The Art of Australia, Edmund Capon

Episode 1, Series Trailer, 8th October, BBC 4

Episode One (of Three) on IPlayer

The Art of Australia, Strangers in a Strange Land -  How art helped European settlers come to terms with such an unfamiliar land. An excellent survey, with the perfect presenter. It would have been helpful if the London art critics could have seen this series before publishing their reviews of the Royal Academy exhibition.

Edmund Capon on John Glover's eucalyptus trees:

"He painted his trees with wonderful twists and curls: to me, they look like elegant tentacles. This was the artist imposing his imagination on the landscape".

See earlier posting on John Glover and his controversial eucalyptus trees.

Episode One also pays tribute to Dorchester's Tom Roberts.

At times the narrative tends to follow the standard "new nation" collective-consciousness-building and identity-affirming art historical line, about native-born-and-bred dinkum Aussies being the only artists to see, feel and depict the landscape as it "really is" (ie colonial period European artists could never really feel at home, and never got it right).

For further "popular" reading about the convict period and about the Aboriginal people of Tasmania (and Flinders Island):

The Fatal Shore, Robert Hughes
English Passengers, Matthew Kneale.

English Passengers is an imaginative work of fiction.