To the hills

Elioth Gruner was born at Gisborne, Poverty Bay, New Zealand and came with his family to Sydney the following year. Gruner was among the most highly regarded landscape painters of his day. He studied with Julian Ashton at the Art Society of NSW from 1892; Ashton asked him to become an assistant at his school in 1912. He exhibited with the Society of Artists, showing his first drypoints with the Society in 1918. They were probably inspired by his friend Norman Lindsay's etching experiments, and by a small etching sent to him by Hans Heysen. He exhibited with the Australian Painter-Etchers' Society from 1921 and in 1923 travelled to London, where he managed the 'Exhibition of Australian art' held at the Burlington Galleries of the Royal Academy in October. In 1924 he travelled in Europe and England, returning to Australia in 1925. He began exhibiting with the Contemporary Group in 1926. In 1928, Gruner spent much time in Yass, NSW, travelling around the countryside by car on painting expeditions where he worked 'en plein air'.

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, 'Australian prints from the Gallery's collection', AGNSW, 1998