Skip to content

An image of Sydney Harbour by John D. Moore

John D. Moore

(Australia 06 Sep 1888–09 Dec 1958)

Title
Sydney Harbour
Year
1936
Media category
Painting
Materials used
oil on canvas
Dimensions

91.5 x 122.5cm stretcher; 119.5 x 150.5 x 6.5cm frame

Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l. corner, brown oil "JOHN D MOORE 36".
Credit
Purchased 1936
Accession number
6382
Copyright
© Estate of David Moore
Location
Not on display
Further information

'John Moore showed some discontent with the prevailing outlook in Australian landscape painting soon after his return from Europe after the war ... [he] showed an unusually strong interest in nature in its more dramatic moods ... a weariness with perpetual sunshine and the unchanging mood which was thought to be proper to the typical Australian landscape.'
- Basil Burdett, 1933

Although practising as an architect, Moore also maintained his career as a painter. Like his fellow artists in the Contemporary Group founded by George Lambert and Thea Proctor, he contributed to the development of the modern movement in Sydney through an approach which emphasised formal construction. Using the framework of architecture, Moore's view of 'Sydney Harbour' was taken from the balcony of his house in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse. His well-regarded landscapes, more often in the medium of watercolour, arose from a love of sketching out-of-doors and for the watercolours of English artists John Sell Cotman, Constable, James Innes and Wilson Steer.

Bibliography (18)

Howard Tanner (Australia) (Author), Inara Walden (Australia) (Author), Thoroughly modern Sydney: 1920s and 30s glamour & style, Sydney, 2006, 10. List of works.

John Slater (England) (Author), Through artists' eyes: Australian suburbs and their cities 1919-1945, Melbourne, 2004, 65, 66 (colour illus.). illus.no. 48

'Ode to Sydney' by Alan Close, 29-31., Reader's Digest Sep 2000, Sep 2000, 29 (colour illus.).

'Ode to Sydney' by Alan Close, pg. 55-56., Good Weekend 15 Apr 2000, 15 Apr 2000, 55 (colour illus.).

Peter Emmett (Author), Sydney: metropolis, suburb, harbour, Glebe, 2000, 151, 152 (illus.).

Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 152 (colour illus.), 301.

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 145 (colour illus.).

Ian North (New Zealand; Australia, b.1945) (Author), Expanse: Aboriginalities, spatialities and the politics of ecstasy, Adelaide, 1998, frontispiece (colour illus.), 26.

'Big Blue Sydney Harbour Through The Eyes of Artists' by Barbara Konkolowicz, pg. 20-21., Look May 1997, May 1997, 20 (colour illus.).

The Brett Whiteley Studio (Australia, estab. 1994) (Editor), Big blue: the painted harbour (list of works), Sydney, 1997.

Herbert Badham (Australia, b.1899, d.1961) (Author), A gallery of Australian art, Sydney, 1954, xiii, (illus.). plate no. 27

Hal Missingham (Australia, b.1906, d.1994) (Author), A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Domain, 1953. cat.no. 143

Herbert Badham (Australia, b.1899, d.1961) (Author), A study of Australian art, Sydney, 1949, (illus.). plate no. 40

Sydney Ure Smith (Australia, b.1887, d.1949) (Editor), Art of Australia 1788-1941, New York, 1941, 41. cat.no. 87

Ernestine Hill (Author), Australia Land of Contrasts, Sydney, pre 1949, (colour illus.).

The Home annual: Australian life and scenery Oct 1938, Oct 1938, 29 (colour illus.).

Art in Australia [series 3, no. 70] Mar 1938, Mar 1938, 35 (colour illus.).

Lionel Lindsay (Australia, b.1874, d.1961) (Author), 150 years of Australian art, Sydney, 1938. cat.no. 62

Exhibition history (36)

Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1936), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], 04 Sep 1936–02 Oct 1936.

150 years of Australian art (1938), National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 Jan 1938–25 Apr 1938.

Golden Gate International Exposition, Treasure Island, 18 Feb 1939–29 Oct 1939.

Golden Gate International Exposition, Treasure Island, 25 May 1940–29 Sep 1940.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 01 Oct 1941–26 Oct 1941.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17 Nov 1941–31 Dec 1941.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Yale University Art Gallery, 02 Mar 1942–23 Mar 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Carnegie Institute, 03 Apr 1942–15 May 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, 01 Jun 1942–27 Jun 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 10 Jul 1942–27 Aug 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Toledo Museum of Art, 06 Sep 1942–27 Sep 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, 05 Oct 1942–02 Nov 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Cleveland Museum of Art, 09 Nov 1942–07 Dec 1942.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Detroit Institiute of Arts, 01 Jan 1943–29 Jan 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 08 Apr 1943–05 May 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Fort Wayne Art School and Museum, 12 May 1943–31 May 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Rockhill Nelson Gallery, 07 Sep 1943–08 Oct 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Philbrook Art Museum, 20 Oct 1943–17 Nov 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, 28 Nov 1943–26 Dec 1943.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Abilene Museum of Fine Arts, 10 Jan 1944–07 Feb 1944.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Heard Museum, Phoenix Fine Arts Association, 21 Feb 1944–20 Mar 1944.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, San Francisco Museum of Art, 04 Apr 1944–07 May 1944.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum, 19 May 1944–16 Jun 1944.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Hamline University, 01 Dec 1944–17 Dec 1944.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Society Liberal Arts, Joslyn Memorial, 06 Jan 1945–27 Jan 1945.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 06 Feb 1945–27 Feb 1945.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Quincy Art Club, 09 Mar 1945–30 Mar 1945.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, Oklahoma Art Center, 13 Apr 1945–04 May 1945.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, University of Oklahoma, 14 May 1945–04 Jun 1945.

Art of Australia 1788-1941, North Texas State Teachers' College, 14 Jun 1945–05 Jul 1945.

A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 25 Sep 1953–25 Oct 1953.

Sydney Harbour 1794-1979, S.H. Ervin Gallery, 03 Aug 1979–26 Aug 1979.

Big Blue - the painted harbour (1997), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 21 Jun 1997–29 Mar 1998.

Expanse: Aboriginalities, spatialities and the politics of ecstasy, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, 04 Sep 1998–03 Oct 1998.

Harbour, Museum of Sydney, 05 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.

Thoroughly modern Sydney, Museum of Sydney, 01 Jul 2006–15 Oct 2006.