David Davies
(Australia, England 21 May 1864–26 Mar 1939)
- Title
- From a distant land
- Year
- 1889
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
80.9 x 115.6cm stretcher; 125.0 x 157.0 x 8.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r. corner, brown oil "Davies 89".
- Credit
- Purchased 1968
- Accession number
- OA15.1968
- Location
- 19th c Australian art
- Further information
'From a distant land' is a work from David Davies’ student years and reveals the academic teaching influence of George Folingsby, art master at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1882. This firmly organised painting makes use of the most prevalent compositional device that flourished under Folinsgby: from a darkened room a door opens out to the glaring sun of the Australian bush, allowing the interior narrative element to expand into the outside world.
Davies subsequently left Australia in 1897, spending time in France and England and encountering plein-air painting first-hand. He eventually settled at St Ives in Cornwall, where he died in 1939.
- Bibliography (15)
-
'Envoy for our colonial past' by Kitty Hauser, pg. 2., The Weekend Australian 28 Mar 2009-29 Mar 2009, 28 Mar 2009-29 Mar 2009, 2 (colour illus.). Review section
Patricia Macdonald (Australia) (Author), Exiles and emigrants: epic journies to Australia in the Victorian era, Melbourne, 2005, 112, 113 (colour illus.), 137.
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 110 (colour illus.).
Okko Boer (Author), Masters of the Heidelberg School, Leichhardt, 1998, 82 (colour illus.). plate no. 82
Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965, South Brisbane, 1998, 114.
City bushmen: the Heidelberg school and the rural mythology 1985, 1985, 41 (colour illus.). colour plate no. 7
Cam Sparks (Australia) (Author), David Davies 1864-1939, Ballarat, 1984, 10, 33 (illus.). cat.no. 10
Art and Australia (Vol. 21, No. 3) Autumn 1983, Autumn 1983, 348 (colour illus.).
Susan Bruce (Author), A treasury of Australian bush painting, Adelaide, 1979, (colour illus.). colour plate no. 28
Australian Gallery Directors Council (Australia), Old master paintings from the USSR: A survey of four centuries of European art. Report, Sydney, 1979. cat.no. 49; catalogue entry
'David Davies 1864-1939' by Cameron Sparks., Art and Australia [vol. 16, no. 1] Sep 1978, Sep 1978, 68.
Ann Galbally (Australia) (Editor), Margaret Plant (Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Studies in Australian art, Melbourne, 1978, 53 (illus.), 54.
William Splatt (Author), Barbara Burton (Author), 100 masterpieces of Australian painting, Adelaide, 1973, 56 (colour illus.), 57. plate no. 25
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 76 (colour illus.).
Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Apr 1969, Apr 1969, 454, 457 (illus.).
- Exhibition history (8)
-
European masters and Australian painting from Australian collections, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 02 Oct 1979 -.
European masters and Australian painting from Australian collections, State Hermitage Museum, 04 Dec 1979 -.
Interiors - from the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Art Gallery of New South Wales Travelling Art Exhibition 1981, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 09 Dec 1981–03 Jan 1982.
David Davies (1984-1985), Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 11 Sep 1984–11 Nov 1984.
David Davies (1984-1985), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], 04 Dec 1984–06 Jan 1985.
David Davies (1984-1985), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 01 Feb 1985–10 Mar 1985.
Exiles and emigrants: Epic journeys to Australia in the Victorian era, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 09 Dec 2005–26 Mar 2006.
Exiles and emigrants: Epic journeys to Australia in the Victorian era, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 21 Apr 2006–04 Jun 2006.
