The city of Melbourne prides itself on its reputation as 'Australia's cultural capital', and its development from an outpost shanty town to an antipodean metropolis is a fascinating journey. From the very birth of the colony, art has documented and communicated the growing mythology and history of Melbourne, which in turn has contributed to our collective understanding of its cultural narrative.
In Far-famed City, this story was told through historical and contemporary works of art drawn from the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Collection, the Vizard Foundation Art Collection of the 1990s, and supplemented by borrowed artworks from contemporary artists such as David Waldeton and Jon Campbell. With works ranging in date from the 1840s through to 2013, the exhibition took viewers on a journey through Melbourne, encompassing the technical, pictorial and imaginative aspects of representing its topography, whether through panoramic mapping, tropes of the picturesque and pastoral, or nostalgic attempts to reconstruct past urban landscapes.
The exhibition included paintings, prints, drawings and photographs by Howard Arkley, John Brack, Louis Buvelot, Louise Hearman, Tim Jones, Leah King Smith, Conrad Martens, Charles Nettleton, John Skinner Prout, John Shirlow, David Wadelton and Napier Waller among others.
Curated by Chris McAuliffe.
John Skinner Prout, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 1847, lithograph and watercolour, 22.5 x 35.6 cm (image). The University of Melbourne Art Collection. Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest, 1973.