ELIOTH GRUNER (AUSTRALIAN 1882-1939)
THE SILVER LIGHT OF SUMMER MORN
£32,000
Auction: 14 November 2018 at 10:00 GMT
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
41cm x 46cm (16in x 18in)
Footnote
Provenance: A gift to the current owner from Dr. Patricia Mackay who brought it back to Scotland from Australia c.1934/35. When in Australia Patricia Mackay spent time with her first cousin Angus MacIntyre who acquired, re-built and lived in Fairlight House, Manly from 1910-1939. Although there is no record of MacIntyre's collection, Gruner was a regular visitor to Fairlight House.
Note: One of the later figureheads pertaining to the Australian Impressionist movement, New Zealand-born artist Elioth Gruner (1882-1939) is distinguished as one of the country's most innovative and poetic painters of light, whose work captured the imagination of many throughout the early 20th century. We are delighted to offer The Silver Light of Summer Morn, an assertion of Gruner's artistic prominence, and a landmark of his evolving career.
Gruner moved to Australia at a young age, and in 1901 began selling paintings to Sydney's Society of Artists, where his work gradually gained traction. It was not until 1923, however, that Gruner garnered much of his inspiration from his travels across Europe, where pioneers of European Modernism conjured a rethinking of his artistic technique. The paintings of Cézanne introduced him to a high-key palette, whilst those of Gauguin revealed the beauty of expressive brushstrokes and simplified forms. Upon his return to Australia, Gruner's repertoire developed in accordance with his European counterparts - a simplification of subject matter, an increased attention to pattern, and a freer, wider sweep of the brush set him apart from his Australian equals.
The Silver Light of Summer Morn is a fine example of Gruner's dedication to plein-air painting, in which we're presented with his new, excited and liberal working of the brush. A vast turquoise sky extends across most of the composition, subsuming a mellow swathe of sand, and a delicate slither of seawater disappears into the bright horizon. Rougher topology in the distance smoothly tapers down to a low vanishing point, convening with the lighter tones of the water's surface. We are not, however, the only admirers of this placid view. To the bottom right two women regard the calm waters with their backs to the viewer, one leisurely reclining beneath a pink parasol, the other standing. A deckchair endorses this site as one frequently revered by visitors, accentuated by more distant figures merrily testing the waters of the calm Pacific Ocean.
Nonetheless, we're still drawn to the sprawling sky that dwarfs all the participants in this blissful scene - Gruner's affirmation of the landscape as the most important facet of this masterful work. The atmosphere is palpable; long shadows allude to the early time of day - a raw light often favoured by Gruner. The painting evokes a certain ephemerality, as if the tide will soon rise, consuming the lowly swathe of sand; the seated woman will surely raise and fold her parasol, continuing with the nearby figure for an amble along the beach. The solitary deckchair will not remain on the sand forever, and the light will change as the day progresses.
It is this refreshing simplicity of elements - an impression of a calm Pacific morning - which marked Elioth Gruner as an artist of distinguished skill, worthy of receiving the Wynne Prize seven times across three decades of painting. The Silver Light of Summer Morn is a demonstration of nostalgia, and a celebration of local beauty. It references the theory of artist Max Meldrum who proposed tone as the most important element of any painting. Most importantly, however, is that Gruner painted the unpaintable: the element of light itself.