• 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.

Looking out over the glassy expanse of water to the clutter of wooden ships, boathouses, yards and mills, Long focuses the detail of this harbour landscape on the finely articulated curve of Berry’s Bay. The bay proved a favourite aspect for Long, who responded to the compositional rhythms created by the arabesque of the shoreline. A critic proclaimed the etching to be one of ‘two excellent panoramic subjects, managed with consistently light line and conspicuously effective detail’ (SMH, 12 December 1928).

Located to the west of the Waverton Peninsula and east of McMahons Point, the deepwater frontages of Berry’s Bay were used by the port and maritime industry from the late 19th century. The timber mill provided the materials for the construction of North Sydney’s cottages and churches during the early decades of the 20th century.

The headlands of Sydney’s North Shore drew artists such as Roland Wakelin, Rah Fizelle, Roy de Maistre, and brothers Percy and Lionel Lindsay, who painted and sketched in and around Berry’s Bay between the 1900s and 1930s. In 1916, working from the same vantage point as Long, Wakelin painted the iconic Down the hills to Berry’s Bay (AGNSW). In 1922 Lionel Lindsay had produced a mezzotint, A nook at Berry’s Bay, which brought into focus the boathouses along the foreshore that Long positions at the upper centre of his composition.

A copy of Berry’s Bay was first exhibited in 1926 at the ‘Sixth annual exhibition of the Australian Painter–Etchers’ Society’, Sydney, June–July (44). Copies of the print are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The print was previously dated 1927, but this has been revised on the basis of the date it was first exhibited.

Emma Kindred

Looking out over the glassy expanse of water to the clutter of wooden ships, boathouses, yards and mills, Long focuses the detail of this harbour landscape on the finely articulated curve of Berry’s Bay. The bay proved a favourite aspect for Long, who responded to the compositional rhythms created by the arabesque of the shoreline. A critic proclaimed the etching to be one of ‘two excellent panoramic subjects, managed with consistently light line and conspicuously effective detail’ (SMH, 12 December 1928).

Located to the west of the Waverton Peninsula and east of McMahons Point, the deepwater frontages of Berry’s Bay were used by the port and maritime industry from the late 19th century. The timber mill provided the materials for the construction of North Sydney’s cottages and churches during the early decades of the 20th century.

The headlands of Sydney’s North Shore drew artists such as Roland Wakelin, Rah Fizelle, Roy de Maistre, and brothers Percy and Lionel Lindsay, who painted and sketched in and around Berry’s Bay between the 1900s and 1930s. In 1916, working from the same vantage point as Long, Wakelin painted the iconic Down the hills to Berry’s Bay (AGNSW). In 1922 Lionel Lindsay had produced a mezzotint, A nook at Berry’s Bay, which brought into focus the boathouses along the foreshore that Long positions at the upper centre of his composition.

A copy of Berry’s Bay was first exhibited in 1926 at the ‘Sixth annual exhibition of the Australian Painter–Etchers’ Society’, Sydney, June–July (44). Copies of the print are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The print was previously dated 1927, but this has been revised on the basis of the date it was first exhibited.

Emma Kindred