Focus on this artwork and analyze the Exhibition and reception.
The so-called "impressionist school" at Heidelberg has done some good after all.
Table Talk reported in May 1889 that Golden Summer, Eaglemont "abundantly testifies to [Streeton's] perfect sense of colour ... He paints summer effects as if he loved the country." When the painting appeared at the Victorian Artists Society's 1889 winter show, leading critic James Smith, while opposed to what he called "the impressionist fad", said Golden Summer "is the best example of this class of work in the exhibition."In April 1890, Arthur and Emma Minnie Boyd of the Boyd artistic dynasty took Golden Summer, Eaglemont to London, where, the following year as Golden Summer, Australia, it hung on the line at the Royal Academy, and in so doing became the first painting by an Australian-born artist to be exhibited there. In 1892, it appeared at the Paris Salon, initially receiving an honorable mention, and then a gold medal during a second appearance. One critic noted the popularity of Golden Summer with "the crowds that throng the Salon", saying that it was "simply impossible" to pass by the painting "as it is utterly different from any other picture in the vast collection". Likewise, Australian artist John Longstaff, then based in Paris, said the painting "created quite a sensation and stood out in oneness and quality all through everything else on the walls."In 1898, Golden Summer appeared at the Exhibition of Australian Art in London, where an English critic opined that it was "produced by a painter who sees with his own eyes", and that "its composition of light and shade ... [is] perhaps its strongest quality."
Arthur Emma Minnie Boyd Paris Salon Eaglemont Royal Academy Table Talk Exhibition of Australian Art in London Heidelberg James Smith John Longstaff Victorian Artists Society London on the line Boyd artistic dynasty