Ian Fairweather
(Scotland, Australia 29 Sep 1891–20 May 1974)
- Title
- Fish traps, Peking
- Other titles:
- Landscape near Peking
- Alternative title:
- Walls of China
- Place of origin
-
Beijing →
China
- Year
- (1935)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on cardboard
- Dimensions
-
52.3 x 48.8cm sight; 76.4 x 71.5 x 4.0cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed l.r. corner, black (ink?) "IF". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with assistance from Katies 1982
- Accession number
- 225.1982
- Copyright
- © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Ian Fairweather first went to China in 1929, where he studied Mandarin in Shanghai for a short time. He returned there in 1935, this time living in Peking (Beijing), where he isolated himself from other Europeans and continued lessons in the Chinese language and calligraphy. He spent much time drawing, as he had trouble finding paid work, and his impoverished condition meant he had to improvise with painting materials leading him to experiment with Chinese chalks, for example. Despite his poverty, he managed to produce a number of landscape oils, including 'Landscape near Peking'. It is among very few Fairweather paintings of Chinese subjects actually painted in China, although he later made drawings and paintings from memory or drawings produced during his time there. Fairweather left China permanently in 1936 but its legacy remained with him, infusing his art for the rest of his life.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
- Bibliography (6)
-
Murray Bail (Australia, b.1941) (Author), Ian Fairweather, Sydney, 2009, 44 (colour illus.), 247. plate no. 23; cat.no. 30; titled 'Fish Traps, Peking'
'Ian Fairweather's Chinese encounter' by Barry Pearce, pg. 28-31., Look Aug 2004, Aug 2004, 31 (colour illus.).
Lou Klepac (Australia; Croatia, b.1936) (Author), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), Peter Pinson (Australia, b.1943) (Author), Gavin Fry (Author), Sasha Grishin AM (Australia) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Author), Australian painters of the twentieth century, Roseville, 2000, 32 (colour illus.).
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 228 (colour illus.), 300.
East of the Sun, Sydney, 1997. List of works
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Patrick McCaughey (Northern Ireland; Australia, b.1943) (Author), Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara Series, Tokyo, 1985, 18 (colour illus.). cat.no. 3
- Exhibition history (5)
-
Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara series from the collection of CRA Limited, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, 04 Oct 1985–06 Nov 1985.
East of the Sun (1997), The Brett Whiteley Studio, 01 Jun 1997–17 Nov 1997.
The drawings of Ian Fairweather (1997-1998), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 Oct 1997–07 Dec 1997.
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.
Yin-Yang: China in Australia, S.H. Ervin Gallery, 08 Aug 2008–28 Sep 2008.
