Tom Roberts 1856 - 1931: A Catalogue Raisonné (Volume 1 Text & Volume 2 Plates)
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Inscribed by Topliss.
Few figures loom as large in the story of Australian art as Tom Roberts, the visionary painter whose bold, sun-drenched canvases transformed the colonial landscape into a defining national mythology. This authoritative two-volume catalogue raisonné, comprising a comprehensive text volume and an extensive plates volume, presents the complete documented works of Roberts, tracing his artistic journey from his Birmingham birth in 1856 through his decades of prolific output in Australia and Europe, to his death in 1931. Helen Topliss meticulously catalogues every known painting, sketch, and study, situating each work within its biographical and historical context while drawing on extensive archival research to construct the most complete scholarly record of Roberts's oeuvre ever assembled. Topliss writes with the rigour of an art historian and the clarity of a passionate advocate, illuminating how Roberts, alongside his Heidelberg School contemporaries, forged an authentically Australian visual language — one rooted in the play of light on eucalyptus bush, the toil of shearers, and the quiet drama of coastal life. The plates volume stands as a breathtaking visual testament to his genius, reproducing works in rich detail that rewards prolonged study. Together, these volumes represent the definitive scholarly resource on one of Australia's most celebrated painters — an indispensable acquisition for any serious student of Australian cultural history, and a work that will leave the reader newly alert to the revolutionary ambition hiding in plain sight on every canvas.
Author: Helen Topliss
Format: Hardback
Published: 1985, Oxford University Press
Genre: History of arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Signed with inscription
Condition remarks: Inscribed by Topliss.
Few figures loom as large in the story of Australian art as Tom Roberts, the visionary painter whose bold, sun-drenched canvases transformed the colonial landscape into a defining national mythology. This authoritative two-volume catalogue raisonné, comprising a comprehensive text volume and an extensive plates volume, presents the complete documented works of Roberts, tracing his artistic journey from his Birmingham birth in 1856 through his decades of prolific output in Australia and Europe, to his death in 1931. Helen Topliss meticulously catalogues every known painting, sketch, and study, situating each work within its biographical and historical context while drawing on extensive archival research to construct the most complete scholarly record of Roberts's oeuvre ever assembled. Topliss writes with the rigour of an art historian and the clarity of a passionate advocate, illuminating how Roberts, alongside his Heidelberg School contemporaries, forged an authentically Australian visual language — one rooted in the play of light on eucalyptus bush, the toil of shearers, and the quiet drama of coastal life. The plates volume stands as a breathtaking visual testament to his genius, reproducing works in rich detail that rewards prolonged study. Together, these volumes represent the definitive scholarly resource on one of Australia's most celebrated painters — an indispensable acquisition for any serious student of Australian cultural history, and a work that will leave the reader newly alert to the revolutionary ambition hiding in plain sight on every canvas.