Summary

Oil painting entitled 'Fruit', painted by Alice Chapman (1860-1929) around 1888. The painting was exhibited in the 1888 Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne. Two other paintings by the same artist were also exhibited then - 'Sitting in State' and 'Gretchen.' The three paintings were donated by the artist's grand-niece.

Physical Description

Framed oil painting depicting a still life of fruit, likely grapes, quinces, peaches, apples, a pumpkin and bay leaves.

Significance

Reason for Acquisition: The Supplementary File contains details about the artist and other work which she painted. She was born in 1860 at Inglewood, and died in 1929. She studied art at the gallery in Melbourne and was a contemporary of members of the Heidelberg School. She painted a number of portraits of local government officials and other dignatories, and was a member of the Victorian Artists' Society. She was elected an Honorary Life Governor of the Bendigo Art Gallery in 1894. A contemporary newspaper reported that 'Miss Chapman's method of work is most sound, always as a preliminary step making charcoal and crayon studies of her subjects, and frequently smaller studies in colour of the intended pict- ure. She paints freely, and with a firm touch, but ... she avoids the impress- ionist's hurried and merely suggestive style...'

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