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Tom Roberts wanted art to be the 'perfect expression of time and place'. In the heroic solitude of the
horserider, the powerful sweep of landscape and sky. A break away ! epitomises the new nationalism of the 1880s (as illustrated below).
In life as well as art, Roberts forged his own 'breakaway', the passionate group of artists who gathered at Heidelberg just outside Melbourne, to explore the new freedoms of impressionism.
They struggled with particularly Australian painting problems: harsh clear light, the heat haze shimmering through distance, and the unconventional landscape, unlike anything that European impressionism could capture.
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Setting up camp in the open air, a number of men and women artists, including Arthur Streeton and Frederick
McCubbin, gathered around Roberts, the acknowledged leader of the group. He dreamt of a 'great school of painting in Australia' and was determined to make painting outdoors the pivot for this new nationalism.
Source: Booklet accompanying the 1996 Masterpieces in Silver - Shaping a National Identity - Set.
Tom Roberts is featured on the following Australian coins:
1996 Five Dollars
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Last modified: 05 December, 2007
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