John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque

19 February - 12 April 2004

John Glover has long been regarded as ‘the father of Australian landscape painting’. He was the only major European artist to migrate to Australia before the gold rushes of the 1850s and is without doubt the most important Australian landscape painter of the early colonial period. John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque is a major retrospective which celebrates the two-hundredth anniversary of permanent European settlement in Tasmania in 2004. It comprises some 115 oil paintings, watercolours, sketchbooks and prints and will begin with a re-examination of Glover’s forty-year career in England before he immigrated to Tasmania.

Glover was a well known painter of the English Regency, in fact one of the most successful artists of his day. Nevertheless, it is his Australian paintings that are his finest and will ensure his lasting fame. In these late works, painted when the artist was in his sixties, he invigorates the European classical tradition and eighteenth-century conventions with bright antipodean light, the colours and forms of Australian native vegetation and the traditional customs of the Aboriginal people. They are among the most important landscapes made outside Europe in the 1830s. Glover’s A view of the artist’s house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen’s Land is one of this Gallery’s best-loved works. John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque places this and other treasured paintings from the Gallery’s collection into a rich and comprehensive context.

Curator: David Hansen (Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery)

Guided Tours
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 2 pm
Tours are free with exhibition entry

GLOVER ON SUNDAY: Special Tours
February 22, 29, March 7, 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11 at 3.15 pm
Max Carter, AO, is a major benefactor to the Art Gallery of South Australia and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the work of John Glover for many years. In this talk, Max Carter speaks about Glover’s life in Van Diemen’s Land and the rich legacy of landscape paintings and drawings he produced, that would herald the development of the Australian landscape genre.
Meet at the exhibition entrance to Gallery 22.
Entry fees apply

Lunchtime Talk
Tuesday 24 February at 12.45 pm
Tracey Lock-Weir, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings & Sculpture speaks about John Glover, A Corroboree of Natives near Mills’ Plains, c.1832 displayed in the exhibition, John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque.

Lunchtime Talk
Tuesday 16 March at 12.45 pm
Ron Radford, Director speaks about selected works in the exhibition John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque. Exhibition entry fees apply.

Lunchtime Talk
Tuesday 30 March at 12.45 pm
Adam Free, Curator of European Paintings & Sculpture speaks about John Glover, A Landscape with Sybil’s Temple: Composition, 1816 in the exhibition, John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque.
Exhibition entry fees apply

Private Viewing - John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque
Friday 20 February at 6 pm
Be among the first to see this stunning new exhibition at a private viewing with the Curator, David Hansen, the world expert on John Glover. John Glover travelled to Van Diemen’s Land at the age of 63, ultimately carving out a reputation as the ‘father’ of Australian landscape painting through his depictions of early settler life and a genteel arcadia. David Hansen speaks about the development of Glover’s work and his life in Tasmania. Doors open at 5.50 pm.
Tickets: $30; Members $25. Bookings: telephone Yvonne on 8207 7050

A Walk with Glover
Monday 8 & 22 March at 10.30 am
Join a Gallery Guide for a guided tour and insight into the works in this important exhibition featuring the landscapes of ‘the father of Australian landscape painting’. Meet at 10.30 am in the Members’ Lounge for morning tea followed by the tour at 11:00 am. Exhibition entry is included in the ticket price.
Tickets: $17, Members $14. Bookings: telephone Yvonne on 8207 7050

Bookings: call Yvonne on 8207 7050

The Gallery is a great place for children especially for our Eye Spy children’s tours and Family Drop in days. Enjoy wonderful, exciting and intriguing art tours for children and fun activities for all the family.

Eye Spy Club – John Glover’s house and garden
Sunday 14 & 28 March at 3 pm
Eye Spy detectives are invited to find out what is in John Glover’s House and Garden and how you can colour in your own House and Garden picture book. Meet the Special Agents at the front desk on North Terrace.

Family Drop-in Day
Sunday 22 February 12 pm – 3 pm
Glover’s garden was ablaze with colour. Design and create your very own Glover’s Galaxy garden. Suitable for children aged 5 – 10 years accompanied by a parent/carer at all times. For more information telephone: Megan 82077005
Proudly sponsored by ETSA Utilities

Education Pack
online from 18 February
Click here to access the John Glover Education Pack
from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery website

Sundown Sessions for Teachers
23 & 24 February. 4.30 - 5.45 pm. Bookings essential.
Max size each group: 50
$8 admission, payable at the door

School group admission: $20 per class size group
(DECS Classified 1-4 schools and country schools receive free admission)

Education Guide bookings
Telephone: 8207 7033 or fax: 8207 7070

Click here to access the symposium brochure as a .pdf document

A full day symposium exploring the life of John Glover. The keynote address will be delivered by David Hansen, curator of the exhibition who will share the podium with leading Australian art scholars Daniel Thomas, Mary Eagle, Max Staples and Ron Radford.

Participation fee: Members $70, $80 includes morning tea, lunch, cocktail reception and a complimentary exhibition entry. Registration forms are available at the Gallery, or call Megan Henschke (08) 82077005 or fax to (08) 82077070 for more details.

To see what other events and activities are on at the Gallery
click here to go to the Calendar of Events

Bookshop

The exhibition will be accompanied by the definitive publication on the artist, titled John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque. With over 300 pages, this lavishly illustrated hard cover book includes contributing essays by leading Australia art scholars and is available from the bookshop for $69.95.