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Tom ROBERTS | The towpath, Putney

Tom ROBERTS
England 1856 – Kallista 1931 AD
Australia from 1869; England, Europe 1881- 85, 1903-23

The towpath, Putney 1904 , oil on canvas
25.3 (h) x 40.7 (w) cm
not signed. not dated.
Reference: 383 Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth

A brush with Turner reinvigorated the light in Tom's work

Looking at Tom Robert's later works of London, you can see how he's harnessed his love of light to transform the city.

The towpath, Putney, painted around 1904 is a deliciously milky wash, filled with whites and creams and greys. The bridge in the background is almost lost in the fog with solitary figures by the river, one working at a boat and the other gazing across the waters. It's a beautifully immersive landscape, wonderfully rendered and capturing a moment in time by the Thames. Most of the work is water and sky.

Putney Bridge, London, painted perhaps a year later, has touches of pinks and blues, the immensity of the work is in the sky. Putney Bridge arches across the bottom of the painting but it's all about the light and the sky.

Looking at these works, it's no surprise that J.M.W Turner left his mark on Tom as an artist. When his good friend and artist Frederick McCubbin visited him in London in 1907, they met regularly and wandered the streets of London.

Together they viewed the recently discovered late work of Turner in the Tate. McCubbin was overwhelmed by these paintings, especially since most of the works on show had been painted at the end of Turner's life. He later wrote to Tom about the quality of light "they are most unfinished, they are divine."

There's little doubt that Turner's adventurous use of colour and the way he was able to convey light and air influenced Tom's work and helped to reinvigorate his passion for painting.