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Collection

• Reproduction requests

Frederick McCubbin

(Australia 25 Feb 1855–20 Dec 1917)

Title

On the wallaby track

Other titles:

In the bush

Year

1896

Media

Painting

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

122.0 x 223.5cm stretcher; 174.0 x 275.4 x 13.5cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. corner, brown oil "F McCubbin/ 1896".

Credit

Purchased 1897

Accession number

572

Location

19th c Australian art

Further information

Among the best known and most popularly admired of Australian paintings at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Frederick McCubbin’s ‘On the wallaby track’ was seen at the time of its first exhibition in Melbourne in 1896 as being an honest depiction of the rural realities of the Depression that had struck between 1890 and 1893. The title of the painting was the colloquial Australian term used to describe those who lived an itinerant life – camping out by the roadside as they travelled from place to place, in search of work.

Born in Melbourne, McCubbin studied at the National Gallery of Victoria schools in the1870s under the Romantic landscape painter Eugene von Guérard and later with George Folingsby, an artist whose primary interest lay in academic figure painting. His early work consisted of views of the city and its docks painted with a fidelity to nature and rendered in almost monochromatic browns. By the mid 1880s, however, McCubbin had joined other artists who were beginning to paint en plein air in the bush around the city outskirts, including the artists camp at Box Hill with Tom Roberts.

Influenced by the academic naturalism of Jules Bastien-Lepage and the focus on local and everyday subjects by other French Barbizon artists, McCubbin’s empathy for rural labouring life resulted in a series of grand-scaled figure compositions located within a distinctly Australian bush setting. In the context of a prevailing nationalist mood leading towards Federation in 1901, these works heroise the people who worked on the land, enduring poverty and hardship – as true ‘pioneers’ of Australian settlement.

Painted close to the artist’s home in Brighton using his family as models, ‘On the wallaby track’ is more melancholy in atmosphere than the golden splendour of the sunlit bush depicted by his contemporaries Roberts and Streeton. The work is suffused with a soft, enveloping grey-green light and creates a quieter and more intimate affiliation between figure and landscape.

In 1907, McCubbin travelled to London for the first time, where he admired the work of JMW Turner, writing ‘– such dreams of colour – a dozen of them are like pearls –no theatrical effect but mist and colour and sea and land drenched in light’.1 His late paintings combine the broken colour of French Impressionism with the lyrical Romanticism of the English master, describing the effects of weather and the light and colour of the seasons in his beloved Melbourne, where he died in 1917.

1 Letter from McCubbin to his wife Annie, 19 July 1907, in Andrew Mackenzie, ‘Frederick McCubbin 1855–1917: “The Proff” and his art’, Mannagum Press, Victoria, 1990, p259

Bibliography (47)

Look (Jul 2009), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

McCubbin: last impressions 1907-17 (2009), Anne Gray (Australia, b.1947) (Author), National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Art of Australia. Vol. 1: Exploration to Federation (2008), John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), Pan Macmillan Australia Pty. Ltd. (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Look (Feb 2007), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian Impressionism (2007), Terence Lane (Editor), Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (Australia, estab. 2002), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Read-to-go Art Picture pack (2000), Belinda Oxley (Australia) (Author), Blake Education (Australia, active 2000), Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2000), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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

Christie's Australia; Frederick McCubbin: Bush Idyll 1893, Sydney, 17th August, 1998 (1998), Editor Unknown, Christie's, Australia Pty. Ltd. (Australia), South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Masters of the Heidelberg School (1998), Okko Boer (Author), Heidelberg Publishing Company Pty. Limited, Leichhardt, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australia: Studies of Society and Environment (1996), Sue Miles (Author), Hodder Headline, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

In our own image: the story of Australian art (1995), Donald Williams (Australia) (Author), McGraw-Hill Book Company Australia Pty Ltd (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Strange women: essays in art and gender (1994), Jeanette Hoorn (Editor), Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

State of the arts (Dec 1991-Mar 1992), Margaret Meagher (Australia) (Editor), State of the Art Publications (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Weekend Australian (06 Jul 1991-07 Jul 1991), David Armstrong (Australia) (Editor), News Limited (Australia), Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The art of Frederick McCubbin (1991), Bridget Whitelaw (Author), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road] (Australia, estab. 1968, closed 1999), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Frederick McCubbin 1855-1917: 'The Proff' and his art (1990), Andrew Mackenzie (Author), Mannagum Press, Australia.

Sunlight and shadow: Australian impressionist painters 1880-1900 (1989), Leigh Astbury (b.1950) (Author), Bay Books Pty. Ltd. (Australia), Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Frontier Country (1989), Sheena Coupe (Editor), Weldon Russell Publishing, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook (1988), Annabel Davie (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art & the West (1987), Terence Maloon (Australia) (Author), Ursula Prunster (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

City bushmen: the Heidelberg school and the rural mythology (1985), Leigh Astbury (b.1950) (Author), Oxford University Press (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Portrait of a Gallery (1984), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Jan Meek (Australia) (Editor), Capel Court Corporation Pty. Ltd., Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian impressionist painters: a pictorial history of the Heidelberg school (1981), William Splatt (Author), Susan Bruce (Author), Currey O'Neil Ross Pty. Ltd. (Australia), Windsor, Victoria, Australia.

Frederick McCubbin (1981), Ann Galbally (Australia) (Author), Hutchinson Group (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

La Trobe Library Journal [vol. 6, no. 24] (Oct 1979), John Thompson (Australia) (Editor), The Friends of the La Trobe Library (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

A treasury of Australian bush painting (1979), Susan Bruce (Author), Rigby Limited, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

100 masterpieces of Australian painting (1973), William Splatt (Author), Barbara Burton (Author), Rigby Limited, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook (1972), Editor Unknown (Editor), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian painting 1788-1970 (1971), Bernard Smith (Australia, b.1916, d.2011) (Author), Oxford University Press (Australia), South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Impressionist painters 1881-1930 (1971), James Gleeson (Australia, b.1915, d.2008) (Author), John Henshaw (New Zealand; Australia, b.1929, d.2006) (Editor), Lansdowne Press (Australia), St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The golden age of Australian painting - Impressionism and the Heidelberg school (1969), Alan McCulloch (Australia, b.1907, d.1992) (Author), John Henshaw (New Zealand; Australia, b.1929, d.2006) (Editor), Lansdowne Press (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Meanjin (Spring 1956), C Christesen (Editor), Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Frederick McCubbin exhibition: to mark the centenary of the artist's birth in 1855 (1955), Editor Unknown (Editor), National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street] (Australia, estab. 1869, closed 1968), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952 (1953), Bernard Smith (Australia, b.1916, d.2011) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting (1953), Hal Missingham (Australia, b.1906, d.1994) (Author), National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

100 years of Australian painting (1948), Bernard Smith (Australia, b.1916, d.2011) (Author), National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

150 years of Australian art (1938), Lionel Lindsay (Australia, b.1874, d.1961) (Author), Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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Age (26 Nov 1932), Editor Unknown (Editor), Francis Cooke & Co. (Australia, estab. 1854, closed 1948), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1899 (1899), National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald (10 Sep 1897), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald (09 Sep 1897), Editor Unknown (Editor), Publisher unknown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Studio (1896), Editor Unknown (Editor), The Studio Limited (England, estab. 1893, closed 1964), London, England.

Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Minutes 1.9.1891-4.5.1898 (1891-1898), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

This Australia (1982), Editor Unknown (Editor), Greenhouse Publications Pty Ltd (Australia), Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Australia 1888: a journal for the study of Australian history centred on the year 1888 (1982), Editor Unknown (Editor), Australia 1788-1988: a bicentennial history (estab. 1979, closed 1986), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Exhibition history (4)

Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales (1897), (11 Sep 1897), at Society Rooms, Union Chambers (Australia), Society Rooms Union Chambers 70 Pitt Street Sydney New South Wales Australia 2000.

100 years of Australian painting (1948), (19 Apr 1948–17 May 1948), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Road Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, (25 Sep 1953–25 Oct 1953), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Australian Impressionism, (31 Mar 2007–08 Jul 2007), at Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (Australia, estab. 2002), Federation Square Corner of Russell and Flinders Streets Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3000.