Theme



Oil on canvas mounted on board, 121.9cm x 182.6cm Felton Bequest Fund 1932 National Gallery of Victoria
 * Shearing The Rams ** 1888 – 1890 Tom Roberts

“//Shearing the Rams” was painted by Tom Roberts (b.1856 Eng), an Immigrant at 13, who at 25 travelled back to his homeland to study and travel through Europe. He learning at first hand the revolution Impressionism was creating from Paris right through Europe. On his return to Australia in 1885 he was instrumental in establishing first hand contemporary European painting knowledge in Australia at the Box Hill art camp. In 1888 Roberts visited Brocklesby Station near Corowa and made studies for “Shearing the Rams”. Although many shearing sheds were mechanized by this time, Roberts purposely chose the hand shears and the traditional shed structure and practice as his subject. The direct and human relationship between the shearer, the rams and the raw traditional setting resonate still as a solid Australian ethos. The painting represents three generations of farming practice, from the older tally hand through the manly shearers to the young rouseabout (who interestingly was female). All are important members of the team. The rams are the most challenging sheep to shear. Strong, independent and uncooperative, they test the shearer and the shed system, They also return the greatest fleece of wool. Tom Roberts is remembered for recognizing and recording the values of the Australian landscape and its people in heroic and mythological frameworks. His title as “father of Australian Landscape Painting” reflects the initial and enduring appreciation of Roberts’ perceptive vision and his faithfulness in recording it.// // “Shearing the Rams” is an Australian icon, a painting of Australia’s peak economic rural productivity. It measures the resources and strength of individual and team against an idea of an indifferent nature and reflects the focus across generations which was necessary to maintain a viable system of production. Shearing the Rams was immediately understood and appreciated by the art and wider community. It is not strictly an “impressionist” painting, but successfully blends the traditional European salon mythological subjects with a vision of a raw and challenging land, heroic people and successful teamwork to build success. French Barbizon School painting, prefigured by artists such as Courbet and Bastien Le Page honoured the plain working people of the land, and yielded up many of the major figures of 20th Centruy art including Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh. Roberts would have seen the paintings of Courbet and Le Page whilst in Europe. // // “Shearing the Rams” is an ideal subject to commence the exploration of the Australian outback ethos and legends and how they provided a continuing framework for Australian society politics which endures to this day. From Waltzing Matilda, Click go the Shears to the shearer’s strike, the beginnings of the Labour Party, the separation of capital and labour and their respective rewards, the role of government in regulating labour in the interests of economic continuity for the wider community. Masculine values and generational roles. All these issues are embedded in “Shearing the Rams”. There is also a mysterious small shaped window which brings forward the future. This “outside world” element has fascinated art writers and allows for conjecture which would not normally be included in artworks of this kind. //