Arcadópolis
Down on His Luck
Frederick McCubbin, 1889
What you see
A bearded man in a wide-brimmed hat sits on a log at the left, head propped on one hand, eyes lowered. With the other hand he holds a thin stick over a small, smoking fire. A bundle of rolled blankets lies at his feet. A large trunk rises behind him, and on the right a clearing of dry grass opens between slender trees.
A muted range of ochres, browns and greyish greens dominates, as on an overcast day. White smoke drifts up on a diagonal, linking the figure to the clearing. Branches and grass are painted with fine strokes. Seek out the bluish leaves of the shrubs on the right and the dark pot beside the fire.
About Frederick McCubbin
Frederick McCubbin was born in Melbourne, where his parents ran a bakery, and taught drawing at the National Gallery of Victoria’s art school from 1886 until his death; his friends called him “the Proff” for his love of reading and philosophising. In 1885 he founded the Box Hill artists’ camp with Tom Roberts and Louis Abrahams, the seed of the Heidelberg School, and painted large scenes of life in the Australian bush, using his own family as models. Paintings such as “The Pioneer” and “Down on His Luck” became Australian icons, and many critics consider the works he made after a trip to Europe in 1907 the finest of his career.
More by Frederick McCubbin
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