Colonial Painters 1788-1880
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: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the frontier of a vast and untamed continent, a generation of visionary artists picked up their brushes and captured Australia as the world had never seen it before — raw, luminous, and startlingly alive. Colonial Painters 1788–1880, part of the prestigious Australian Painting Studio Series, chronicles nearly a century of artistic endeavour that began with the First Fleet's arrival and culminated in a distinctly Australian visual identity, presenting the works and lives of the painters who transformed a foreign wilderness into a recognised landscape of cultural meaning. James Gleeson, one of Australia's most respected art critics and painters, brings formidable authority to this survey, dissecting the stylistic influences, technical achievements, and personal struggles of colonial-era artists navigating an environment entirely alien to their European training. The result is a richly detailed account of how art became a tool of documentation, aspiration, and national identity-building — and a compelling reminder that the story of a nation is often best told not in words, but in paint. Who were the forgotten masters whose canvases first gave Australia its face?
Author: James Gleeson
Format: Paperback
Published: 1979, Lansdowne Australian Art Library
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the frontier of a vast and untamed continent, a generation of visionary artists picked up their brushes and captured Australia as the world had never seen it before — raw, luminous, and startlingly alive. Colonial Painters 1788–1880, part of the prestigious Australian Painting Studio Series, chronicles nearly a century of artistic endeavour that began with the First Fleet's arrival and culminated in a distinctly Australian visual identity, presenting the works and lives of the painters who transformed a foreign wilderness into a recognised landscape of cultural meaning. James Gleeson, one of Australia's most respected art critics and painters, brings formidable authority to this survey, dissecting the stylistic influences, technical achievements, and personal struggles of colonial-era artists navigating an environment entirely alien to their European training. The result is a richly detailed account of how art became a tool of documentation, aspiration, and national identity-building — and a compelling reminder that the story of a nation is often best told not in words, but in paint. Who were the forgotten masters whose canvases first gave Australia its face?