Euan Macleod Essay Published Wednesday, 2 January 2002The
history of Australian painting places a significance on the
artist's depiction of the figures place in the landscape. Since
the colonial period artists have battlembol for historical and
contemporary contexts. Image: Ladder, 180 x 137cm; oil on
canvas; 1998. to the Colonial period it highlighted the pastoral
and the romantic, which evolved with the Heidelberg school where
the figure and the landscape captured the unique, impressionist
painting techniques and captured dual populist sentiments of the
heroic figure in the bush (Tom Roberts) as well as the threat
one faced of living or settling in the bush (Frederick
McCubbin). The perception of identity is amplified in the
depiction of the figure in the landscape; and it offers a real
and idealised account of Australia. This treatment of such an
archetypal representation of Australia has been explored by a
number of artists in an attempt to temper a particular
perspective that captures the Australian spir