Arthur Streeton

>Arthur Streeton 2005-05-27T03:09:10Z 203.49.203.106 [[image:Arthur_Strerton_Golden_Summer.jpg|thumb|250px|''Golden Summer, Eaglemont'' by Arthur Streeton (1889)]] '''Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton''' ([[8 April]], [[1867]]–[[1 September]], [[1943]]) was an [[Australia]]n [[artist]] and a member of the famous [[Heidelberg School]] of Australian artists, best known for his rural [[landscapes]]. Streeton was born in Duneed, southwest of [[Geelong, Victoria|Geelong]], and his family moved to [[Richmond, Victoria|Richmond]] in [[1874]]. He commenced study at the National Gallery Schools in [[1882]]. Streeton was influenced by French [[Impressionism]] and the works of [[J.M.W. Turner|Turner]]. During this time be began his association with fellow artists [[Frederick McCubbin]] and [[Tom Roberts]] — a group that would become the Heidelberg School — and began [[plein air]] painting of rural scenes around [[Melbourne]] including at [[Box Hill, Victoria|Box Hill]] and [[Heidelberg, Victoria|Heidelberg]]. In [[1885]] Streeton presented his first exhibition at the Victorian Academy of Art. He found employment as an apprentive [[lithographer]]. In [[1888]] Streeton moved to the Eaglemont estate near Heidelberg which he shared with Roberts, [[Charles Conder]] and [[Walter Withers]]. He remained at Eaglemont until [[1890]] during which time he produced many of his most famous landscapes. In the early 1890s Streeton made a number of trips to [[Sydney]] and painted in the [[Blue Mountains]] and along the [[Hawkesbury River]]. In [[1897]] Streeton sailed for [[London]]. He held an exhibition at the [[Royal Academy]] in [[1900]] and became a member of the [[Chelsea Arts Club]] in [[1903]]. While Streeton had developed a considerable reputation in Australia, he failed to achieve the same success in [[England]]. His trips to London were financed by the sales of his paintings at home in Australia. His time in England reinforced a a strong sense of patriotism towards the [[British Empire]] and, like many, anticipated the coming war with Germany with some enthusiasm. Streeton returned to Australia in [[1906]] and completed some paintings at [[Mount Macedon]] in February [[1907]] before returning to London in October. Streeton painted in [[Venice]] in September [[1908]] and the resulting works were exhibited in Australia in July [[1909]] as "Arthur Streeton's Venice". Streeton returned to Australia in April [[1914]] to conduct exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne. He returned to England in early [[1915]] and, along with other members of the Chelsea Arts Club, including Tom Roberts, he joined the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] ([[British Army]]) at the age of 48. He worked at the 3rd London General Hospital in [[Wandsworth]] and reached the rank of [[corporal]]. Streeton was deeply affected by the sights he encountered in the hospital and was discharged in February [[1917]] as medically unfit. [[Image:Amiens the key of the west.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Amiens, the key of the west'', oil-on-canvas, completed in 1919.]] Having recovered, Streeton was made an Australian Official War Artist with the [[Australian Imperial Force (1st)|Australian Imperial Force]], holding the rank of [[lieutenant]], and he travelled to [[France]] on [[14 May]] [[1918]] and was attached to the [[Australian 2nd Division (World War I)|2nd Division]]. As a war artist, Streeton continued to deal in landscapes and his works have been criticised for failing to concentrate on the fighting soldiers. Unlike the more famous wartime works depicting the definitive moments of battle, such as [[George Lambert (Australian painter)|George Lambert]]'s ''[[:Image:Anzac, the landing 1915.jpg|Anzac, the landing 1915]]'', Streeton produced "military still life", capturing the everyday moments of the war. Streeton observed that: :''True pictures of battlefields are very quiet looking things. There's nothing much to be seen, everybody and thing is hidden and camouflaged.'' His most famous war painting, ''[[:Image:Amiens the key of the west.jpg|Amiens, the key of the west]]'', a landscape of the [[Amiens]] countryside with dirty plumes of battlefield smoke staining the horizon, remains a powerful image of war. A similar scene is depicted in Streeton's ''The Somme valley near Corbie'' with a peaceful rural setting in the foreground and the smoke of an artillery bombardment in the distance. Streeton returned to Australia in December [[1919]] and resumed painting in the [[Grampians National Park|Grampians]] and [[Dandenong Ranges]]. Streeton built a house on five [[acre]]s (20,000 m²) at [[Olinda, Victoria|Olinda]] in the Dandenongs where he continued to paint. He was an art critic for [[The Argus (Australia)|The Argus]] from [[1929]] to [[1935]] and in [[1937]] was [[knighted]] for services to the arts. Streeton died in September [[1943]]. Streeton's paintings are amongst the most collectable of Australian artists. In [[1985]], ''Settler's Camp'' sold for [[Australian dollar|AU$]]800,000 and this remained the record for Streeton's work until [[23 May]] [[2005]], when his [[1890]] painting, ''Sunlight Sweet, Coogee'', was sold for AU$2.03 million, becoming only the second painting by an Australian artist to exceed the AU$2 million mark (after [[Frederick McCubbin]]'s ''Bush Idyll'' which sold for AU$2.3 million in [[1998]]). The painting was part of the [[Foster's Group]] collection and was sold at [[auction]] by [[Sotheby's]]. ==Selected works== *''[[:Image:Gas alert (Arthur Streeton).jpg|Gas alert]]'', 1918 watercolour and gouache with pencil *''[[:Image:Staff clerks at work headquarters St Gratien.jpg|Staff clerks at work, headquarters, St Gratien]]'', 1918 watercolour heightened with pencil ==External link== *[http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/Artists_streeton.htm Artist's footsteps - Arthur Streeton] [[Category:1867 births|Streeton, Arthur Ernest]] [[Category:1943 deaths|Streeton, Arthur Ernest]] [[Category:Australian painters|Streeton, Arthur Ernest]]