Exposing Thomas Clark: a colonial artist in Western Victoria by Dr Peter Dowling and Daniel McOwab

Hamilton Art Gallery, 2013

Hamilton Art Gallery, 2013

This might seem like an odd title, until you realise just how little is really known about the life of this fine English landscape artist who landed in Melbourne in the early 1850s. Thomas Clark appears to have left only a few clues as to his doings prior to arriving in Australia, and all indications are that he liked it that way. No matter, his landscapes of regional Victoria are quite lovely, while his painting of Kenney’s Baths in St. Kilda from 1857 gives a fascinating glimpse into early Melbourne’s (at times) quirky social life; it also happens to be one of ours, currently on show at the Hamilton Art Gallery in a very fine exhibition.

Picturing the great divide : visions from Australia’s Blue Mountains by Gavin Wilson

Eugene von Guérard: Govett’s Leap and Grose River Valley, 1873

Eugene von Guérard: Govett’s Leap and Grose River Valley, 1873 (National Gallery of Australia)

The Blue Mountains in New South Wales have long been a source of inspiration for artists of all persuasions. This catalogue to an exhibition held at the Blue Mountains Art Gallery earlier this year shows in abundant detail the many and varied responses this most remarkable landscape has provoked over the years, from early photographs to contemporary ceramics.

Weatherbeaten : Winslow Homer and Maine: edited by Thomas A. Denenberg

Yale University Press, 2012

Yale University Press, 2012

Slightly further afield, Winslow Homer’s response to the landscape of his beloved Maine resulted in some of the most iconic and exuberant paintings in all American art. His seascapes remain unrivalled in their ability to communicate the power, beauty and terror of the untamed ocean, whilst his observation of the lives of those people who depend on it comes with all of his usual humanity. This lovely book celebrates the restoration of Homer’s studio in Prouts Neck, Maine, and the essays and images are fascinating and beautiful.

Liberty’s furniture 1875-1915 : the birth of modern interior design by Daryl Bennett

Antique Collectors' Club, 2012

Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012

This dazzling book voluminously covers the first few decades of furniture design as promoted by Arthur Lasenby Liberty at his Liberty and Co. store in Regent Street, London. An utterly fascinating period in English art and design as it emerged from the Pre-Raphaelite movement into the sumptuous design aesthetic of William Morris, Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement, this beautiful book is as much a history of the early years of this most famous store as it is a survey of its greatest designer, Leonard Wyburd.

 

Thomas Clark’s almost Turneresque view of Kenney’s Baths in St. Kilda, from our Picture Collection

Thomas Clark: Kenney's Baths, St Kilda

Thomas Clark: Kenney’s Baths, St Kilda, 1854

 

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