New Zealand-born Elioth Gruner (1882–1939) is celebrated for his plein-air paintings capturing the ephemeral effects of sunlight and shadow on the landscape. He was awarded the Wynne Prize for landscape painting seven times. Norman Lindsay wrote that Gruner, ‘watched for those clear colourless dawns to arrive, with a palette set to a key that would paint the unpaintable, light itself.’ Lindsay drew this portrait of his friend around 1922. By that time Lindsay was living in the Blue Mountains, having established his reputation as a prolific artist proficient in pen and ink drawing, etching, woodcuts, painting and sculpture.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Vincent Day and John Bradley 2017
© A., C. and H. Glad
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