Art Gallery of New South Wales

Today, I made a quick visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, located among the giant fig trees of The Domain, a large parkland in the heart of Sydney, with views of one of the most spectacular harbours in the world. It's a must see if you are in this part of Australia, or the world.

Here are some marine-themed works from the AGNSW collection. From what I could see in the limited time available, only the Monet is actually on display. I suspect that marine painting, especially maritime or nautical art, is often seen by curators as too bourgeois - something that businessmen use to decorate their office or study. None of these works are by Australian artists. Marines have not been a major aspect of Australian painting, despite the fact that Australia is an island continent with a vast coastline, and, apart from the indigenous population, our ancestors came here on very long sea voyages. Perhaps we don't like to be reminded of the sea that exiled us from the rest of the world.

Charles Napier Hemy, Smugglers- "To save their necks".
Edward de Martino, Golfo degli Aranci, Sardinia.
John Mogford, Crossing the Bar, Scarborough.
Julius Olsson, The Night Tide, 1915.
Cluade Monet, Port-Goulphar, Belle-ile.

Erik Tiemens

These atmospheric cliff studies by Erik Tiemens are in gouache not oils.

Where it is impractical to make on site studies in oils, gouache and or watercolour is a quick and convenient medium. The studies can be used to make larger studio works in oils, but they also stand as wonderful works of art on their own.

Erik is an internationally renowned landscape painter and award-winning film concept artist.

Erik's website

Stormy

Louis Isabey, Shipwreck.
Joseph Abeille, The Tempest.

Phillippe Jaques De Loutherbourg, Shipwreck off a Rocky Coast.

John Chancellor, Survived.

Vernet, detail.

Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson has a deep understanding of the anatomy and soul of the sea, gained from several years aboard sailing ships.
These paintings of the Southern Ocean convey both its enchantment and its fearsomeness.

Peter was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1956, and is presently based there.

See more of his work philip bacon galleries.

Alexey Alpatov

Alexey Alpatov was born in Moscow in 1968. His paintings mimic the techniques of black and white photography - cropping, the capturing of effects of light and reflectivity, limited depth of field - but they are not photorealistic; they are as much about paint, texture and brushwork as they are about an image.

These are large mixed media works, which sometimes include collage.

See more of his work here.

Day 11. 200 x 220 cm

Gerome's Sea Cats

The French academic painter Jean Leon Gerome, loved big cats.
Lions are a kind of signature for him, perhaps because his middle name is French for 'lion', and his last name is also the name of a saint who is supposed to have had a pet lion.

He may have chosen a marine background for these kitties because the turquoise hues contrast nicely with the orange of their fur.
Depictions of exotic animals catered to the Orientalism of Gerome's day, evoking the power and majesty of Eastern landscapes.

Northern Serenity

Hans Ole Brasen (Danish 1849-1930), Morning Greetings, 1907.

Mikalojus Ciurlionis (Lithuanian 1875-1911), Sailing Boats, 1906.

These two mystical works, painted at about the same time, in the first decade of the 20th century, evoke the calm before the storm of two World Wars.

A serene atmosphere is created not just through the mirror-like surface of the sea, but by the use of soft pastel hues.