STREETON, Arthur (1867-1943)
'Melon Patch,' 1896.
Signed and dated lower right 'A Streeton '96'.

Constructed as a vertical tableau, this work is typical of Streeton's 1890s Sydney compositions, revealing an interest in Japanese forms such as the pillar print. Other works were realised in the horizontal, most famously Sydney Harbour and Sirius Cove views. 'Melon Patch,' 1896 is an expression of the fertility of nature, and our interaction with it through farming. Sheets of rain fall from a distant cloud burst, transmogrify through the middle ground, and resolve into propitious fruits on the vine - the natural cycle renews continuously. The scene is likely a region of the Hawkesbury River at the foot of Sydney's Blue Mountains.
Oil on Panel
59.5x27cm (sight) 61x28cm (panel)

PROVENANCE:
The artist; Mr Barr Smith until 1928; anonymous collector consigning to Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 'Australian, British, New Zealand and European Historical and Contemporary Paintings,' 20th August 1991 (lot 150); deceased estate, Sydney.

LITERATURE:
'The Arthur Streeton Catalogue,' Melbourne 1935, pub. Arthur Streeton, cat #163 p.117.

OTHER NOTES:
Remnants of old label verso for Henry W Callan, 318 George St, Sydney. Henry W Callan's Art Gallery was a commercial gallery active at that time, and favoured by many of the Australian Impressionists. In 1896, Streeton completed his Hawkesbury River series, most notably 'The Purple Noon's Transparent Might,' exhibited in Sydney in September, then in Streeton's first one-man Melbourne exhibition in December, where it was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria. It was on the strength of this success that Streeton embarked for England, stopping six months in Cairo en route.

Estimate $200,000-400,000