Box Hill artists' camp
{{Short description | Artists' camp in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
File:Tom Roberts - The artists' camp, 1886.jpg, The Artists' Camp, 1886, National Gallery of Victoria]]
File:Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (1867-1943) 118 (39887087045).jpg, June evening, Box Hill, 1887, Queensland Art Gallery]]
Image:Down on his luck.jpg, Down on His Luck, 1889, Art Gallery of Western Australia]]
The Box Hill artists' camp was a site in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia favoured by a group of plein air painters in the mid to late 1880s who later became associated with the Heidelberg School art movement, named after Heidelberg, the site of another one of their camps.
The Box Hill area was then on the outskirts of Melbourne and largely undeveloped, allowing artists convenient access to the Australian bush, as the Box Hill railway station had been completed only a few years prior. Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton were among those who often stayed at the camp. Due to Box Hill's status as the first of these artists' plein air camps, a number of scholars have suggested that "Box Hill School" is a more appropriate name for the Heidelberg School movement.Nelson, Robert (1 May 2007). [https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/australian-impressionism-20070501-ge4s56.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true Australian impressionism], The Age. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
History
In the summer of 1885–86, plein air painters Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Louis Abrahams set up a tent near Damper Creek (now Gardiners Creek) on the property of David Houston, in the Box Hill area east of Melbourne.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122471434 |author=Moore, William|title=How Australian art was born on the road to Heidelberg. |newspaper=The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) |location=ACT |date=7 April 1985 |accessdate=28 October 2013 |page=42 Section: Good Weekend |publisher=National Library of Australia}} They were attracted to Box Hill due to its rural scenery and tracts of untouched bushland while also being easily accessible from the city, the Box Hill railway station having opened three years prior.
Painting activities were carried out on weekends by the trio over the next few years and at various times other artists joined them, including Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Jane Sutherland, Tom Humphrey, John Llewellyn Jones and John Mather. By 1889, these artists had moved on from Box Hill and founded other camps around Melbourne, most notably at Heidelberg.
Notable works painted in and around the Box Hill camp include:
- The artists' camp (Roberts, 1886){{cite web|title=Tom Roberts - The Artist's Camp, c. 1886|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/Roberts_artistscamp.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
- A summer morning tiff (Roberts, 1886) {{cite web|title=Tom Roberts - A Summer Morning Tiff, 1886|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/Roberts_summertiff.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
- Lost (McCubbin, 1886){{cite web|title=Frederick McCubbin - Lost, 1886|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_lost.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
- Gathering mistletoe (McCubbin, 1886]{{cite web|title=Frederick McCubbin - Gathering Mistletoe, 1886|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_gatheringmistletoe.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
- Charcoal burners / Wood Splitters (Tom Roberts, 1886) {{cite web|title=Tom Roberts: Wood splitters|url=http://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/explore-and-experience/collection/australian-collection/roberts,-tom.aspx|work=Australian collection|publisher=Art Gallery of Ballarat|accessdate=17 September 2013|archive-date=14 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214005420/http://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/explore-and-experience/collection/australian-collection/roberts,-tom.aspx|url-status=dead}}
- Obstruction (Sutherland, 1887){{cite web|title=Jane Sutherland - Obstruction, 1886|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/Sutherland_obstruction.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
- Reconciliation (Roberts, 1887)
- Settler's Camp (Streeton, 1888){{cite news|author=Boland, Michaela|title=Former Holmes a Court Streeton for sale after owners redecorate|work=The Australian|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/former-holmes-a-court-streeton-for-sale-after-owners-redecorate/story-fn9d3avm-1226325291548|accessdate=28 October 2013}}
- Pastoral (Streeton, 1888){{cite news|title=Pastoral|work=Collection search|publisher=National Gallery of Victoria|url=http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=47113|accessdate=28 October 2013}}
- The way to school (Humphrey, 1888)
- Orchard at Box Hill (Conder, 1888){{cite web|title=Charles Conder - Orchard at Box Hill (Circa 1888) |work=Australian collection |publisher=National Gallery of Victoria |url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/australian/painting/c/apa00125.html |accessdate=2008-10-17 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728152301/http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/australian/painting/c/apa00125.html |archivedate=2008-07-28 |url-status=dead }}
- Down on His Luck (McCubbin 1889){{cite web|title=Frederick McCubbin - Down on his luck, 1889|work=In the Artist's Footsteps|publisher=Countrywide Productions|url=http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_downonhisluck.htm|accessdate=2008-10-17}}
Legacy
The artists remembered the Box Hill era with great fondness and nostalgia. In old age, Roberts recalled:https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/australianimpressionism/education/insights_ssites.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329103732/https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/australianimpressionism/education/insights_ssites.html |date=29 March 2021 }} Significant sites], NGV. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
{{quote|Happy Box Hill – the barked roof of the old people, Houstens [sic] – the land sylvan as it ever was – tea-tree along the creek – young blue gum-twigs – the ‘good night’ of the jackies as the soft darkness fell – then talks round the fire, the ‘Prof’ [McCubbin] philosophic – we forgot everything, but the peace of it.}}
The site is located within the now suburbanised area of Box Hill South and is commemorated by a cairn in Artists Park off Prince Street. Other local tributes to the camp include the Roberts McCubbin Primary School and the Whitehorse Artists' Trail. Box Hill Town Hall is home to the City of Whitehorse Art Collection, which includes Box Hill works by McCubbin, Roberts and Streeton.[https://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/about-council/facts-maps/history-and-heritage History and Heritage], whitehorse.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
Gallery
{{Clear}}
File:Tom Roberts Gardiners Creek 1886.jpg|Tom Roberts, Winter morning after rain, Gardiner's Creek, 1885, Art Gallery of South Australia
File:Frederick McCubbin Lost 1886.jpg|Frederick McCubbin, Lost, 1886, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Tom Roberts - A Sunday afternoon - Google Art Project.jpg|Tom Roberts, A Sunday Afternoon, 1886, National Gallery of Australia
File:Tom Roberts - Wood Splitters, 1886 2.jpg|Tom Roberts, Charcoal burners, 1886, Art Gallery of Ballarat
File:Tom-Roberts-A-Summer-Morning-Tiff.jpg|Tom Roberts, A Summer Morning Tiff, 1886, Art Gallery of Ballarat
File:Frederick McCubbin - At the Falling of the Year, 1886.jpg|Frederick McCubbin, At the Falling of the Year, 1886, private collection
File:Jane Sutherland - Obstruction, 1887.jpg|Jane Sutherland, Obstruction, Box Hill, 1887, Art Gallery of Ballarat
File:Tom Roberts Evening, when the quiet east flushes faintly at the sun's last look.jpg|Tom Roberts, Evening, when the quiet east flushes faintly at the sun's last look, 1887, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Gathering Mistletoe (Frederick McCubbin).jpg|Frederick McCubbin, Gathering Mistletoe, 1886, private collection
File:Tom Roberts, 1887 - Reconciliation.jpg|Tom Roberts, Reconciliation, 1887, Castlemaine Art Muuseum
File:Arthur Streeton Pastoral 1888.jpg|Arthur Streeton, Pastoral, 1888, National Gallery of Australia
File:Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (1867-1943) 016 (40739962382).jpg|Arthur Streeton, Butterflies and blossoms, 1888, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Charles Conder Orchard at Box Hill.jpg|Charles Conder, Orchard at Box Hill, 1888, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Arthur Streeton - Settler's camp (1888).jpg|Arthur Streeton, Settler's Camp, 1888, private collection
File:Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (1867-1943) 037 (40739941972).jpg|Arthur Streeton, Evening with bathers, 1888, National Gallery of Victoria
File:Tom Roberts Dewy Eve.jpg|Tom Roberts, Dewy Eve, 1888, Art Gallery of Western Australia
See also
- Art of Australia
- Heidelberg School
- Montsalvat
- One Summer Again, 1985 docudrama
- Heide Circle
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.artistsfootsteps.com/ In the Artist's Footsteps]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060901132445/http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/VICBoxHill.shtml Walkabout - Box Hill]
{{Heidelberg School}}