Collection Online
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
147.5 × 183.3 cm
Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.r.: Fred Williams 65
inscribed in black fibre-tipped pen on reverse: UPWEY LANDSCAPE. 1965. - F. WILLIAMS.
Accession Number
1553-5
Department
Australian Painting
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1965
© Estate of Fred Williams
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work

Melbourne-born Fred Williams is considered one of Australia’s finest landscape painters of the twentieth century. His works mark a great departure from traditional depictions of the Australian landscape.

After winning the 1964 Helena Rubinstein Travelling Scholarship, Fred Williams visited Europe. He returned inspired by the densely painted landscapes of French nineteenth-century painter Gustave Courbet, an influence that can be seen in the generous application of paint in the foliage of this painting. Williams and his family had moved into a small house on 2 acres of land at Upwey, in the Dandenong Ranges outside of Melbourne in 1963. With his studio situated at the base of a valley, the setting became the inspiration for the high horizon line seen in this and many other paintings. 

Subjects (general)
Abstract Art Landscapes
Subjects (specific)
Australia (nation) brush strokes Dandenong Ranges (hills) distant views horizon line Upwey (inhabited place) vegetation Victoria (state)