Charles Conder
Charles Conder | 1868–1909 | Fruit Trees in Blossom, Algiers 1892 | Oil on canvas | 64.8 x 80.7cm | Purchased 1963 | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Fruit Trees in Blossom, Algiers 1892
After six years in Australia, Charles Conder returned to Europe in 1890. Forgoing his former square-brush plein-airisme, Conder now experimented with pure colour. He was struck by Monet’s work and followed his lead in visiting Normandy to paint the blossoming of spring, giving up a tonal palette in favour of pure colour. Flowering trees in spring became an enduring motif in Conder’s art.
In the Normandy and Algerian landscapes of the early 1890s, he employed a new combination of rich yet delicate colours — subtle pinks, blues, mauves and golds — approximating the mysterious suggestiveness of the new symbolist aesthetic. In Paris, he became part of an English-speaking international group including the American Maurice Prendergast, and the Canadian painter James Morrice.
By the mid 1890s, Conder was involved with the art nouveau style and philosophy — the idea that art should embrace all facets of life. This led him to broaden the scope of his work, working in book illustration and painting in watercolours on silk fans, decorative panels, screens and ‘overdoors’, even decorating silk dresses.
