Ben Apfelbaum

STREETON @ THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Still glides the stream, and for ever glides 1890

The railway station, Redfern 1893
The purple noon’s transparent might 1896

“Our choice of Streeton’s works for a first loan exhibition of this kind is also I think very appropriate to our present conditions. We are living in very tumultuous times…”

These words were not uttered by the current Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Michael Brand in opening this exhibition but by the President of the Trustees, Sir John Sulman when he launched a huge retrospective exhibition on the 20th November 1931. It comprised a hundred and seventy-three works from forty-one collections, it was the most ambitious loan exhibition the Gallery had undertaken and set the template for modern art retrospectives in Australia.

Exhibition curator and author of the monograph accompanying this exhibition Wayne Tunnicliffe stated that this exhibition features some one hundred and fifty works from forty-two public and private collections, some not exhibited for more than one hundred years.

Paying homage to one of Australia’s greatest artists Gallery director Michael Brand indicated that it would be just called Streeton just as exhibitions by Cezanne, Picasso, and the like were promoted by just the surname.

The expansive exhibition. brings together sun-drenched Impressionist landscapes from the 1880s, vivid depictions of Sydney harbour in the 1890’s, pastoral paintings from. the 1920s and 1930s, and a selection of artworks from the artist’s international career painting in Egypt, England, Italy and World War 1 France.

Exhibition visitors can watch a new documentary film, ‘Streeton-A Life’, which explores the key moments in Arthur Streeton’s artistic journey. Through his correspondence, read by actor Mark lee, Streeton’s voice is integral to the telling of his story. A central theme is Streeton’s concern with preserving Sydney Harbour’s foreshore which later became active environmental campaigning to save Australia’s old-growth forests especially in the Dandenong ranges where he resided later in his life.

The exhibition runs from Saturday 7th November 2020 to Sunday 14th February 2021.

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

Fatima Habiba 1897
Sydney Harbour 1907
St Mark’s Venice 1908
Malham Cove c1910
Victoria Tower, Westminster 1912
Troops bathing Glisy 1918
The Land of the Golden Fleece 1926
The vanishing forest 1934

Featured image:Boulogne 1918. All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.