Exhibition
On Now
Coming Soon
Past Display
Sunlight & Shadow
Mar 4, 2023
May 21, 2023
permanent exhibition
'Sunlight & Shadow' is an exhibition presented in two parts to honour that most poetic of seasons, autumn.

'Sunlight & Shadow' is a panoramic exhibition of almost sixty works, presented in two parts and unashamedly sentimental in tone, brought together to honour of that most poetic of seasons, autumn. Individual works delve deep into the inherent beauty and melancholia of the season, through the work of artists active from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Taking its name from an exhibition curated by the late Warwick Reeder in 2006 on the work of Pictorialist photographer John Bertram Eaton (1881–1966), part one of Sunlight & Shadow features thirty original works by Eaton (twenty-eight on loan from the National Gallery of Victoria), to pay tribute to the important work that Warwick undertook to keep Eaton’s legacy alive, and to bring Eaton’s work to the attention of a new generation of art lovers.

Eaton’s beautiful photographs are seen here alongside a sprawling selection of works, both national and international, from a private collection.

The prints and paintings that comprise part two of Sunlight & Shadow are united by their mutual harmonious depiction of nature as a source of beauty and spiritual nourishment. Many of the artists featured, such as William Blamire Young, Thomas Balfour Garrett and John Hall Thorpe, were at the forefront of artistic practice in their lifetimes, but in the intervening century have become less well known.

Sunlight & Shadow also represents, therefore, a fascinating tour through a pantheon of artists today largely overlooked or largely unknown in Australia. The exhibition knows no geographic borders and makes no distinctions based on style, but seeks instead to encourage conversations between artworks and art viewers that draw out common themes, be they in mood, temperament, subject or spirit.

Selected Artworks
John Bertram EATON
Calm Evening
Year:  
1932-40
Medium:  
Gelatin silver photograph
Size:  
27.6 x 35.3cm (image)
Collection Gippsland Art Gallery. Donated by Janina Green, 2018.
© 
The estate of the artist.
John Bertram EATON
Sombre Hills
Year:  
1938
Medium:  
Bromoil print.
Size:  
28.6 x 33.5cm (image)
Collection National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Gift of Mr John Bilney, 1976. Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
© 
The estate of the artist.
John Bertram EATON
Strzelecki Ranges South Gippsland
Year:  
1932-40
Medium:  
Gelatin silver photograph.
Size:  
24.5 x 36.8cm (image)
Collection Gippsland Art Gallery. Purchased, 2021.
© 
The estate of the artist.
John Bertram EATON
Untitled (Cattle Tracks)
Year:  
1930s
Medium:  
Gelatin silver photograph.
Size:  
34.4 x 34.2cm (image)
Collection National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Gift of Mr John Bilney, 1976. Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
© 
The estate of the artist.
John Bertram EATON
Untitled (Rural Landscape)
Year:  
1930s-1940s
Medium:  
Gelatin silver photograph
Size:  
26.6 x 36.6cm (image)
Collection National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Gift of U.I.D., 1971. Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
© 
The estate of the artist.
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