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An image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin
Alternate image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin Alternate image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin Alternate image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin
Alternate image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin Alternate image of Down the hills to Berry's Bay by Roland Wakelin

Roland Wakelin

(Australia 1887–1971)

Title
Down the hills to Berry's Bay
Year
1916
Media category
Painting
Materials used
oil on canvas on hardboard
Dimensions

68.0 x 122.0cm board; 64.0 x 118.6cm sight; 81.4 x 136.0 x 5.3cm frame

Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. corner, blue oil "R.S.WAKELIN. 1916".
Credit
Purchased 1961
Accession number
OA18.1961
Copyright
© Roland Wakelin Estate
Location
Not on display
Further information

It was about the year 1913 that the first glimmerings of what is now called ‘modern art’ came to us in Sydney ... Colour was the thing it seemed – vibrating colour, and there were new ideas in composition – unorthodox ... We commenced to heighten our colour, working in stippling touches, and to make severe cubistic drawings.

Roland Wakelin, 1928

With its broken brushstrokes of pure vibrating colour, this painting reveals Roland Wakelin’s admiration for E Phillips Fox’s painting The ferry, and for the modernist approach of the post-impressionists encouraged by his teacher Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo. The simplified form and accentuated arabesque of the shoreline foreshadow the earliest abstract paintings in Australia. Wakelin’s radical approach however caused a furore among the Royal Art Society’s hanging committee in 1916.

Bibliography (24)

Emma Collerton, Look May 2011, 'A passionate artist and teacher', pg. 46, Newtown, May 2011, 46.

Douglas Dundas, Roland Wakelin retrospective 1967, 'Introduction', pg. 3-6, Sydney, 1967, 4, 7. cat.no. 6

Mary Eagle, Australian Modern Painting Between the Wars 1914-1939, 'Light in Sydney', pg. 30-41, Sydney, 1989, 2 (colour illus.), 32, 33, 209. title page

Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Moderns', pg. 103-104, Domain, 2000, 103, 106 (colour illus.), 302.

Sarah Engledow, Portrait (no.28) Winter 2008, 'Lovers of light', pg. 16-21, Canberra, Winter 2008, 17.

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Domain, 1999, 133 (colour illus.).

Heather Johnson, Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection 2002, 'Roy de Maistre / Roland Wakelin', pg. 48-59, Domain, 2002, 48, 55 (colour illus.), 146, 147.

Hendrik Kolenberg, Lloyd Rees Drawings - Centenary Retrospective 1995, 'Introduction', pg. 7-19, Sydney, 1995, 8.

Macquarie Galleries, Pioneer contemporaries: Roy de Maistre, Grace Cossington Smith, Roland Wakelin 1960, Sydney, 1960. cat.no. 25; dated 1917

Ewen McDonald (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 30 (colour illus.).

Sandra McGrath, Sydney Harbour Paintings from 1794, Milton, 1979, 54 (colour illus.).

Barry Pearce and Patrick McCaughey, Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara Series 1985, Tokyo, 1985, 16 (colour illus.). cat.no. 1

Barry Pearce, Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, 'Australian', pg. 13-35, Domain, 1988, 21, 22 (colour illus.).

Barry Pearce, Fifteen decades of Australian paintings 1981, Sydney, 1981, (colour illus.).

Royal Art Society of New South Wales, Royal Art Society of New South Wales 37th annual exhibition (1916) 1916, Sydney, 1916, 15. cat.no. 75; price: 75 guineas

Bernard William Smith and Terry Smith, Australian painting 1788-1990, 'Leviticus 1913-32', pg. 167-204, South Melbourne, 1991, 174 (illus.), 560, 574. plate no. 100

Daniel Thomas, Grace Cossington Smith 2005, 'Modernity and inwards', pg. 102-107, Canberra, 2005, 103.

Daniel Thomas., Sydney Harbour 1963, ‘Introduction', Sydney, 1963. cat.no. 31

Roland Wakelin, Art and Australia Mar 1967, 'Recollections of a Post-Impressionist', pg. 290-291, Sydney, Mar 1967, 291.

Roland Wakelin, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Jan 1962, 'Post Impressionism in Sydney: Some personal recollections', pg. 91-95, Domain, Jan 1962, 92.

Leslie Walton, The art of Roland Wakelin, 'Early influences', pg. 12-16, Sydney, 1987, 13, 15, 40 (colour illus.). plate no. 7

Donald Williams, In our own image: the story of Australian art 1995, Sydney, 1995, 100 (colour illus.).

Project 41 - the mosaic, the grid 1983, Sydney, 1983, 2.

Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 97 (colour illus.).

Exhibition history (10)

Thirty-seventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (1916), Exhibition Gallery Department of Public Instruction, Sydney, Sep 1916 -

Roland Wakelin Loan Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 14 May 1942–11 Jun 1942

Survey No. 4 (1959), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 1959 -

Pioneer contemporaries: Roy de Maistre, Grace Cossington Smith, Roland Wakelin, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 23 Nov 1960–02 Dec 1960

Purchases and Acquisitions for 1961, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Apr 1962–25 May 1962

Sydney Harbour: an exhibition to mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of Australia (1963), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 Oct 1963–19 Nov 1963

Roland Wakelin retrospective (1967):

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

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

Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003