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The national picture : the art of Tasmania's Black War
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The national picture : the art of Tasmania's Black War

by Tim Bonyhady, Greg Lehman

This study examines Benjamin Duterrau's paintings of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and George Frankland's visual communication strategies. It analyses these artworks as rare historical records of traditional cultural practices and colonial conciliation efforts.

Accession 13849 ISBN 9780642334763 Publisher National Gallery of Australia
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Curated Derived
Art History Painting Publications Writing
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position_updated_at
2026-06-04 12:52
orientation
vertical
Details

Physical

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Hard Back
dimensions
none captured
spine_text
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Metadata

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LOCATION HISTORY
M:N4:25 5 Current vertical
1 week, 3 days ago
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Identity

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The national picture : the art of Tasmania's Black War
vernon_id
22045
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13849
vernon_slug
the-national-picture-the-art-of-tasmanias-black-war-tim-bonyhady-and-greg-lehman

Drives Pulse state

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location_reason
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isbn_issn→ isbn (when valid)
9780642334763

Descriptive

production_date
2018
object_type
Books/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication, Exhibition catalogues/Catalogues/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication
object_status
Accessioned
brief_description
Benjamin Duterrau and his National picture project are at the core of this publication because he was the colonial artist most interested in Tasmania's Aboriginal people, and the only artist who chose to depict, on a substantial scale, their conciliation or pacification by George Augustus Robinson. While Duterrau's weaknesses as an artist are obvious, his limited skill largely saved him from bombast - a recurrent problem with history painting of his era. Despite the disappearance of much of his work, Duterrau also left us with a rich array of often striking images of individuals and subjects of great enduring significance, where there otherwise would be none. They provide us with a vital means of conjuring the past. For Tasmanian Aboriginal people today, Duterrau's paintings provide a tantalising and rare visual record of the unique culture practice of their ancestors. Robinson's journals offer written descriptions of activities, such as spear-making and throwing, kangaroo hunting and ceremonial dance, accompanied by only a scattering of small, often crude sketches, which are vitally important firsthand observations. But it was Duterrau, alone among colonial artists in Van Diemen's Land, who painted these scenes on a large scale. His anatomical modelling may be poor, but Duterrau's paintings have a sense of life that is not found elsewhere, and reflect his well-documented sympathy for Aboriginal people at the hands of a violent invading force. This publication is also framed around an image conceived by Tasmania's Surveyor-General George Frankland almost three years before Duterrau arrived in Hobart. The catalyst was Frankland's discovery that Aboriginal culture included a visual language. On a visit to the island's far north-west, he encountered drawings on trees and inside huts that included depictions of colonists. Words having manifestly failed because of the settlers' ignorance of Aboriginal languages, Frankland thought art could provide a novel means of communication and created a series of drawings that he described as depicting 'the cause of the present warfare' and the 'real wishes of the government' towards Aboriginal people: 'the desired termination of hostility'. His plan was that these drawings be reproduced and distributed around the bush, fastened on trees, where Aboriginal people were most likely to see them. He was so excited by this idea that, in February 1829, he wrote about it twice in the course of a week - to the colony's Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur, and to a member of the Colonial Office in London, advocating this use of pictures as an experiment worth trying since 'everything ought to be tried to accomplish a reconciliation'.

Subjects & people

authors→ author (initial fill only)
Tim Bonyhady, Greg Lehman
tags→ tags
Art, Arts, Graphic arts, Exhibition catalogues, Catalogues, Painting -- Australian, Tasmania -- History -- Black War, 1825-1831
subject_people
George Augustus Robinson (English, b.1791, d.1866)
subject_objects
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Cover image

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Topics and Themes