Sydney
LONG
Australia
1871
–
London
1955
England, Europe 1910-21; Australia 1921- 22; England 1922-25; Australia 1925-52; England from 1952
27.2 (h) x 17.2 (w) cm
3/30 , published state , edition of 30 , watermark lower left, 'DAVID STRANG'
Signed lower right below plate-mark in black pencil, 'Sydney Long'. Not dated. Inscribed with edition details lower left below plate-mark in black pencil, '3/30'.
Reference: Mendelssohn (1979), 56; Paul (1928), 54 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra NGA 1977.9.60 The Stephen Collection, purchased 1976. Reproduced with the kind permission of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia
- J.W.F. Stephen, who formed a definitive collection of the etched work of Sydney Long. J.A.C. Stephen, the artist’s son, by descent. Purchased by the Australian National Gallery, from J.A.C. Stephen, Sydney, 1977.
In Fishing boats, Lisbon, Long depicted fishing boats moored in the harbour at Lisbon, Portugal. He used the sharp lines of etching to express his delight in the pattern created by the strong vertical and triangular shapes of the masts, ropes and tightly furled sails, and contrasted this with the horizontal massing together of the hulls of the boats. He captured a sense of stillness through the reflections in the barely rippling water.
Long visited Lisbon in March 1921, on his voyage to Australia on the SS Calulu, and may have made a sketch for this etching at that time. He wrote: ‘Here I am just off Lisbon we are going in there tonight for a cargo of corks and will be there for a few hours only … we are still rolling horribly’ (Long, 16 March 1921).
Fishing boats, Lisbon was one of two prints with that title first exhibited in 1924 at the ‘Fourth annual exhibition of the Australian Painter–Etchers’ Society’, Sydney, 1–13 December (67 or 69) and the ‘Royal Art Society of NSW exhibition’, Sydney (155 or 157). A copy of this print is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. After 1928 Long made another etching Fishing boats, Lisbon (AGNSW), which is more representational, showing the boats more widely spread out and without a similar patterning of the masts.
In Fishing boats, Lisbon, Long depicted fishing boats moored in the harbour at Lisbon, Portugal. He used the sharp lines of etching to express his delight in the pattern created by the strong vertical and triangular shapes of the masts, ropes and tightly furled sails, and contrasted this with the horizontal massing together of the hulls of the boats. He captured a sense of stillness through the reflections in the barely rippling water.
Long visited Lisbon in March 1921, on his voyage to Australia on the SS Calulu, and may have made a sketch for this etching at that time. He wrote: ‘Here I am just off Lisbon we are going in there tonight for a cargo of corks and will be there for a few hours only … we are still rolling horribly’ (Long, 16 March 1921).
Fishing boats, Lisbon was one of two prints with that title first exhibited in 1924 at the ‘Fourth annual exhibition of the Australian Painter–Etchers’ Society’, Sydney, 1–13 December (67 or 69) and the ‘Royal Art Society of NSW exhibition’, Sydney (155 or 157). A copy of this print is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. After 1928 Long made another etching Fishing boats, Lisbon (AGNSW), which is more representational, showing the boats more widely spread out and without a similar patterning of the masts.
In Fishing boats, Lisbon, Long depicted fishing boats moored in the harbour at Lisbon, Portugal. He used the sharp lines of etching to express his delight in the pattern created by the strong vertical and triangular shapes of the masts, ropes and tightly furled sails, and contrasted this with the horizontal massing together of the hulls of the boats. He captured a sense of stillness through the reflections in the barely rippling water.
Long visited Lisbon in March 1921, on his voyage to Australia on the SS Calulu, and may have made a sketch for this etching at that time. He wrote: ‘Here I am just off Lisbon we are going in there tonight for a cargo of corks and will be there for a few hours only … we are still rolling horribly’ (Long, 16 March 1921).
Fishing boats, Lisbon was one of two prints with that title first exhibited in 1924 at the ‘Fourth annual exhibition of the Australian Painter–Etchers’ Society’, Sydney, 1–13 December (67 or 69) and the ‘Royal Art Society of NSW exhibition’, Sydney (155 or 157). A copy of this print is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. After 1928 Long made another etching Fishing boats, Lisbon (AGNSW), which is more representational, showing the boats more widely spread out and without a similar patterning of the masts.
