ELIOTH GRUNER

Gayfield Shaw, Sydney
W. A. Little, Sydney; purchased from the above in 1921
Mrs M. S. Atwill, Sydney;
thence by descent to Sir John and Lady Atwill, Sydney

Society of Artists' Annual Exhibition, Education Department Gallery, Sydney, 10 September - 1 October 1921, cat. 183, lent by W. A. Little, as 'Mingoolah Valley'

During the latter part of 1920, Elioth Gruner was travelling and painting in northern New South Wales, at Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, Inverell, Mingoola and Tenterfield. Early in 1921 he was at Murwillumbah, where he was inspired to paint the large, panoramic Valley of the Tweed, 1921, commissioned by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and subsequently awarded the Wynne Prize for that year.

This was a richly productive time for Gruner, his numerous works including a group of paintings of Mingoola, a small rural community on the Mole River, in the Northern Tablelands, near Tenterfield. He completed two versions of Mingoola Valley, painted direct from nature, as was his custom (he mistakenly wrote 'Mengoolah Valey' in his ledger). While the viewpoints are slightly different and the horse and rider are absent from the companion work, they also capture the scene at different though related times of the day. Characteristic of the best of Gruner, they are painted into the light, portraying the gum tree and scattered slender trunks in silhouette. The absence of shadows and sun-drenched haze in one suggests midday. In the present painting, the deeper colours of the light-filled landscape represent the scene later in the day, as the cows are herded homeward. Mingoola Valley is a particularly fine example of Gruner's mastery in portraying the light and atmosphere particular to a place and time.

We are most grateful for assistance in cataloguing this painting from  Steven Miller, Archivist, Art Gallery of New South Wales, who is compiling a catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.