Arthur LOUREIRO

Portuguese; Australian 1853–1932

Arthur Loureiro was a catalyst in the Melbourne art world of the late nineteenth century. After studies in Oporto and Lisbon he went to Italy for two years, and then received the Portuguese government’s travelling scholarship to Paris, 1879–81, where he studied under Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts, and exhibited at the Salon. When he arrived in Melbourne in 1885 with his Australian wife, he brought with him an enthusiasm for plein-air painting (he had lived at Brolles, in the forest at Fontainebleau) and a knowledge of the latest developments in the Parisian art world. He pioneered Symbolist subject matter in Australia (before the The 9 x 5 Impression Exhibition), painted important Aboriginal, religious, historical and animalier subjects, worked (at times) in a modified impressionist technique and introduced avant-garde styles of framing. He was a founding member of the breakaway Australian Artists’ Association in 1886, and his stylish studio was a meeting place for the Melbourne art world, from the governor’s lady down. The freshness of his approach to landscape can be seen in An autumn morning, 1893. The painting is about mood, light and atmosphere; it is Symbolist in its evocation of a land awakening from slumber. When first exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society in April 1893 it attracted some attention:

An Autumn Morning is an early morning effect. Near the Yarra wreaths of light mist are lifting from the river, transparent splashes of shadow lie on the golden grass, and the magpies hop gaily about in the early morning sunshine. The effect is truthfully and delicately rendered and communicates to one something of the early morning atmosphere and light.1

1 Age, Melbourne, 21 April 1893, p. 6.

Terence Lane