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An image of The flood in the Darling 1890

WC Piguenit

(Australia 27 Aug 1836–17 Jul 1914)

Title
The flood in the Darling 1890
Year
(1895)
Media
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
122.5 x 199.3cm stretcher; 172.5 x 249.0 x 16.0cm frame
Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner, "W.C. Piguenit". Not dated.
Credit
Purchased 1895
Accession number
6105
Location
Not on display
Further information

‘The flood in the Darling 1890’ is one of several ambitious canvases painted by WC Piguenit in response to the devastating rains that inundated the western region of New South Wales in 1890. It reflects his respect for the terrifying yet sublime power of nature so admired by exponents of 19th-century German Romantic painting. The largest flood recorded since 1864, waters broke the embankment and submerged the remote township of Bourke – an event Piguenit witnessed first hand. However, rather than depicting the destroyed buildings and railway lines, and the loss of livestock and human life, he has rendered the calm after the deluge. A vast expanse of sky, land and water is rendered as a symphonic celebration, with billowing purplish-hued clouds reflected across a vast glistening expanse reaching towards the viewer – ibises the only living creatures populating the tranquil landscape.

Son of a convict transported to Van Diemen’s Land in 1830, William Charles Piguenit is often credited as the first Australian-born professional artist. Raised and schooled in Hobart, he spent 22 years working in the Department of Lands survey office as a draughtsman. Although he received rudimentary instruction in painting, he was largely self taught. After leaving the survey office in 1872, he began making sketching and photography trips to remote and spectacular regions in the Tasmanian wilderness. He achieved early success through public patronage when he exhibited his works in the annual Sydney and Melbourne academy shows.

His striking ‘Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Tasmania, source of the Derwent’ was the first work by an Australian-born artist to be acquired, in 1875, by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. That same year, Piguenit joined an artists and photographers camp in the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains. By 1880 Piguenit had settled in Sydney with his family. Continued patronage by the Gallery enabled him to tour New South Wales and Tasmania, providing fresh inspiration for his grand, sweeping landscapes and measured studies of the natural environment.

Piguenit continued his successful career well into the 20th century, including the completion, in 1903, of the commanding ‘Mount Kosciusko’ which was commissioned by the trustees of this Gallery; the majestic depiction of the continent’s highest peak marking the enormity of the Federation of Australia in 1901.

Bibliography (46)

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Exhibition history (9)

New Worlds From Old: Australian and American Landscape Painting in the Nineteenth Century, (07 Mar 1998–17 May 1998), at National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Parkes Place Parkes, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 2600.

W.C. Piguenit 1836-1914, (10 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

New Worlds From Old: Australian and American Landscape Painting in the Nineteenth Century, (12 Sep 1998–06 Dec 1998), at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford Connecticut.

W.C. Piguenit 1836-1914, (13 May 1993–04 Jul 1993), at Art Gallery of Western Australia (Australia), 47 James Street Perth, Western Australia, Australia 6000.

The Triumph of landscape: Turner to Monet, (14 Mar 2008–09 Jul 2008), at National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Parkes Place Parkes Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia 2600.

W.C. Piguenit 1836-1914, (16 Dec 1992–14 Feb 1993), at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (Australia), GPO Box 1434 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 4001.

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.

New Worlds From Old: Australian and American Landscape Painting in the Nineteenth Century, (26 Jan 1999–18 Apr 1999), at The Corcoran Gallery of Art (United States of America), Washington.

Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales (1895), (28 Sep 1895), at Society Rooms, Union Chambers (Australia), Society Rooms Union Chambers 70 Pitt Street Sydney New South Wales Australia 2000.