ELIOTH GRUNER (1882-1939) Evening on the Harbour 1920 oil on canvas on board 29 x 37cm

ELIOTH GRUNER (1882-1939)
Evening on the Harbour 1920
oil on canvas on board
signed and dated lower left: E GRUNER / 1920
29 x 37cm

PROVENANCE:
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 22 July 1987, lot 60 (titled Sydney Harbour Mist)
Sotheby's, Melbourne, 22 April 1996, lot 109
Private collection, Sydney

OTHER NOTES:
Elioth Gruner is one of Australia's most important landscape painters, having won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting seven times, more than any other artist besides Hans Heysen. Gruner is renowned for his ability to capture the ephemeral effects of light as it plays upon the landscape.

Immigrating from New Zealand when he was a baby, Elioth Gruner grew up in Sydney where his mother encouraged his love of art. Gruner's first painting exhibited was a still-life with the Society of Artists in 1901. From around 1907 his work began to attract serious attention with the artist Norman Lindsay amongst his admirers.

In 1912 Gruner dedicated himself to his art full-time. He spent weekends painting beach and harbour scenes around Sydney and in 1915 began to travel to the farmlands of Emu Plains, west of Sydney. Greatly influenced by the French Impressionists, Gruner preferred to paint his landscapes en plein air. In 1916 he won the Wynne Prize for the first time with his small landscape, Morning Light, which was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Gruner's masterpiece of the Emu Plains series, and his best-known painting, Spring Frost 1919, won him his second Wynne Prize.

The present lot was painted just a year following, in 1920, where we see first-hand the use of Gruner's painterly techniques to explore the effects of light and movement upon water. Short daubs of paint knit together to form the dense vegetation on the shore, whilst lengthier vertical strokes blend together over the water to create a moody atmosphere. The hint of movement in the otherwise calm waters is inferred by the patches of horizontal brush strokes in the foreground. The slightly elevated point of view allows for an expansive vista across the harbour to the misted headland in the distance. Whilst the shadow of the nearer headland looms further over the water as night begins to descend.

The influence of Australian artist Max Meldrum's tonal theory has often been remarked upon in Gruner's work, as well as the brushwork of E Phillips Fox and Grace Cossington Smith. With the death of his beloved mother in 1922, Gruner was free to pursue overseas travel, the effects of which became prominent in his artist output in the years that followed. His works can be found in galleries and collections across Australia including: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; and many more.

Madeleine Norton
Head of Decorative Arts & Art, Sydney

Provenance: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 22 July 1987, lot 60 (titled Sydney Harbour Mist)
Sotheby's, Melbourne, 22 April 1996, lot 109
Private collection, Sydney Dimensions: 29 x 37cm Artist Name: ELIOTH GRUNER (1882-1939) Medium: oil on canvas on board Notes: Elioth Gruner is one of Australia's most important landscape painters, having won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting seven times, more than any other artist besides Hans Heysen. Gruner is renowned for his ability to capture the ephemeral effects of light as it plays upon the landscape.

Immigrating from New Zealand when he was a baby, Elioth Gruner grew up in Sydney where his mother encouraged his love of art. Gruner's first painting exhibited was a still-life with the Society of Artists in 1901. From around 1907 his work began to attract serious attention with the artist Norman Lindsay amongst his admirers.

In 1912 Gruner dedicated himself to his art full-time. He spent weekends painting beach and harbour scenes around Sydney and in 1915 began to travel to the farmlands of Emu Plains, west of Sydney. Greatly influenced by the French Impressionists, Gruner preferred to paint his landscapes en plein air. In 1916 he won the Wynne Prize for the first time with his small landscape, Morning Light, which was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Gruner's masterpiece of the Emu Plains series, and his best-known painting, Spring Frost 1919, won him his second Wynne Prize.

The present lot was painted just a year following, in 1920, where we see first-hand the use of Gruner's painterly techniques to explore the effects of light and movement upon water. Short daubs of paint knit together to form the dense vegetation on the shore, whilst lengthier vertical strokes blend together over the water to create a moody atmosphere. The hint of movement in the otherwise calm waters is inferred by the patches of horizontal brush strokes in the foreground. The slightly elevated point of view allows for an expansive vista across the harbour to the misted headland in the distance. Whilst the shadow of the nearer headland looms further over the water as night begins to descend.

The influence of Australian artist Max Meldrum's tonal theory has often been remarked upon in Gruner's work, as well as the brushwork of E Phillips Fox and Grace Cossington Smith. With the death of his beloved mother in 1922, Gruner was free to pursue overseas travel, the effects of which became prominent in his artist output in the years that followed. His works can be found in galleries and collections across Australia including: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; and many more.

Madeleine Norton
Head of Decorative Arts & Art, Sydney