Artist Profile: Leonard Long

There are few people who can claim to know the Capertee Valley so well over such a long time. One such person is the landscape artist Leonard Long who was born well over a century ago in 1911. Although never a local resident Long has visited the Capertee Valley many times to paint during his long art career.

Morning Light, Glen Davis, oil by Leonard Long
image courtesy ASSD website

Long first painted in the valley in the late 1940s and his first images from the area were exhibited at the 1949 annual show of the Royal Art Society in Sydney, and he has painted in the area several times since. 

The Lone Gum, Glen Davis
miniture oil by Leonard Long
image courtesy Davidson Auctions

The son of a baker, he was born in Summer Hill, Sydney on 25th April 1911, but was raised in the Southern Highlands of NSW where he showed an early aptitude for art. Despite his artistic talent he later became a watchmaker and moved to Nowra in the Shoalhaven. In 1955 he sold his watch-making business and became a full time painter. In 1980 he moved to Melbourne where he now lives. In 2011 he held a centenary exhibition of his work, a rare achievement for any artist.

Photo of Leonard Long
image courtesy Wikipedia

Leonard Long has painted all over Australia and elsewhere in the world. A career highlight was when he painted with the Aboriginal landscape painter Albert Namatjira. Long is part of the outdoor painting tradition which his often called en plein air painting, an artistic technique where images are created outdoors in front of the scene rather than making images in studios from preliminary drawings or photographs.

On behalf of the people of Capertee we wish Mr Long well in the final years of his career. He can be rest assured that his is fine images of the Capertee Valley have added to the artistic heritage of the region.

Postscript
Since writing this piece we learn of the death of Leonard Long on 3rd November 2013, he was aged 102. He lives on through his many paintings

Portland Art Show 2014

One of the artistic highlights of the Central Tablelands cultural calendar is the annual Portland Art Show. Early this month saw the 38^th annual exhibition of the Portland Art Purchase Society which was held at the historic Crystal Theatre. Although gloriously old fashioned this popular non-elitist festival reflects well on the community of Portland and surrounding district. Congratulations must go to the organisers, volunteers and sponsors of this wonderful event. For those who didn't enter this year, there is always 2015.

With over 300 paintings on show there was something that would appeal to most tastes although as with similar events there were a handful of weak works. Nearly all the images were in the realist tradition and as usual Plein Air (or outdoor painting) was much in evidence. There was a special focus on images of Portland and the surrounding landscape. Sadly, there were too few images of the area while there were many views of exotic overseas holiday destinations -perhaps a reflection of greater wealth in the area.There were some fine studies of the Capertee Valley by several artists including works by Trish Bennet, Anne E. Smith and Peter Whelan. There was also a lovely study of the Newnes Hotel by Robert Keen. Hopefully next year there will be more images of our district.

Flower painting was much in evidence this year and the exhibition highlighted the work of Wanda Driscoll, an artist who works in watercolour and oil. Driscoll’s high key palette found several admirers when I visited the show. Overall my favourite works at the exhibition were Doreen Shaw’s gouache In Farming Circles, and the amusing watercolours painted by Melody Stewart. Sadly there was no Peoples Choice vote this year. If there had been, my vote would have been for Debra Balloch’s fine oil Beyond My Garden, a well observed angular treescape which broke away from the clichéd gumtree painting style. 

Artist Profile: Warwick Fuller

One of the best known contemporary landscape painters of the Capertee Valley is the Little Hartley-based artist Warwick Fuller. Warwick has been painting for over 35 years and has had over 60 solo exhibitions. Like the pioneer Capertee Valley painter Robert Johnson (1890-1964) before him, Warwick is a Fellow of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (FRAS). Below, Warwick writes of his long standing affinity with the landscape of the area and touches on the technical difficulties of being a plein air painter.

Warwick Fuller in his studio with Afternoon sun, Glen Davies

The Capertee Valley was one of the first truly awe inspiring locations in which I painted. That was back in 1976, two years before I started painting full time. I was vaguely mindful of the history of great artists who had made their way into the ramparted protection of this magnificent triassic basin. Robert Johnson, Reg Campbell, Doug Sealy to name a few.


Though I try to not wear out my enthusiasm for this iconic geological marvel, I am drawn back at least once most years. Early on Allan Fizzell and I would camp on the Dunville loop or down near Glen Davis, painting for three or four days at a time. On one trip, when it was raining, I went to Mr Wilson's property 'Tambo' to introduce myself and ask if I may see his Robert Johnson painting. As I pulled up at his gate a flash of late afternoon sunlight broke through. I was out of the van and painting in a flash. A day or two after, I did get to meet Mr Wilson and see that 'Johnson'.

Another early highlight for me was when painting with Robert Simpson in the Valley. Bob painted a little study of morning light that absolutely knocked me out. Along with other early influences, I think that painting unconsciously started my career long struggle to capture the light. I've painted standing in the river during heat waves, I've perched precariously on sandstone cliffs and on car roofs, on steep slopes, in front of mobs of herded cows. I've painted in frosts where the brushes fell out of my hands because of frozen fingers. Rocks have been required to hold my easel down in wind. Flies have tried to carry me away or rearrange my paintings. But it is the enduring joy of being witness to the marvellous light it the valley. The blazing direct summer light on the bluffs, the gentle filtered winter light on pastures and cattle, the long strafing shadows across the valley floor, the reflected glow as the sun dips below the rim.

Change in the Valley (2010), oil by Warwick Fuller

Many artists travel to 'Capertee' these days and their efforts and interpretations are introducing the wider public to this amazing jewel of the Australian landscape. I've seen many changes over the last thirty seven years but the grand valley remains largely unchanged and undiminished. If nurtured by those who care, and we all remain vigilant, our grandchildren will enjoy its beauty as did our grandparents. Other as yet unborn great artists will surely find inspiration here and masterpieces will be created.

For more information about the artist please refer to Warwick Fuller's website: http://www.warwickfuller.com/

Jack Dawes's cat

The Capertee district has attracted some eccentric types over the years. One such individual was Jack Dawes who lived in the area during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Jack was a man of very humble means who lived in a water tank in Capertee. His impecunious lifestyle soon attracted the attention of the local police who charged him under the (now repealed) NSW Vagrancy Act. We will leave a newspaper report in the Goulburn Evening Post, of Monday 11th June 1951, to explain the odd details of the case.

The Hermit, Capertee Valley (1988), oil by Sali Herman
image courtasy AASD website

Vagrant Wore Live "Fur" To Keep Warm

A 58-year-old man charged with vagrancy had to be stripped of a large black tom-cat which he claimed he wore to keep him warm when he appeared in Capertee Court of Petty Sessions. The man, Jack Dawes, of Capertee (near Lithgow) was sentenced to three months hard labour.

When Dawes was taken into court, police noticed a large bulge inside his old shirt. Asked what it was, Dawes put his hand into his shirt and pulled out the head of a large tom-cat. He objected when police ordered him to remove the cat in court. He stated that he wore the cat there to keep him warm. He had had the animal for 15 years. The cat was taken from him. After Dawes had been sentenced, Mr. K. Dash, S.M., commented: "I think we'll send the cat with him too. I'm sure we can find a warrant card for it somewhere."

Dawes pleaded not guilty to a charge of having insufficient support. When asked in court how he lived, he commented: "Ben Chifley keeps me!" Apparently Mr. Chifley's patronage was not enough to convince Mr. Dash. He convicted Dawes who was later taken to Lithgow police station. He was then transferred to Bathurst.

Police stated that he lived in a tank in the Capertee district. He had the tank sealed and had to crawl into it through a small hole. Only food stuff which he had with him was cat's meat. He was anxious to take the cat with him.

Some months ago, Det. W. J. Heron, of the Lithgow Police visited the "home" of the accused. He was surprised when Dawes ran-out and sprayed him with eau-de-cologne, explaining that he always kept the perfume on hand for friends.

A big thank you to J. O'Shea, a distant relative of Jack Dawes, for sharing this quirky tale. She believes that her relative died in 1960. In the absence of a photo of Mr Dawes we have reproduced a work by the famous Swiss-born Australian artist Sali Herman (1898-1993), titled 'The Hermit, Capertee Valley'.

An aerial mystery

In Bruce Jefferys' local history, The Story of Capertee,  a shot of an early aeroplane flying over a hilly bush landscape was reproduced. The image was titled 'Wolgan Valley' and Jeffreys' credits the photo to local photographer Henry (Harry) Mow who was active in the Capertee area during the early years of the last century. On first inspection Mow's photo looks like a tricked-up image, and this was certainly the view of Jefferys. Fake montages of more than one image to create a new composite picture is a common trick used throughout the history of photography. While this undated image is most likely a montage the photo, possibly, refers to early local contact with aeroplanes in the area.

Henry Mow photo of an aeroplane over the Wolgan Valley

In early March 1926, the Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported on a aerial survey of the Capertee district by the Richmond-based aviator Captain Percival that had taken place a week earlier in late February.  According to the report Percival, along with a surveyor and a photographer, left Mascot at 9.30 am in an Avro aeroplane to undertake a preliminary photographic survey of about 50 square miles of 'very rough country several miles beyond Capertee'. According to the report, the survey would reveal the contours of the area to help guide 'the men who, later on, will go over the ground with axe and "jigger" '.

Captain Percival's flight across the mountains, against a stiff westerly wind, took two and a half hours while the return journey took less than an hour. The party returned to Mascot aerodrome at 5pm. There is a suggestion in the newspaper report that the plane may have landed near Capertee during its mission.

A 1935 photo of Edgar Percival
courtesy Wikipedia

The pilot mentioned in the report was the Australian air pioneer Edgar Wikner Percival (1898-1984). Percival first took up flying during the Great War when he joined the British Royal Flying Corp. After the war he returned to Australia with three surplus aircraft, two Avro 504's and a de Havilland DH 6  to do stunt flying, film work and charter flying. During the 1920s he was known to be doing survey work in Australia, and it was during this part of his career that he surveyed the Capertee district.

While the planes being used by Edgar Percival in the early 1920s were bi-planes they were far more modern in design than the aircraft pictured in Mow's Wolgan Valley photo. The aeroplane pictured in his image seems to be an early aeroplane, most likely designed before the Great War. An Internet search soon discovered an image of a biplane flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright which seems very similar to the aircraft shown in Mow's photo. Being such a famous aircraft it is most likely the source of the tricked up image by Mow.

A biplane flown by Orville & Wilbur Wright

By coincidence Captain Percival's aerial survey of the Capertee district in late February took place just a week after Mow died. Because of this, Mow's image cannot have depicted Percival's survey plane of 1924. So either the image commemorates an earlier flight in the area,  or may simply be an experiment in trick photography.

Please let us know if you can identify the aeroplane seen flying in Henry Mow's photograph or can suggest where Percival may have landed in the Capertee area during his 1924 mission.

Link to Wikipedia entry on Edgar W Percival http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Percival

In later posts we will look at Harry Mow's career and also highlight the work of other photographers of the district.

Ritchey Sealy: landscape painter

One contemporary painter inspired by the Capertee district is Ritchey Sealy. Ritchey has been painting for thirty years and learnt his craft from his father, uncle and older brother. While mostly known for his images of the far South Coast of New South Wales he has also painted around other parts of the state including the Central Tablelands.

Stacks at Glen Alice, oil by Ritchey Sealy
image courtesy of the artist

Ritchey was born in Forbes, NSW, in the early 1960s but has lived on the South Coast for many years, residing in the small town of Bodalla close to picturesque hills, beaches and lakes. His studio at Bodalla also acts as a gallery where he sells his work. Ritchie paints mainly outdoors in the French landscape tradition known as en plein air (which translates as 'in the open air').

Artist Ritchey Sealey in his Bodalla studio

He is a fast painter and does not rely on photographs as many other landscape artists increasingly do. Generally, most works take about 3 hours to paint on site with only minor finishing taking place in his studio. Ritchey was 'awe struck' by the Capertee Valley when he first visited and has since painted about 30 works inspired by the Glen Davis and Glen Alice sections of the valley.

Road to Dunville Loop, oil by Richey Sealey
image courtesy of the artist

Ritchey Sealy has won several regional art prizes and his work is included in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art collection. One of his works was presented to the Duchess of York.

For more information about Ritchey Sealy's work please refer to his website.
http://www.ritcheysealy.com.au/

In future posts we will highlight the work of other contemporary artists inspired by the Capertee district.

Robert Johnson: pioneer landscape painter of the Capertee Valley

While not the first artist to paint in the district, Robert Johnson (1890-1964) can be credited in making the Capertee Valley a popular painting spot with other 20th century landscape artists. 

Photo of Robert Johnson by Lionel Lau

William Robert Johnson was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and later trained at the Elam School of Art. He served with the New Zealand armed forces in Europe during the Great War. In 1920 he married Olive Phillipson, and she later became known as a watercolourist who also painted in the Valley. In 1921 Johnson and his wife settled in Sydney, and they lived during the interwar years at Eastwood.

From the 1920s to 1950s Johnson was an occasional visitor to the area, and while here he produced many fine oils, watercolours and drawings. Capertee works include (among others) the following titles: Glen Alice Store; Brymair Station, Capertee Valley; Tambo Station, Capertee; and Morning near Glen Davis. Many of his Capertee Valley images were shown at Johnson's many solo exhibitions, and one of his oils, Capertee Cliffs (1947), was purchased for the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

River Bed, Capertee Valley, by Robert Johnson

Like many landscape painters, Johnson found inspiration in many different areas of the world. As well as his Capertee Valley images he is known to have painted all around New South Wales, central Australia, the Northern Territory, as well as his home land of New Zealand.

Early Morning, Glen Alice, Capertee Valley, N.S.W. 
Undated oil by Robert Johnson (private collection)

As well as his many one-man shows, Johnson was also a regular exhibitor with the Royal Art Society of NSW (RAS). During the 1950s he was elected a Fellow of the RAS and served as joint Vice President of the group. His memorial exhibition catalogue in 1964 included an introduction from the then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.

We are keen to locate more of Johnson's Capertee images. If you know of any do get in touch.

Local Wildlife: Superb Lyrebird

One of the most interesting birds found in Australia, if not the world, is the Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae). This shy forest-floor dweller is best known for the elegant stylish tail feathers found on the adult male as well as its many distinctive calls. Most calls are heard during the breeding season (May to August) and are distinctive to different localities, although they are known to sing at other times to vocally defend their territory from other lyrebirds. Often Superb Lyrebirds mimic the sounds of other birds and animals into their song, giving their performances an individual touch which can delight lucky passers-by.

   

The Blue Mountain Pheasant of New South Wales
from Views of New South Wales (1813)

To illustrate this post we have included a wonderful image from the hand of artist Philip Slaegar. This convict-era artist describes the Superb Lyrebird as the Blue Mountains Pheasant, and superficially its body shape and wispy tail feathers look, somewhat, similar to the Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), an Asian bird familiar to pioneer settlers as it was introduced into England and Europe as a game bird many centuries ago.

The Superb Lyrebird has had a long association with our area, and this is reflected in the name of the nearby village of Cullen Bullen, which is named after a local Aboriginal word for the bird. Although hard to see, the Superb Lyrebird is a common bird of the Capertee district, often found in forest areas on the many scree slopes of the valley edge. Being ground-dwelling they are notoriously shy and mostly avoid areas where dogs, cats and other predators live. Often the only sign of their presence is the sound of their call or the magical find of discovering one of their tail feathers.

For those who have never heard the call of this wonderful bird we have provided a link to the Capertee Birder website which features sound recordings of local lyre birds.
http://caperteebirder.com/index.php?p=1_7_Lyrebirds

James A C Willis, surveyor and landscape painter

In earlier posts we looked at the pioneer landscape views of Blackmans Crown and the Capertee Valley painted by Eliza Thurston in the 1860s and Conrad Martens in the 1870s. One of the last known Capertee themed works from the 19th century is James A C Willis' 1892 watercolour, Capertee Valley, New South Wales, a work in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of NSW. Unlike Thurston and Martens, Willis seems to have painted this image down in the valley itself rather than from the more easily accessible elevated position of the Mudgee Road lookout near the Crown. This therefore may be the first known work painted in the Capertee Valley.

Capertee Valley, New South Wales
1892 watercolour by James A C Willis
Art Gallery of New South Wales collection

This work followers in the landscape tradition of the middle years of the 19th century when picturesque views of awe-inspiring landscape were all the rage. Unlike many similar works of the time, Willis does not include any figures in the foreground, a compositional device to give the viewer a sense of scale and a feeling of insignificance within Gods mighty world.

One anonymous critic writing in the Windsor and Richmond Gazette of 25 September 1897 mentions this work in his account of a recent visit to the National Art Gallery (now Art Gallery of NSW) in Sydney:

J C Willis has certainly given us a most realistic picture of the wild and romantic region. "Capertee Valley," - with its high beetling walls of rock, its tree clad mountains, and the deep an inaccessible ravines which score their precipitous sides at close intervals.

Map of New South Wales (1871), compiled by James A C Willis
National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-f10

Willis was born in Devon, England and arrived in Sydney in c.1845. His principal occupation was surveying and during his career he produced many maps for the NSW Government. In c.1848 he took art lessons with Conrad Martens, then the most talented artist active in the colony. Over the following years he painted many landscapes, often of remote areas of the State as in this Capertee painting. As well as his surveying duties, Willis was involved in the establishment of the Art Gallery of NSW in the 1870s. In 1892 he donated this work to the galleries permanent collection. Although rarely on show, this work can be privately viewed with a prearranged appointment with gallery staff.

Does anyone know where in the Capertee Valley this work was painted?

Eliza Thurston

While Conrad Martens is the best known artist to paint in the Capertee area during the nineteenth century he wasn't the first, that honour seems to go to Eliza Thurston (1807-1873). Thurston painted a number of landscape views in the area during the 1860s. Her best known work in a public collection shows a panorama of the Capertee Valley taken from the Mudgee Road from the Crown Ridge (now known as Blackmans Crown). 

The inclusion of human figures on the lower left corner of the picture was a compositional device popular with artists at the time. These sightseers give the viewer foreground interest as well as a sense of scale which helped emphasize the monumental power of the picturesque subject matter in the background. While not a highly realistic rendering of the scene, Thurston's Mitchell Library work has great charm and shows that the panorama seen from the Crown was as popular then as it is today.

Capertee Valley taken from Crown Ridge, Sydney Road
1868 watercolour by Eliza Thurston
Mitchell Library collection

Eliza came from an established family of artists from Bath in western England. Eliza became an art teacher after she came to Australia in 1853. She lived for a few years during the mid to late 1860s with her (Mudgee based) photographer son Horatio Thurston (1838-1881). While resident there she produced her Capertee Valley works. She died in Sydney a few years later. Her daughter, Eliza West Thurston, was an amateur artist who painted mostly floral subjects. She worked as a teacher in Rylstone and spent her later years living in Mudgee.

For more information about Eliza Thurston please refer to her biographical entry in the Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO) website: http://www.daao.org.au/bio/eliza-thurston/biography/

Conrad Martens' artistic Crown

Some of the first artists to visit the infant colony of New South Wales were landscape painters. By the time European explorers and settlers had moved over the Blue Mountains in the 1820s, watercolour had firmly established itself around the British Empire as the preferred painting medium for landscape artists as it was both inexpensive and portable.

One of a series of three large watercolour views 
of Crown Ridge by Conrad Martens (Private Collection)

The London-born artist Conrad Martens (1801-1878) first came to Australia in 1835. Like fellow painter Augustus Earle, Martens had been employed by the pioneer naturalist, Charles Darwin  as ship artist on the voyage of the HMS Beagle. Martens was a great admirer of the pioneering English landscape painter, J M W Turner and throughout his painting career tried to emulate some of the painting techniques pioneered by his artistic hero.

Although he had travelled to other areas of the Lithgow district it was not until late in life that Martens visited the Crown Ridge on the western edge of Capertee Valley. The Crown Ridge peak is now officially known as Blackman’s Crown after an early explorer of the region, John Blackman (c.1792-1868). The Mudgee Road from Wallerawang to Capertee still passes around the eastern side of Blackman’s Crown on the edge of the Capertee Valley making it one of the most recognisable landmarks in the district.

Oil portrait of Conrad Martens
 by Pierre Nuyts (1853)

Unlike most artists, Martens kept detailed diary notes of his travels, painting projects and commissions. From these entries we know he spent a few days at Blackman’s Crown in December 1874. He stayed at the Crown Ridge Inn, a seemingly popular public house located on the southern side of the peak. One pencil study by Martens shows the Crown Ridge Inn with the Crpwn in the background. This inn no longer stands but some of its foundations can still be seen about 20 metres west of the present-day road alignment during winter when the grass is low.

Crown Ridge looking East, watercolour by Conrad Martens
View of Pantoney's Crown as seen from Pearsons Lookout c.1874
Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

Martens produced a series of detailed pencil drawings on site showing the Crown Ridge Inn, the Crown and the picturesque Capertee Valley below. He worked these studies up into three large watercolours some time after returning to Sydney. Two of these works are now in the Mitchell Library collection in Sydney while one remains in private ownership.

Martens was not the first artist to paint the Capertee Valley from the Crown. In a future post I will highlight the life and career of Mudgee artist Eliza Thurston (1807-1873) who painted the peak in the 1860s.