The silent wilderness 19th century Australian landscapes Foreword The silent wilderness 19th century Australian landscapes All swirling mists, frosty light and of a weird, At the present moment … there is European history from the journey of Captain Cook Chevalier, and later Louis Buvelot, for example, almost primordial aspect, William Charles cultivation and enterprise contrasted along the east coast of the continent in 1770, in their depictions of this scene. In Clark’s Piguenit’s A mountain top, Tasmania, with the silent wilderness, and the untrodden accompanied by artist Sydney Parkinson. version, the viewer is placed beneath the deep c. 1886—seen, in detail, on the cover of this solitude of the distant hills. In The silent wilderness, early precedents alcove that effectively frames the composition publication—epitomises that genre of 19th George French Angas, 1847i to the works of Chevalier and von Guérard like a proscenium arch, while the waterfall century Australian art that is the subject of include Conrad Martens’ Fall of the Quarrooilli, at left drops into a deep pool, beside which this exhibition. This is the genre of wilderness In the late-1850s, depictions of spectacular 1838 (CAT. NO. 16) which merges his similarly we see a small group of indigenous figures. landscape, the representation as conceived wilderness scenes were in great demand scientific approach to topography and interest This inclusion suggests the site is one unseen by the trained western eye of spectacular within the wider field of Australian landscape in climatic conditions—honed after two years by European eyes despite this being an antipodean scenery: remote, geographically painting. The rise in the genre’s popularity aboard Charles Darwin’s Beagle—with the unlikely proposition by the time of Clark’s distinctive, daunting in scale and ostensibly can be attributed in large part, to the arrival romanticism of his earlier training in England. sketching visits. inaccessible (at least, at the time, from of European-trained artists Eugène von Soon after his arrival in Sydney in 1835, Even more visually spectacular are a European perspective) to all but intrepid Guérard and Nicholas Chevalier in 1852 Martens travelled to the Illawarra region the Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, naturalists and explorers whose quest for and 1855 respectively. and the Blue Mountains. In August 1836 a location depicted by a number of late-colonial knowledge of the unknown resonated still Lured to Australia by the Victorian gold rush, he was the guest of Charles Throsby Junior artists. With two drops, a total height of 187 with the influential theories of the German von Guérard and Chevalier had little success at Throsby Park near Moss Vale in New South metres and a location within a vast mountain naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt (1769 –1859). at the goldfields and both soon sought local Wales, the Quarrooilli Falls being located range, the Weatherboard Falls provided a While 19th century American audiences imagery and patronage to support their artistic on the family’s property. Martens is known supremely dramatic vista that was painted marvelled at the wilderness landscapes of careers. While early Australian works by to have completed a number of depictions on numerous occasions by von Guérard Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt and von Guérard such as Tower Hill, 1855 (CAT. NO. 22) of the scenic falls (re-named the Fitzroy and James Howe Carse. Thomas Cole, their counterparts here were in and Lake Gnotuk, 1857 (CAT. NO. 23) reveal his Falls in 1850). Adopting similar vantage points in their thrall to the no less majestic Australian scenery interest in the more remote areas of Victoria After arriving in Australia in 1840, painter respective versions of 1863 (CAT. NO. 25) and depicted by artists including Conrad Martens, and their distinctive geological features, it was and lithographer John Skinner Prout extensively 1876 (CAT. NO. 5), von Guérard and Carse each Eugène von Guérard, Nicholas Chevalier, the excursions made by von Guérard and toured New South Wales and published views include representations of indigenous figures Thomas Clark and Piguenit, whose works Chevalier as they accompanied explorers and of the colony in a set of lithographs titled in the foreground: again, a nostalgic reminder are the mainstay of The silent wilderness. scientists throughout the colony that provided Sydney Illustrated. Residing in Van Diemen’s of a time prior to the encroachment in the It is my pleasure to acknowledge with the artists with even greater access to the Land from 1844 – 48, Prout made several region of non-indigenous people. The first grateful thanks the public and private lenders vistas that inspired romantic wilderness sketching trips of the island: these travels official crossing of the Blue Mountains of works to the exhibition without whose paintings (defined broadly here as mountain informed a new lithographic series, Tasmania by European settlers had been made in 1813, co-operation the project could not have been ranges, waterfalls, forests and lakes). Illustrated, published in two volumes in 1844 and by the 1870s the area had become a realised. Personal thanks for their unhesitating At various times between 1858 and 1864, and 1846. Although not part of this series, popular tourist destination, aided greatly by assistance go to colleagues at the following von Guérard and Chevalier joined early Prout’s lithograph The Wellington Falls, Hobart the establishment of a train line from Penrith institutions: Art Gallery of Ballarat; Art Gallery expeditions conducted by explorer and natural Town, 1845 (CAT. NO. 19) holds a significant place to Weatherboard Station in 1865. of South Australia; Art Gallery of Western scientist Alfred Howitt, and noted meteorologist in the history of local printmaking as the Equally popular as a subject in colonial Australia; Fisheries and Wildlife Division, Georg Balthasar von Neumayer within Victoria first colour lithograph from multiple stones painting was the spectacular Govett’s Leap Ministry for Conservation, Victoria (courtesy (and just beyond). These expeditions were printed in Australia. The work was described in the Blue Mountains. Von Guérard’s Govett’s of Warrnambool Art Gallery); Ian Potter largely initiated as a result of the burgeoning in a contemporary newspaper report as Leap and Grose River Valley, Blue Mountains, Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne; interest in the topography and natural resources conveying ‘a correct impression of the wild, New South Wales, 1873 (CAT. NO. 31), painted National Gallery of Australia; National of the new colony that had been prompted yet sublime, grandeur of the scenery which some fourteen years after the artist visited Gallery of Victoria; State Library of Victoria; by the discovery of gold in the early-1850s. the “falls” present’.iii the region, captures the innate grandeur and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Von Guérard’s and Chevalier’s participation In 1845, Prout journeyed to Lake St Clair of the landscape. This is emphasised by We are also very much indebted for a major in these expeditions enabled both artists in central Tasmania—south of Cradle Mountain the relatively small scale of the excursion party loan to a Private collection (courtesy of to create works depicting awe-inspiring terrain and now part of the Tasmanian World Heritage in the foreground, members of which appear Sotheby’s Australia). not previously seen by the new colonists. Wilderness area—inspired by sketches of the to be dwarfed by the vastness of the rock We thank Arts Victoria for indemnification They subsequently played a key role in area by the colony’s former surveyor, George formations and deep valley. of the exhibition through the Victorian fostering interest in this genre from the Frankland. These drawings revealed ‘glimpses While the popularity of wilderness scenes Indemnification Scheme, we warmly late-1850s until the late-1860s, particularly of scenery full of natural grandeur, of unchecked was beginning to wane amongst the buying acknowledge Parks Victoria for generous within Melbourne’s cultural scene. wildness, and savage majesty’, according public by the 1870s, particularly as many of and enthusiastic support of the project, Paintings and lithographs by Chevalier and to Prout.iv The oil painting [Waterfall near Lake the destinations had become more accessible and we salute David Pidgeon and Kate Rogers von Guérard in the current exhibition that depict St Clair, Tasmania], 1847 (CAT. NO. 20), as well as to the public at large, a number of artists at Design By Pidgeon for the design of this locations such as the Parker River waterfall his earlier lithograph, display the artist’s ability continued to work in this idealistic genre. publication that has been expertly printed at Cape Otway, Cumberland Creek near Apollo to successfully depict—in diverse media— The remote landscape of the island of his by our print partner, Adams Print. Bay, Mount Arapiles in the Wimmera, the the atmospheric effects of cascading water. birth remained a constant motif within the Finally, I pay tribute to all members of this Wannon Falls near Hamilton, as well as the Among the most popular Australian oeuvre of Tasmanian artist William Charles Gallery’s staff who have worked in one capacity Moroka River Falls in Gippsland and Mount waterfalls for 19th century artists were the Piguenit. In his early career as a draftsman for or another on this exhibition while our Curator, Kosciusko in New South Wales reflect the Wannon Falls in the Western District of Victoria the Tasmanian Lands and Survey Department Lisa Sullivan, has had carriage of the overall extent of the artists’ journeys with Howitt and the Weatherboard Falls (now known as he prepared maps of the colony that often project from conception to presentation and Neumayer through ‘untravelled wilds and the Wentworth Falls) in the Blue Mountains, incorporated landscape scenery. Most as well as writing the accompanying essay primeval solitudes’, and, particularly in the case New South Wales.