Conrad Martens b. 1801

Also known as C. M.
  • Artist (Draughtsman),
  • Artist (Printmaker),
  • Artist (Painter)
Well-travelled (South America, South Pacific and Australasia) English colonial watercolourist, oil painter, lithographer, sketcher and landscape artist who is one of the better known 19th century artists of Sydney. Martens kept good records and was able to make a living out of his work. However, he did work as a librarian and sometimes paid off wine bills with drawings.
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exhibited at
The Australian Landscape
Date
1972 - 1973
Place
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
Description

“The Australian Landscape” was a national touring exhibition organised by the Australian Gallery Directors’ Council in 1972. The organising gallery was the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the curators were Daniel Thomas (Art Gallery of New South Wales) Ian North (Art Gallery of South Australia) and Frances McCarthy [later Lindsay] (National Gallery of Victoria). Generous funding from the Peter Stuyvesant foundation enabled the curators to travel the country together in order to make considered judgements.
The exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 3 March 1972, and toured to the Western Australian Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Australian National Gallery (temporary premises), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle City Art Gallery, and the Queensland Art Gallery.
The catalogue introduction claims that the exhibition comprised of 'fifty-five of the best Australian landscapes ever executed’. It was characterised by a breadth of vision, with works from every state – including regional galleries and private collections. It is distinguished by having a greater emphasis on colonial works than previous exhibitions, and elevating the reputation of Eugene Von Guerard and John Glover.
There were only two works by women – Grace Cossington Smith and Margaret Preston– and none by any Aboriginal artist.

Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Sydney International Exhibition
Date
1879 - 1880
Place
Garden Palace, Sydney, New South Wales
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
New South Wales Academy of Art
Date
1875
Place
Sydney, New South Wales
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Art unions
Date
c.1875 - c.1877
Place
New South Wales
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Sydney Intercolonial Exhibition
Date
1870
Place
Exhibition Building, Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Ballarat Mechanics Institute exhibition
Date
1869
Place
Ballarat, Vic.
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
London International Exhibition
Date
1862
Place
London, England, UK
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Paris Universal Exhibition
Date
1855
Place
Paris, France
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Victorian Fine Arts Society
Date
1853
Place
Melbourne, Victoria
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Works of Colonial Artists
Date
1848
Place
Adelaide, South Australia
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia
Date
c.1847 - c.1849
Place
Sydney, New South Wales
Description
Type
Exhibition
exhibited at
Hobart Town Art Exhibition
Date
1845
Place
Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land , Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
Description
Type
Exhibition

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References [<ExternalResource: Thomas, D., North, I., & McCarthy F. (1972), 'The Australian Landscape'.>, <ExternalResource: Dundas, D. (1966), 'Conrad Martens', Australian Dictionary of Biography, ed. Pike, D., Melbourne, Vic, vol. 2.>, <ExternalResource: (1976), 'The Respectable Sydney Merchant: A.B. Spark of Tempe', eds. Abbott, G. & Little, G., Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Bonyhady, T. (1985), 'Images in Opposition', Melbourne, Vic.>, <ExternalResource: Ellis, Elizabeth (1994), 'Conrad Martens: selected sketches 1835-1872', State Library of NSW, Sydney.>, <ExternalResource: Kerr, J. (1983), 'Our Great Australian Architect Edmund Thomas Blacket (1817-1883)', Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Keynes, R.D. (1979), 'The Beagle Record', London, England, UK.>, <ExternalResource: Lindsay, L. (1968), 'Conrad Martens: The Man and his Art', Sydney, NSW, revised edition.>, <ExternalResource: (1988), 'The Artist and the Patron', eds. McDonald, P. R. & Pearce, B, Art Gallery of NSW catalogue, Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Nicholas, F. W. & Nicholas, J. M. (1989), 'Charles Darwin in Australia', Cambridge, England, UK.>, <ExternalResource: Pearce, B. (1979), 'Conrad Martens: The H.B.W. Chester Memorial Collection Sydney', Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Sayers, A. (1989), 'Drawing in Australia', Canberra, ACT.>, <ExternalResource: Smith, B. (1984), 'European Vision and the South Pacific', Sydney, NSW, revised edition.>, <ExternalResource: Steele, J. G. (1978), 'Conrad Martens in Queensland', Brisbane, Qld.>, <ExternalResource: Terry, M. (1984), 'Conrad Martens and the Zig Zag Railway', Art and Australia vol. 21, no. 4.>, <ExternalResource: (1986), 'Conrad Martens: Bush Trails and Squatters' Runs', Armidale, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Martens, C., 'Correspondence and Notebooks', Dixon Library and Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney.>, <ExternalResource: Gray, J. (1959), 'Conrad Martens', BA thesis, University of Melbourne, Vic.>, <ExternalResource: Organ, M. (1987), 'Conrad Martens in the Illawarra 1835: In search of the picturesque', Wollongong, NSW, typescript.>, <ExternalResource: (1851), 'Almanac', W. & F. Ford, Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Sydney Morning Herald, 1847-07-26; 1849-12-27; 1855-03-22.>, <ExternalResource: Information sourced from Lennon, J.>, <ExternalResource: Ellis, Elizabeth (1994), 'Conrad Martens: life & art', State Library of NSW, Sydney.>, <ExternalResource: Dundas, D. (1961), 'Australia as seen by Conrad Martens', Etruscan, March-June (reprinted Australasian Antique Collector, vol. 1, 1966).>] [<ExternalResource: Thomas, D., North, I., & McCarthy F. (1972), 'The Australian Landscape'.>]