Evening star., 1941-10-05

kind OF barbarian gained a foothold
there-convictS sent over from the
motherland, some of whom became
notorious for villainy and, at the
same time, famous as painters.
Chief among these was Thomas
Griffith Wainwright, writer, dandy,
forger, murderer, who before he was
sent to Australia in 1887, was a
regular exhibitor at the Royal
Academy, London, and is repre-
Sented in this exhibition by an ex-
quisite portrait drawing in tint of
a Mrs. Wilson. Wainwright appears
as a leading character in Charles
Lambs DE Quincy" Dickens
Haunted House" Lord Lytton's
'Lucretia" and, best known of all,
Wilde's Pen, Pencil and Poison"
How one of such debased nature
could give expression to such sensi-
tive feeling as Wainwright in this
work shows is quite Incompetent
Sible.
Another convict artist was John
Eyre, who is represented by an ex-
tremely well rendered View of
Sydney" one of a set of four done
just after the rescue of Gov. Bligh,
formerly victim of ''Mutiny on the
Bounty" and showing Government
House in the foreground.
Stagecoach HoIdup.
These belong now to the some
what distant past, but recalling the
lawlessness of early pioneer days is
a large oil painting by Tom Rob-
erts. who. with Arthur Streeter, is
said to have laid the foundation
of Australian impressionism. The
subject is stagecoach holdup,
such as took place at one time on
our own frontier, but of a rather
less terrifying character, all those
concerned appearing not merely
complacent, but happily enter
tanned. 1t is a good painting, and
decorative.
Most interesting are "Shearing
Rams" by the same artist. and
Weighing the Fleece" by George
Washington Lambert, likewise a
strong contemporary painter. These
pictures are typically Australian in
subject and artistically we'll rem
dered.
Lambert panoramic painting of
string of horses galloping Across
Black Soil also is memorable. full
of motion. spirited but we'll unified.
Typically Australian is the canvas
by J. Roper of the Gold Diggers."
reminiscent of Australia s gold rush,
pictorial but. at the same time,
historical, a vast amount of detail
brought together with no loss of
breadth in effect.
There is most engaging and
up-to-date painting of Sydney Har-
Dor by John D. Moore, executed
in the manner of the impressioniSts,
but possessing great freshness and
virility Near this. and in inter-
esting contrast, is The Departure
of the S. S. Orient from the Cir
cular Quay, Sydney" by Charles
Conder. which is so much in the
style Of Whistler that. on the in
slant, the inference is that the
Whistler influence is evident-but,
Interestingly enough. Conder paint
ed it before he went to England
and met Whistler.
To the right of this hangs a pic
ture by Ambrose Patterson, Col
Inns Street. Melbourne" painted in
1911, which shows not only COM
petence of bruShWork and drafts
manship, but charming feeling. Not
little does this work recall that
of our own Collin Campbell Cooper
Longhorned Oxen.
There are some charming land
scapes, typical Of Australia, such
as Golden Summer" by David
Davies; "Werribee Gorge, Victoria"
by Elioth Gruner; Beneath the
Peak" by Arthur Streeter; Tran
quill Winter" by Walter Wilbers
and Mills of Sofala." by James
R. Jackson, all of which are broadly
painted, sincere and pleasing One
gets an engaging glimpse of Tas-
mania in a painting by John Glover
entitled My Harvest Home" which
shows haymaking in that land of
flower and fruit, a hay cart drawn
by several yokes of long horned
oxen occupying the center of the
composition.
The water-colors in this exhibi-
ton run the gamut from the Vic
torian era to the last word Of to-
day, and within this span seem
more similar to work in this me-
dium done in America than to
the paintings in oil. "A Solitary
Ramble," by Julia Ashton, takes
one gently back to the gay '90s,
whereas Elaine Haxton's Early
Colonial" jerks one instantly up
to date. An excellent Australian
version of the present-day "Ameri-
can Scene" is Subscription Ball
Tickets: g." by S. T. Gill, which
is worthy of the best of our illus
traitors or genre painters.
With tho pycantinD of naiDtipo O.