Tom Roberts
(England, Australia 08 Mar 1856–14 Sep 1931)
- Title
- The camp, Sirius Cove
- Place of origin
-
Sydney →
New South Wales →
Australia
- Year
- 1899
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas on paperboard
- Dimensions
-
25.4 x 34.6cm board; 40.1 x 49.1 x 2.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed l.l., red oil "Tom Roberts/ '(illeg)".
- Credit
- Purchased 1940
- Accession number
- 6928
- Location
- 19th c Australian art
- Further information
This tiny work belatedly records the artists' encampment at Little Sirius Cove, Sydney Harbour, which Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton shared with others in the early 1880s. The camps became centres for the innovative practice of plein-air painting, which took artists from their studios to work on canvases outdoors.
Roberts depicts his former painting haunt as an idyllic memory, albeit with a photographically sharp focus. It is flawlessly constructed and crisply executed to recall the brightly sunlit scene. Although the artists’ camp is long gone, Roberts’ view of the headland is still recognisable today, close to the present site of Taronga Park Zoo on the Sydney Harbour foreshore.
- Bibliography (19)
-
'Learning to look at art: Introducing and inspiring art lovers of the future' by Pat Kreuiter, pg. 12-13., Look Oct 2008, Oct 2008, 12 (colour illus.). A group of school children are pictured in front of the painting.
Terence Lane (Editor), Australian Impressionism, Melbourne, 2007, 201, 209 (colour illus.). Fig.no. 1
Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Curator), Imants Tillers (Australia, b.1950) (Artist), Imant Tillers: one world many visions, Canberra, 2006, 95.
Patrick H McCarthy (Australia, b.1933) (Author), Bailed up: the story behind the painting, Sydney, 2006, 14-15.
Inverell Art Gallery (Australia) (Author), Tom Roberts Art Exhibition. Tom Roberts Festival 2001, Inverell, 2001, 10.
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 38.
The beach 2000, 2000, 00:18.11 for 30 seconds (colour, detail).
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 124 (colour illus.).
Ron Radford (Australia, b.1949) (Author), Humphrey McQueen (Author), Mary Eagle (Australia, b.1944) (Author), Virginia Spate (Australia) (Author), Daniel Thomas (Author), Jane Hylton (b.1950) (Author), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Leigh Astbury (b.1950) (Author), Helen Topliss (Australia) (Author), Roger Butler (Australia, b.1948) (Author), Jane Hylton (b.1950) (Author), Tom Roberts, Adelaide, 1996, 146, 147 (colour illus.), 211 (illus.).
'The Curlew Camp' by Albie Thoms, pg. 49-69., Bohemians in the bush: the artists' camps of Mosman 1991, 1991, cover (colour illus.), flyleaf (colour illus.), 59, 79. cat.no. 68
William Splatt (Author), Susan Bruce (Author), 100 masterpieces of Australian landscape painting, Melbourne, 1986, 132, 133 (colour illus.). plate no. 63
Helen Topliss (Australia) (Author), Tom Roberts 1856-1931: a catalogue raisonné. Volume 2 - Plates, Melbourne, 1985. plate no. 31; not paginated
Helen Topliss (Australia) (Author), Tom Roberts 1856-1931: a catalogue raisonné. Volume 1 - Text, Melbourne, 1985, 157. cat.no. 311
Helen Topliss (Australia) (Author), Margaret Plant (Australia, b.1940) (Editor), The artist's camp; plein air painting in Melbourne 1885-1898, Melbourne, 1984, 137 (colour illus.). plate no. 179
Susan Bruce (Author), A treasury of Australian bush painting, Adelaide, 1979, 44 (illus.). plate no. 34
Ann Galbally (Australia) (Author), John Henshaw (New Zealand; Australia, b.1929, d.2006) (Editor), Arthur Streeton, Melbourne, 1969, 22 (illus.). illus.no. 9; incorrectly dated 1894.
'Tom Roberts' by Daniel Thomas, pg. 466-487., Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly (Vol. 10, No. 4) Jul 1969, Jul 1969, 471 (illus.).
Daniel Thomas (Author), Sydney Harbour, Sydney, 1963. cat.no. 24; incorrectly dated 1893; not paginated
National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Tom Roberts exhibition, National Art Gallery of NSW: souvenir catalogue, Sydney, 1947, 10. cat.no. 7
- Exhibition history (13)
-
Tom Roberts - Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Nov 1947–Jan 1948.
Tom Roberts - Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Nov 1947–Jan 1948.
Tom Roberts - Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia, Nov 1947–Jan 1948.
Sydney Harbour: an exhibition to mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of Australia (1963), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 30 Oct 1963–19 Nov 1963.
L'Été australien à Montpellier, Musee Fabre, 30 Jun 1990–13 Sep 1990.
Bohemians in the bush: the artists' camps of Mosman, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 06 Jun 1991–25 Aug 1991.
Tom Roberts (1996-1997), Art Gallery of South Australia, 05 Oct 1996–17 Nov 1996.
Tom Roberts (1996-1997), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 30 Nov 1996–27 Jan 1997.
Tom Roberts (1996-1997), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], 12 Feb 1997–06 Apr 1997.
Tom Roberts (1996-1997), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 19 Apr 1997–01 Jun 1997.
Tom Roberts (1996-1997), Art Gallery of Western Australia, 11 Jun 1997–27 Jul 1997.
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.
Plein-air painting in Europe 1780-1850, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Sep 2004–31 Oct 2004.
