Frederick McCubbin: The North wind
Phip Murray with Michael Varcoe-Cocks
National Gallery of Victoria
A year-long conservation project, undertaken by Michael Varcoe-Cocks with Raye Collins, Daryl Howard and MaryJo Lelyveld in 2014, revealed Frederick McCubbin’s The North wind (c.1888) was subjected to significant ‘interventions’ that altered the presentation of the artist’s original work, before entering the NGV’s collection in 1941. The complexities of restoring the work, and the research conducted over several years, are documented in this e-book complemented by a ‘behind the scenes’ video.
Frederick McCubbin, The North wind, c.1888, oil on canvas on plywood, 91.9 x 152.3cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 1941
Currently back on display in the gallery, the iconic Australian Impressionist era painting celebrates Australian colonial life in the late 19th century. A young family journey through swirling red dust; the woman and child, and their modest possessions, ride in a horse-drawn cart while man and dog continue on foot making their way ‘down a bush track, buffeted by the treacherous ‘north wind’ – equally faced by NGV staff in this extensive, and intensive, project. The publication begins with McCubbin’s early years as a coach painter, but ‘the ‘charms of painting’ exerted a powerful influence’ and in 1872 he entered the National Gallery School, part of the National Gallery of Victoria. There he remained as a student for 14 years and professor until his death in 1917. A fascinating insight into his artistic process, developing chapters discuss his explorative course from academic training to painting en plein-air. Heidelberg School artist camps held between 1885 and 1890, consequential in the birth of Australian Impressionism, are detailed and coincide with the creation of The North wind.
The following chapters detail how posthumous changes – including reformatting canvases, reframing, restoring areas of damage and adding a new signature or date – inadvertently created ambiguities and complications that now represent considerable technical and philosophical challenges for conservators. Through research and the aid of modern technologies such as x-rays, ultraviolet imagery, microscopic examination and the support of Australian Synchrotron with ‘beam time’, NGV was able to study and differentiate the changes and revisions McCubbin made in the course of painting to those made at a later date. These findings include a lush and green composition later replaced by McCubbin in favour of an arid landscape and an alternative narrative that involved a lone male figure. In contrast, the sky, which covers almost half the composition, remained relatively untouched. McCubbin’s colour palette and light and shadow techniques contend that he was more experimental in his work than previously acknowledged, proposing new areas of research into his art practice and a re-evaluation of his contribution to a pivotal period in Australian art.
