Arthur Streeton
1867 - 1943 Warbreccan 1928- oil on canvas
Streeton painted a number of works such as Warbreccan 1928 in which he portrayed the pastoral ideal, the image of Australia 'with the maximum of flocks and a minimum of factories'.
But, as in his early paintings, these often have an additional literary or symbolic meaning. In Warbreccan he used reflected shadows cast on the landscape by clouds to suggest that the pastoral Eden was threatened by an unseen force. These shadows might be seen as an ominous portent of the economic catastrophe to come, when there was a drop in the price of wool from about sixteen pence to eight pence per pound. Certainly, after the depression there was a change in the balance of the Australian economy, a move away from a dependence upon the land towards industry.
Streeton's imagery is now part of our everyday life. Found on postage stamps, book covers and diaries, his paintings have come to typify the popular image of real Australia. Anne Gray, Getting to know you: Arthur Streeton, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia, 21 April - 16 June 1996, p6