure in his self-made paradise is here clearly evident, in the charm of the domestic detail- the milk-cow was shared with the next-door neighbours - in the verve of the brushwork and in the easy harmony of the composition. With the sun behind and to the left of the artist's (and viewer's) shoulder, it strikes full on the blackwood leaves and the bulb-spotted cocksfoot grass, registering a cool greenness in the midday heat. Behind the foreground tree rises that characteristic Streeton device, 'the glorious statuesque mass of a cumulus cloud.'4 The artist employed this motif throughout his career, from Australian December, 1887 (Newcastle Region Art Gallery) to The River, 1996 (National Gallery of Victoria) to The Land of the Golden Fleece, 1926 (versions in the National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia) to The Cloud, 1936 (private collection). Here serves to double or shadow the arboreal form, as well as picking up the foregound highlights of fenceposts, milk pail and white shirt.
We are most grateful to Oliver Streeton for his assistance in cataloguing this work.
1. Arthur Streeton, letter to S. W Pring, 12 February 1938, quoted in Mary Eagle, The Oil Paintings of Arthur Streeton in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1994, p. 208
2. Arthur Streeton, letter to Sydney Ure Smith, 10 December 1937, in Ann Galbally (ed.), Letters from Smike: The Letters of Arthur Streeton 1890-1943, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1989, p. 210
3. Harold Herbert, 'Sterling Work. Sir A. Streeton', The Argus, 2 August 1938, p. 4
4. Harold Herbert, 'Arthur Streeton. Great Painter of Australia. Brilliant Flower Pieces', The Argus, 11 June 1935, p. 7