Victorian Watercolours were the first works of Art purchased by the fledgling Art Gallery Of New South Wales in 1874. For the following three decades British watercolours by living artists were actively acquired. Greatly prized in their day and more affordable than oil paintings, watercolours were viewed as highly appropriate additions to emerging colonial galleries, as well as providing an educational role for students and aspiring artists.
This exhibition marks the first time in over a century, that so many of the Gallery’s Victorian watercolours have been hung together in its historic rooms, designed in the 1890’s by Walter Liberty Vernon to showcase such pictures to best effect. The walls have been specially decorated and painted to evoke the atmosphere of a watercolour exhibition in the nineteenth century.
The exhibition is on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until the 3rd December.
