The Art Gallery of South Australia presents South Australia Illustrated: colonial painting in the Land of Promise on view through 5 August 2012.
Knud Bull, A view of Adelaide at sunset, c.1875, Adelaide. Oil on canvas, 105.3 x 151.9 cm. ANZ Collection
This survey of the development of painting in South Australia from the commencement of colonisation in 1836, through to Federation in 1901 offers new insights and research into this often-overlooked aspect of Australia’s art history, as well as a rare opportunity to see the state’s past as never before.
Taking its name from the George French Angas folio that served as a major promotional publication for the colony from 1846, South Australia Illustrated draws over 200 works of art from the Art Gallery’s rich collection, as well as works generously lent by private, state and national collections.
From as early as 1836, watercolours by J.M Skipper provided insight into the first days of arrival, while surveyor-general William Light’s beautiful landscapes of the late 1830s are informed by his topographer’s eye. S.T. Gill’s lively street scenes record growth and success and G.F.Angas’s watercolours – intended as images for South Australia Illustrated published in London – encouraged further emigration. Aboriginal people are the main focus of Alexander Schramm’s oeuvre and they also appear interacting with settlers in important works by Charles Hill and in sophisticated portraits by John Crossland.
For further information, including details on the extensive public program of talks, tours, children’s activities and members events visit artgallery.sa.gov.au.