Mount Macedon c1913

FREDERICK McCUBBIN (1855-1917)

Mount Macedon c1913

oil on board
24.5 x 34.5 cm
signed and dated lower left: F McCubbin/ 19[illeg.]

Provenance:
Private collection
Christie's, Sydney, 17 August 1998, lot 1093
Private collection, Sydney

Estimate: $35000 - 45000

Result Hammer: $60,000

Even with his more diminutive works, McCubbin was the consummate master of his media and subject matter, here the bush land of the Mount Macedon property, Fontainebleau, he acquired in 1900. Mount Macedon provided McCubbin with the inspiration for some of his most well-known paintings, including his celebrated triptych, The Pioneer (1904) which is housed in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.

Mount Macedon highlights McCubbin’s dedication to the Heidelberg School of Art, which he had formed in the late 1880s with Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton.  The Heidelberg preoccupation with the particular warmth and light of the Australian landscape is captured by McCubbin’s spontaneous brushstrokes, painted thick and fast en plein air. The strong sense of the bush elements are created through his expert layering and texturisation of the paint using both the palette knife and brush. Various shades of green are punctuated by flecks of browns, reds and violets, creating the depth of the foliage and the dappled light shinning over and through the trees of this very dense bush land. These animated painting techniques culminate in the evocation of a very modern sense of abstraction that seems well ahead of its time. 

Anna Groden BA (Hons); MA (Art History)