Thomas Watling b. 1762

Also known as Thomas Watlin
  • Artist (Painter)
Painter, author and convict from Dumfries, Scotland, Watling was transported to Sydney in 1792. Most of Watling's work are of natural history subjects but there are also many sensitive portraits of Aboriginal figures and a few landscape views, which serve as invaluable records of early colonial life.
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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

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References [<ExternalResource: Watling, T. (c.1794), 'Letters from an Exile at Botany Bay to his Aunt in Dumfries', Penrith, Scotland, (reprint, Sydney 1945).>, <ExternalResource: Smith, B. (1960), 'European Vision and the South Pacific 1768 1850', Melbourne, Victoria (with A. Wheeler, eds), (2nd edn, Yale, 1986).>, <ExternalResource: Gladstone, H. (1933), 'Thomas Watling, Limner of Dumfries', Dumfries, Scotland, and/or Transactions of the Dumfriessshire and Galloway Natural History Antiquarian Society 1938, 76 pp.>, <ExternalResource: Thomas, D., North, I., & McCarthy F. (1972), 'The Australian Landscape'.>] [<ExternalResource: Watling, T. (c.1794), 'Letters from an Exile at Botany Bay to his Aunt in Dumfries', Penrith, Scotland, (reprint, Sydney 1945).>, <ExternalResource: Smith, B. (1960), 'European Vision and the South Pacific 1768 1850', Melbourne, Victoria (with A. Wheeler, eds), (2nd edn, Yale, 1986).>, <ExternalResource: Gladstone, H. (1933), 'Thomas Watling, Limner of Dumfries', Dumfries, Scotland, and/or Transactions of the Dumfriessshire and Galloway Natural History Antiquarian Society 1938, 76 pp.>]
Related works
  • Ciliary Warbler (silver-eye) (creator of)
  • Sun Rising--Going out of Port-Jackson Harbour (creator of)
  • Dayes's View (creator of)
  • Blake's View (creator of)
  • A Direct North General View of Sydney Cove, the Chief British Settlement in New South Wales; as it appeared in 1794, being the 7th year of its Establishment (creator of)
  • Ciliary Warbler (silver-eye) (creator of)
  • Sun Rising--Going out of Port-Jackson Harbour (creator of)
  • Dayes's View (creator of)
  • Blake's View (creator of)
Related events
  • The Australian Landscape (exhibited at)