Title

The Harbour from McMahon's Point

1950

Artist

Lloyd Rees

Australia

17 Mar 1895 – 02 Dec 1988

Artist profile

Alternate image of The Harbour from McMahon's Point by Lloyd Rees

Details

Other Titles

The harbour from McMahons Point
McMahons Point, Sydney
The harbour from McMahon's Point

Date

1950

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

77.2 x 99.7 cm stretcher; 103.9 x 125.9 x 8.0 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.l. corner, red oil "L REES/ 50".

Credit

Purchased 1950

Location

Not on display

Accession number

8478

Copyright

© A&J Rees/Copyright Agency
Reproduction requests

Wynne Prize

Winner - 1950

Artist information

Lloyd Rees
Artist profile

Works in the collection

801

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About

Rees described his first impressions of Sydney as he arrived by ship through the Heads in 1916.

'When ... the ship cleared the great cliffs of North Head and the harbour spread itself before me with all its bays and vistas, its sculptured foreshores and russet green vegetation, and later its buildings caught in the golden light with rows and rows of them defining the contours of the hills, and the whole bathed in opalescence of colour never previously seen - is it any wonder that Sydney then and there entered my heart never to leave it again ... In that first long look Sydney cast her spell and its has remained with me ever since ...'
- Lloyd Rees 1969

Rees' drawings of the 1930s focused almost exclusively on the harbour as subject, and he had to negotiate many difficulties in his attempts to achieve comparable revelations in his paintings. He won the 1950 Wynne Prize for landscape painting with 'The harbour from McMahon's Point'. Upon receiving it he said, 'I noticed particularly that my pictures were getting lower and lower in tone … as pictures they wouldn't come forward ...I suddenly thought - that was it, you must use more white. So I ... decided on titanium. This brought about a terrific change at once.'

This painting won the Wynne Prize in 1950 and was acquired by the Gallery in 1950.
Exhibition history
Shown in 15 exhibitions
- Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1950), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], Sydney, 02 Sep 1950–20 Sep 1950
- Archibald, Wynne Sulman Competitions for 1950, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Jan 1951–04 Mar 1951
- Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 12 Mar 1951–31 Mar 1951
  
  Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Launceston, 09 Apr 1951–28 Apr 1951
  
  Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Jun 1951–21 Jul 1951
  
  Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 06 Aug 1951–01 Sep 1951
  
  Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 24 Sep 1951–20 Oct 1951
  
  Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 12 Nov 1951–10 Dec 1951
- Twelve Australian Artists, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Bath, 05 Sep 1953–26 Sep 1953
  
  Twelve Australian Artists, City of Bradford Art Gallery, Bradford, 03 Oct 1953–24 Oct 1953
  
  Twelve Australian Artists, Derby Art Gallery, Derby, 05 Dec 1953–26 Dec 1953
  
  Twelve Australian Artists, City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, Bristol, 02 Jan 1954–23 Jan 1954
  
  Twelve Australian Artists, City of Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, Northern Ireland, 30 Jan 1954–20 Feb 1954
  
  Twelve Australian Artists, New Burlington Galleries, London, 12 Jul 1954–22 Aug 1954
- 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
- Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 02 Oct 1969–02 Nov 1969
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, Nov 1969–Dec 1969
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 01 Feb 1970–28 Feb 1970
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 17 Mar 1970–13 Apr 1970
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 01 May 1970–31 May 1970
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 18 Jun 1970–21 Jul 1970
  
  Lloyd Rees Retrospective (1969-70), Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 01 Aug 1970–31 Aug 1970
- Fifteen decades of Australian painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Apr 1981–24 May 1981
  
  Fifteen decades of Australian painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Apr 1981–24 May 1981
- The Artist and the City, Art Museum Armidale, Armidale, 01 Nov 1983–04 Nov 1983
  
  The Artist and the City, Tamworth City Gallery, Tamworth, 08 Nov 1983–11 Nov 1983
  
  The Artist and the City, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, 15 Nov 1983–20 Nov 1983
  
  The Artist and the City, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Nov 1983–18 Dec 1983
- The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 19 Dec 1986–01 Feb 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, 06 Mar 1987–29 Mar 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 10 Apr 1987–17 May 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Griffith Regional Art Gallery, , 03 Jun 1987–20 Jun 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Australia, 01 Jul 1987–26 Jul 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Albury Regional Gallery, Albury, 07 Aug 1987–06 Sep 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Broken Hill City Art Gallery, Broken Hill, 18 Sep 1987–26 Oct 1987
  
  The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition (1987), Tamworth City Gallery, Tamworth, 05 Nov 1987–13 Dec 1987
- Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
- Affinities: Brett Whiteley & Lloyd Rees (2001), The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 10 Feb 2001–08 Jul 2001
- Sydney by ferry, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 13 Apr 2002–04 Aug 2002
- Whiteley & Rees: more affinities (2006), The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 03 Dec 2005–10 Apr 2006
  
  Whiteley & Rees: more affinities (2006), New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 29 Apr 2006–02 Jul 2006
- Harbourlife: Sydney Harbour from the 1940s to recent times, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, 30 Nov 2007–13 Jan 2008
  
  Harbourlife: Sydney Harbour from the 1940s to recent times, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney, 23 Jan 2008–08 Mar 2008
- Destination Sydney, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, 05 Dec 2015–14 Feb 2016
Bibliography
Referenced in 35 publications
- Clary Akon, Limelight Magazine, 'Nature by design: the art of Lloyd Rees', pg. 96-97, Sydney, Jun 2013, 96.
- Christopher Allen, The Weekend Australian, 'Tangible Life Forms', pg. 12-13, Sydney, 01 Jun 2013-02 Jun 2013, 13 (colour illus.).
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Lloyd Rees Retrospective, ‘Catalogue: paintings’, pg. 25-32, Sydney, 1969, 28. titled 'The harbour from McMahons Point'; cat.no. 43
- Giles Auty, The Weekend Australian, 'Reflections on a nation's image', pg. 4, Sydney, 12 Aug 2000-13 Aug 2000, 4 (colour illus.). This colour supplement is a 'Review Special' published for the 'Weekend Australian'. It consists of a four-page, colour wrap-around for the 'Weekend Australian Review'. 'The Australian' was the media sponsor for the AGNSW Exhibition 'Australian Icons', for the Olympic Arts Festival 2000.
- Helen Campbell, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Out of Sydney: city and hinterlands', pg. 185-186, Sydney, 2000, 197 (colour illus.), 301.
- Helen Campbell, Wynne centenary 1897-1997: a selection of past winners from the Gallery's collection, Sydney, 1997, (colour illus.).
- Rob Ditessa', Artist's palette, 'Icons on show', pg. 54-59, Sydney, 2000, 56 (colour illus.).
- Steve Dow, The (Sydney) Magazine, 'Lloyd Rees', Sydney, 22 Feb 2013.
- Douglas Dundas, Art Gallery of New South Wales quarterly, 'The Wynne and Sulman prizes', pg. 53-56, Sydney, Jan 1961, 55 (illus.).
- Dinah Dysart, The Wynne prize: an Australian landscape tradition, 'The public and critical response to the Wynne prize', pg. 15-22, Sydney, 1986, 2 (illus.), 22, 26.
- F.L., The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Prize-winning paintings in Archibald and Wynne contests', pg. 3, Sydney, 20 Jan 1951, 3 (illus.).
- Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian collection: painting and sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 158 (colour illus.).
- Lou Klepac, Affinities: Brett Whiteley & Lloyd Rees, 'Introduction', pg. 2-4, Sydney, 2001, 5 (colour illus.), 8.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Look, ‘Celebrating Lloyd Rees: a book and show on the Gallery’s collection of his work’, pg. 21-23, Sydney, Mar 2013, 22.
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Lloyd Rees Drawings - Centenary Retrospective, 'Introduction', pg. 7-19, Sydney, 1995, 14.
- Brian Ladd and Alan Krell, The Artist & the City, Sydney, 1983, 12, 14 (colour illus.). cat.no. 22
- Elwyn Lynn, The Australian landscape and its artists, ‘Artists and paintings’, pg. 5-6, Rushcutters Bay, 1977, 6, 92, 94 (colour illus.).
- Sandra McGrath, Sydney Harbour Paintings from 1794, Milton, 1979, 58.
- Hal Missingham, Pix, ‘Australian art no. 13: ‘The harbour from McMahon’s Point’ (by Lloyd Rees)’, pg. 31, Sydney, 09 Dec 1967, 31 (illus.).
- National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Purchases and Acquisitions for 1950, Sydney, 1951, 8. cat.no. 29
- Lloyd O’Neil., Classic Australian paintings, ‘Lloyd Rees’, South Yarra, 1983, n.pag. (colour illus.). plate no. 50
- Barry Pearce., Fifteen decades of Australian paintings, ‘List of works’, Sydney, 1981, cover (colour illus.). titled ‘The Harbour from McMahon’s Point’; cat.no. 13
- Renee Renée, Lloyd Rees, ‘Sydney: 1917-42’, pg. 23-50, Melbourne, 1972, 62, 124. cat.no. O137
- Arnold Shore, The Studio, ‘Contemporary Australian painting’, pg. 145-153, London, May 1953, 147 (illus.). titled ‘McMahons Point, Sydney’
- William Splatt and Barbara Burton, 100 masterpieces of Australian painting, Adelaide, 1973, 170, 171 (colour illus.). plate no. 82
- Michael Stutchbury (Editor), The Australian Financial Review, 'Illustrating love of landscapes', pg. L3, Melbourne, 19 Apr 2013-21 Apr 2013, L3 (colour illus.).
- Nicola Teffer, Rosie Nice and Caroline Mackaness (Curators), Sydney by ferry, Sydney, 2002, 7.
- Martin Terry, Masterpieces of Australian Painting, ‘Lloyd Rees’, pg. 112-115, Sydney, 1984, 114-115 (colour illus.).
- The Brett Whiteley Studio, Whiteley & Rees: More affinities, Sydney, 2005, (illus.). List of works
- Daniel Thomas., Sydney Harbour, 'Introduction', Sydney, 1963. cat.no. 46
- Laurie Thomas (Editor), Jubilee exhibition of Australian art, Sydney, 1951, 47. cat.no. 146
- Roland Wakelin, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'The artistic development of Lloyd Rees', pg. 490-492, Sydney, Oct 1969, 501 (illus.). 'Lloyd Rees special number'
- Judith White (Editor), Look, 'Australian visions', pg. 12, Melbourne, Aug 2000, 12 (colour illus.).
- Gavin Wilson, Harbourlife, 'Harbourlife', pg. 7-32, Sydney, 2007, 56, 14-15, 15 (colour illus.).
- 1951 Archibald Prize illustrated, Sydney, 1951. cat.no. 43