New images paired with old paintings

A NEW exhibition on show at the Art Gallery of Ballarat is pairing works by members of the Australian Impressionist movement with those of contemporary photographers.

Opened last week and running until February, gallery director and exhibition curator Louise Tegart said Beating About The Bush sets the often male world of the late 18th and early 19th century Heidelberg School with the images of modern female creatives.

“The Australian Impressionists were criticised by artist and writer Ian Burn in his essay Beating About the Bush for creating romanticised images of the bush and its people,” she said.

“Viewing them from the leisurely gaze of upper-middle class men whose imaginations did not really address the role of women, the precarious existence in the face of poverty, bushfire and drought, and the place of Aboriginal people in the bush.

“As well as giving due recognition to the work of women artists of the Australian Impressionist era, this exhibition explores what has been left out of the Australian Impressionist paintings, allowing contemporary female photographers to put these elements back in the picture.

“These artists don’t beat about the bush, they tell a more comprehensive story, addressing issues pertaining to immigration, First Nations people, gender and social status.”

Pieces in the exhibition are drawn from the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s collection.

Beating About The Bush is made up of painting from artists including Tom Roberts, Charles Conder, Frederick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton, Jane Sutherland and Clara Southern.

Photographers featured are Anne Zahalka, Leah King-Smith, Fiona Foley, Nici Cumpston, Polixeni Papapetrou, Jane Burton, Jacqui Stockdale, Siri Hayes and Nicole Welch.

“Beating About The Bush brings together historical and contemporary perspectives to challenge and extend our understanding of the Australian landscape and the perceptions behind the myths that shaped our nation,” Ms Tagart said.

“The exhibition not only explores the Gallery’s significant collection and long history, it also highlights the Gallery’s practice of looking for thematic connections between old and new works in the collection, allowing audiences to examine them from a fresh perspective, or in this case, with a new lens.”