Bush to Bay: Hinton and the Artists’ Camps

Over 120 years later, contemporary Australian artists from Sydney and the New England region visit the artist camps of the Mosman coastline, to paint and respond to the rich legacy of Australian Impressionism and the iconic surrounds.

In a collaboration between the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) and the Mosman Art Gallery, Bush to Bay presents new works by artists from the New England region and Mosman area alongside an impressive line up of masters of Australian Impressionism who worked along the Northern shoreline. Drawing from the Howard Hinton Collection the exhibition includes Tom Roberts’ Mosman’s Bay, 1894, an iconic painting of the area, as well as key works by Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, A J Daplyn, Henry Fullwood, Lionel Lindsay, Sydney Long, Francis McComas and H.J Weston.

It was at Sirius Cove, Mosman that Roberts painted Mosman’s Bay, which would become a seminal part of the Australian Impressionist movement, and also where collector Howard Hinton met and became close friends with many of the artists. It is Hinton’s collection of Australian impressionist painters that is held in the collection of NERAM, which links these two geographically distant places.

In developing the exhibition, artists Gabrielle Collins, Viola Dominello, Ashley Frost, Michelle Hungerfrod, Angus Nivison, Elouise Roberts, Hadyn Wilson and Ana Young each spent time in the Mosman researching and working the special sites including Mosman’s Bay, Musgrave Street Wharf, the Curlew Camp site, Little Bay Sirius Cove, Whiting Beach and Sirius Cove Park. The New England artists also spend time on Cockatoo island, exploring different and new portrayals of Sydney Harbour.

An iconic point of reference for Australian artists, Sydney Harbour and the Northern foreshore holds personal stories for each artist in the exhibition. Rich and varied in their interpretations, what links a lot of artists is the exploration of the Australian light and heat, in particular the contrast of light along the coastline – filtered through the scrubby bushland or it’s magnified intensity when hitting the amorphous body of Sydney Harbour.

First presented at NERAM, curated by Sandra McMahon, and followed by the current companion exhibition, curated by Katrina Cashman, Bush to Bay engages both places in a dialogue of their shared Australian impressionist history, linked through the works in the Howard Hinton collection.

A meeting in time for past and present Australian landscape artists, Bush to Bay considers the legacy of Australian painters in the area and projects an exciting future.

EXHIBITION
Bush to Bay: Hinton and the Artists’ Camps
Until 28 January 2018
Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney

Courtesy the artists, Mosman Art Gallery and New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM).