Frederick McCubbin: 6 works

'In the 1880s, Frederick McCubbin painted a number of interior and exterior scenes of his home, the old bakery in inner Melbourne where he was born and lived until he was in his 30s.'

'Although small, McCubbin saw At the falling of the year as a work in its own right and exhibited it in the First annual exhibition of the Australian Artists' Association at Buxton's Galleries in Melbourne on 7 September 1886, three years before the famous The 9 by 5 impression exhibition of oil sketches by McCubbin, Roberts, Streeton and Conder was shown at this same venue. In 1886, McCubbin was appointed drawing master of the school of design at the National Gallery School in Melbourne--a position he held for the rest of his life.'

'McCubbin was one of the key founders of the Heidelberg school of Australian Impressionism. Like Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton, McCubbin subsequently became inspired during the 1890s to create large-scale pioneering history subjects, which are among the best known and most popularly admired Australian paintings.'

'Key influences for Frederick McCubbin at this time included the academic naturalism of Bastien-Lepage and the new focus on everyday subjects by leading French Barbizon school artists Corot and Millet.'

'McCubbin gave Violet and gold an abstract, poetic title--possibly a result of having looked at and admired James McNeill Whistler's work in London in 1907.Coming of Spring, Afterglow (both National Gallery of Australia), Winter's morning and Autumn morning (both National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), emphasising the time of year or time of day, this is one of only a few works to which he gave a colour title. Violet and gold was painted about one kilometre from McCubbin's country retreat, Fontainebleau, at Mount Macedon, on the nearby property of Ard Chielle.'

'There were many female nudes in the Summer idyll which McCubbin exhibited in 1910, but he later painted out the figures and this work is now given the title Oliver's Hill, Frankston (cat 35). In 1914 he again painted female bathers in his best-known late work, Golden sunlight (cat 62).'