Charles Conder - All on a Summer's Day

Charles Conder (1868-1909) - All on a Summer's Day (1888)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Art Gallery of South Australia

Charles Conder lived in Australia for only seven years, but he was a key figure from the Heidelberg school of painting, which was responsible for the divergence of "western" Australian art in a modern sense.  This painting was completed at the time when Conder was living in Melbourne and is typical of the light filled paintings of the Australian landscape.  A woman reads a book on the beach, while another artist is also shown on a cliff top with his easel.  Conder left Australia in 1890 to go back to England, but his Australian work remains critically acclaimed.  "Holiday at Mentone" has also been used on postage stamps.

Singapore Street Scenes - Artist Unknown

Singapore Street Scenes - Paintings of Chinatown - Artist Not Specified

Singapore Stamp Issued 1989

Although the Singapore postal authority promoted this stamp issue as an art series, they did not specify the artists who were responsible for the creation of these lively paintings that depict colourful Singapore street scenes of Chinatown through the years.   The scenes of Temple Street and Pagoda Street do not differ markedly from the Singapore of today, except that things have been cleaned up a lot.  This is wonderful neighbourhood architecture that has thankfully be retained by this young and fast growing country. 

Arthur Streeton - Impression for Golden Summer

Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) - Golden Summer, Eaglemont (1889)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

This is one of many well known paintings by Arthur Streeton, who was one of the most influential artists of the impressionist Heidelberg School in the late 1800s in Australia, along with Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.

Streeton lived and worked on the outskirts of Melbourne for much of his life - this work shows a typical scene in country Australia, with long shadows creeping over the fields of sheep - light bathes the scene in a typically Australian style.

Other work by Streeton has been depicted on Australian stamps:

One Penny Fare, McMahons Point .

His contemporaries included:

Frederick McCubbin

Tom Roberts

Frederick McCubbin - Petit Dejeuner

Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917) - Petit Dejeuner (1889)

Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

This painting depicts everyday life in the pioneering times, which was typical of McCubbin's work.  He was one of the leading influences of the Australian impressionist movement, being part of the Heidelberg School of Art in Victoria in the late 1800s.  This is one of his earlier works, before he began to paint in the Australian landscape on the outskirts of Melbourne. 

His more famous works are those that depict everyday pioneering life in the Australian bush.  The people depicted in his paintings modeled in his studio, but they still fitted into the natural bush scenes in a harmonious manner.  On the Wallaby Track has also been depicted on an Australian stamp.  

Tom Roberts - Impression Mentone

Tom Roberts (1856-1931) - Mentone (1888)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Victoria

This painting was completed at the height of the Heidelberg School on the outskirts of Melbourne in the late 1800s.  Tom Roberts developed a very very Australian style of impressionist paintings, where the Australian sunlight almost whitewashes the paintings in golden yellows and whites - truly typical of the Australian summer.

Roberts was known for his landscape paintings, in addition to being revered during his time.  Other paintings of his have been used on Australian stamps:

Opening of the Australian Parliament House, 1901

Shearing the Rams, 1888

Sidney Nolan - Antarctica

Australian Antarctic Territory 39c Stamp Issued 1989

In 1989, four Sidney Nolan landscape paintings were issued for the Australian Antarctic Territory.

These paintings were originally completed by Nolan in 1964 when he went on a two week trip to Antarctica.