BE Minns
(Australia 17 Nov 1863–21 Feb 1937)
- Title
- Australian Aboriginal female, Sydney
- Other titles:
- Aboriginal woman, Sydney, New South Wales
Study of Aboriginal female
Aboriginal Girl, Sydney - Year
- 1895
- Media category
- Watercolour
- Materials used
- pencil, watercolour
- Dimensions
-
41.7 x 29.0cm sheet
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.l., brown watercolour "BE MINNS/ .../ 95".
- Credit
- Purchased 1896
- Accession number
- 4379
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
B E Minns is most admired for his early watercolours and etchings, produced before he left for England in 1895. Outstanding was his series of enigmatic and powerful portraits of Aborigines, six of which are in the Gallery's collection, including the singular head study of a young woman, her gaze focussed intensely into the distance.
In 1884 at the Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales, Minns exhibited a number of portraits with the titles 'Meditation (a type of NSW Aborigine)', 'Aborigine girl' and 'Types of New South Wales Aboriginals'. A number of those depicted were from Bermagui, on the south coast of New South Wales, although their identities are now lost to us.
By the 1880s, aborigines in the Bermagui area were employed in industries including whaling, timber and agriculture, following epidemics in the earlier part of the century that had decimated the original indigenous population. However, increasing government control of aboriginal people was also evident by this period with the establishment of reserves, such as that at Wallaga Lake, just north of of Bermagui, by the Aborigines Protection Board in 1891.
Minns' titles emphasize the subjects as types rather than individuals. This was an approach shared by a number of artists throughout the century, including Minns' contemporary Tom Roberts, who made a series of paintings of Aborigines in the early 1890s, and others earlier in the century such as Thomas Bock (1793-1885), Robert Dowling (1827-86) and John Skinner Prout. While not unsympathetic to the individuality of his sitters, Minns' perspective was common to many in the nineteenth century who considered Aborigines to be part of a noble but dying race, a distinct but passing feature of Australian life that was worth recording before its inevitable decline.
excerpt from Hendrik Kolenberg, Anne Ryan and Patricia James, '19th century Australian watercolours, drawings & pastels in the Gallery's collection', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2005
- Bibliography (10)
-
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia) (Author), Patricia James (Author), 19th century Australian watercolours, drawing and pastels from the Gallery's collection, Domain, 2005, 118, 119 (colour illus.).
'Australian social and political life to 1914', pg. 2-68., Australian history and citizenship 2000, 2000, 52 (colour illus.). source 1.71; NSW Secondary School History syllabus
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 188 (colour illus.).
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Sydney, 1995, 27 (colour illus.), 115. cat.no. 12
Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Nineteenth century Australian watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1991, (illus.). cat.no. 57; not paginated
Jean Campbell (Australia) (Author), Australian watercolour painters: 1780 to the present day, Roseville, 1989, 130 (colour illus.).
Jean Campbell (Australia) (Author), Australian watercolour painters 1780-1980, Adelaide, 1983, 97 (colour illus.).
Ian North (New Zealand; Australia, b.1945) (Editor), The Adelaide Festival of Arts 1974: Special exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1974. cat.no. 57; titled 'Aboriginal Girl, Sydney'.
Geoffrey Dutton (Australia, b.1922, d.1998) (Author), White on black: the Australian Aborigine portrayed in art, Melbourne, 1974, (illus.). plate no. 119
New South Wales Society of Artists (Australia, estab. 1895, closed 1960s), The Society of Artists Second Spring Exhibition, Sydney, Sep 1896. cat.no. 132; titled 'Study of Aboriginal Female'
- Exhibition history (9)
-
Society of Artists Spring Exhibition (1896), Cliff Gallery, 05 Sep 1896 -.
Exhibition of Australian art in London (1898), Grafton Galleries, 02 Apr 1898–31 Jul 1898.
150 years of Australian art (1938), National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 Jan 1938–25 Apr 1938.
The Australian Aborigine Portrayed in Art: Adelaide Festival of Arts 1974, Art Gallery of South Australia, Mar 1974 -.
White on black: the Australian Aborigine portrayed in art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Mar 1974 -.
Nineteenth century Australian watercolours from the collection (1991), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 Apr 1991–07 Jul 1991.
Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 18 Nov 1995–14 Jan 1996.
Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 1996–1996.
Australian watercolours 1880s to 1990s, City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 1996–1996.
