BMG Landscape Art Prize

LANDSCAPE ART PRIZE

John Peter Russell.

Artists such as Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse are ubiquitous when it comes to 20th Century Art. But what of the name, John Peter Russell.

Known as Australia's “lost impressionist,” not much is known of Russell’s work despite being the Australian artist at the centre of the Impressionist movement in the late 19th Century.

Russell who was born in Darlinghurst, the son of a successful engineer, moved to London in 1881 to study at the Slade School of Art. He developed a close friendship with Van Gogh whilst he studied at Atelier Cormon from 1885 to 1887. He met Monet in 1886 when he visited Belle-Île, a French island off the coast of Brittany. Russell painted with Matisse during the Summers of 1896 and 1897. During these meetings, Matisse learned about the Impressionist approach to colour from him.

Despite his relative obscurity, Russell was a major influence on the Bella Epoch and post-Impressionism which was the foundation of 20th century modern art as we know it today. Unfortunately, after losing his first wife to cancer in 1908, Russell destroyed most of his paintings and when he died in 1930, he did so without ever gaining notoriety in his home country.

In a tribute to Russell, Scenic Road Magazine is proud to announce the 2023 Behlau Murakami Grant Landscape Art Prize for landscape portraiture depicting the Scenic Rim. Of course, the Scenic Rim is no stranger to artists representing its majestic landscapes (Boonah’s Margaret Olley and Canungra’s Edwin Bode immediately spring to mind), however, the award hopes to showcase the region’s beauty and unearth perhaps Australia’s next unknown talent. The landscape art prize is open to artists across the region and beyond, and will culminate in the finalists being selected by a panel of judges, including lawyer Ron Behlau, who recently judged the Queensland College of Art’s prestigious Behlau Murakami Grant Portraiture Art Prize earlier this year.

"John Russell is an amazing story. Not many people know that an Australian influenced the development of Impressionism which led to post- Impressionism which was the bedrock of 20th Century art" said Behlau.

"Without landscape portraiture we would not have had all of the art movements of the 20th century. Therefore, we A would like to pay homage to unsung artists such as Russell, and in what better way than through the discipline of landscape portraiture." Submissions for the prize will close in March 2023, with the winner being announced in April 2023, and an exhibition of the finalists' works held later in the year.

BEHLAU , MI , GR A M URAK

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For more information on the 2023 Behlau Murakami Grant Landscape Art Prize please contact Melinda Laurence at melindal@bmglegal.com.au

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