12 18 CHARLES CONDER (1868-1909) Scene on the Epte circa 1894 oil on canvas signed lower right: CONDER 43.5 x 53.5 cm PROVENANCE Mrs Cecil Lawson, Engl<strong>and</strong> Bradford Bradley & Co, Exhibition agents, Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, London (label verso) J.H.R Carver (label verso) Savill Galleries, Sydney (label verso) Private collection, New South Wales (?) EXHIBITED Exhibition of 20th Century British Paintings, National Gallery, London, 1940, as Scene on the Ept (label verso) Charles Conder, Sheffield City <strong>Art</strong> Galleries, September 1967, as On the Ept (label verso) J.S. Mass & Co. Ltd. New Bond Street, London, cat. 444, as Scene on the Ept (label verso) $30,000–40,000 Charles Conder’s <strong>Australian</strong> sojourn (1884-1890) left an enduring contribution to the development of <strong>Australian</strong> art. His success as an artist continued in both Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> France, <strong>and</strong> by at least 1896, the Paris Salon was already hanging Conder’s pictures ‘on the line’. 1 Since the 1870s, the Seine river <strong>and</strong> its tributary, the Epte, had been favourite painting spots among the Impressionists in Norm<strong>and</strong>y. Monet set up his studio in Giverny just a few kilometres from the banks of the Epte, <strong>and</strong> in the early- 1890s he further stamped its significance into the collective imagination when he produced the iconic Poplar series of paintings. ‘Monet’, notes Ann Galbally, ‘was the most important influence on Conder’s l<strong>and</strong>scapes from 1892 to 1894.’ 2 Dozens of artists from all over the world, including Americans Frederick Frieseke <strong>and</strong> Richard Miller, turned the sleepy hamlet into a thriving artists’ colony. The area also managed to hold Conder’s regular attention, <strong>and</strong> in March-April 1894, he is registered to have stayed at Giverny. In the present picture, Conder also borrows one of the favourite leitmotifs used by Corot <strong>and</strong> the Barbizon School: the silhouette of a lone anonymous figure, toiling by a river, under moody crepuscular light. What first appears to be a dark foreboding setting, emerges as a careful arrangement of striking colours <strong>and</strong> masterly paintwork. Daybreak is heralded by a blazing crack of sunshine in tints of pearlescent yellow <strong>and</strong> peachy hues that shine through the coulisse of soft violets, forest greens <strong>and</strong> earthy browns – the whole lot reflected on the river’s flat surface. Conder is also showing off the bravura of his paintbrush to suit the tone <strong>and</strong> energy of the composition. He represents the calm waters with long tinted veneers, the middle ground of rustling foliage is made up of quick mosaic-like dabs, <strong>and</strong> the glare of the sunrise bursts through the centre of the picture with thick <strong>and</strong> weighty impasto. Scene on the Epte carries an exceptional provenance <strong>and</strong> exhibition history. It was first recorded to have been in the collection of Mrs Cecil Lawson, Charles Conder’s sister-in-law, a notable patron of the artist. It was exhibited in 1940 at the National Gallery in London, <strong>and</strong> in 1967 it was included in a show at the Sheffield City <strong>Art</strong> Galleries. This painting would hang comfortably in any serious private or museum collection. Petrit Abazi 1 Frank Mahony, ‘<strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Art</strong>: some representative artists’, The <strong>Australian</strong> Star, Sydney, 26 December 1896, p. 7 2 Ann Galbally, Charles Conder: the last bohemian, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2002, p. 99
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