Arthur Streeton

Art Brokerage: Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 - 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter. He was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. He commenced study at the National Gallery Schools in 1882. Streeton was influenced by French Impressionism and the works of Turner. During this time he began his association with fellow artists Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts at Melbourne including at Box Hill and Heidelberg. In 1885 Streeton presented his first exhibition at the Victorian Academy of Art. He found employment as an apprentice lithographer under Charles Troedel. Golden Summer, Eaglemont by Arthur Streeton (1889) bought by the National Gallery of Australia. In 1888 in his painting of the Yarra River valley, Still glides the stream and shall forever glide (1888), Streeton shows a winding river in the middle of the picture and a landscape of bright yellowish goldish colour, very typically Australian. The painting was the first of his landscapes which was bought by a large art gallery, with the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchasing it in the same year that it was painted. 'Sunlight Sweet', Coogee by Arthur Streeton (1890).In 1897 Streeton sailed for London on the Polynesien, stopping at Port Said before continuing on via Cairo and Naples. He held an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1900 and became a member of the Chelsea Arts Club in 1903. While Streeton had developed a considerable reputation in Australia, he failed to achieve the same success in England. His trips to London were financed by the sales of his paintings at home in Australia. His time in England reinforced a strong sense of patriotism towards the British Empire and, like many, anticipated the coming war with Germany with some enthusiasm. Streeton returned to Australia in 1906 and completed some paintings at Mount Macedon in February 1907 before returning to London in October. Streeton painted in Venice in September 1908 and the resulting works were exhibited in Australia in July 1909 as "Arthur Streeton's Venice". Streeton returned to Australia in April 1914 to conduct exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne. He returned to England in early 1915 and, along with other members of the Chelsea Arts Club, including Tom Roberts, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (British Army) at the age of 48. .