Walking at Rosebud, 1932
Oil on board
18.0
x 22.6
cm
SOLD
Provenance
Hilda Mangan (the artist's sister)
Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney, 2002
Private collection, Sydney
Exhibited
'Clarice Beckett Retrospective', Realities, Melbourne 1979
'Clarice Beckett: Black Rock and Environs', Black Rock House, Melbourne
'The artist's retreat: Discoveing the Mornington Peninsula from the 1850s to the present', Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, 28 March - 30 May 1999, cat. 7 (label on reverse)
'Blue Chip III: The Collectors Exhibition', Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 27 February - 31 March 2002, cat.40 illust. P.38
'Clarice Beckett', Martin Browne Fine Art in association with Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 26 June - 21 July 2002, cat. 22, illus. p. 26
Clarice Beckett's tonal paintings of Australian suburban landscapes are shrouded in a foggy haze of muted tones. Beckett's days were filled with home duties and caring for her elderly parents, resulting in a painting routine spread over the transitional half-lit zones of dawn and dusk. These moody scenes, also reflected the influence of her teacher and mentor Max Meldrum - who along with Beckett - is now seen as Australia's greatest Tonalist. The quiet, subtle and beautiful scenes of cities, streets, and suburbs are a place of contemplation.
'Walking at Rosebud', 1932 with it's muted greens blues and nuanced pinks so delicately and evocatively capture the beachscape. The few people grouped on the sand are devoid of any detail and created with skillful brushstrokes. Interestingly, Rosebud was an area in which Arthur Boyd spent some time and informed many of his works in the 1930s.
Clarice Beckett was unrecognized and neglected as an artist in her own lifetime. It was only in the 1970s that a large rural shed in Victoria was found with some 2000 of her canvases, two thirds of which had been destroyed by the elements. She had produced landscapes from 1917 until her untimely premature death in 1935.
As Frances Lindsay claims, "When we look back at the 20th century from a vantage point in the next, certain Australian artists will stand out, not just for the aesthetic quality of their work, but also for their significant contribution to our understanding of what constitutes the Australian identity. Clarice Beckett is one such artist." ('Politically Incorrect', exhibition catalogue, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, 1999, unpaginated)