A break away!

A break away!
Artist Tom Roberts
Year 1891
Type oil on canvas
Dimensions 137.3 cm × 167.8 cm (54.1 in × 66.1 in)
Location Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

A break away! is an 1891 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. The painting depicts a mob of thirsty sheep stampeding towards a dam. A drover on horseback is attempting to turn the mob before they drown or crush each other in their desire to drink.[1] The painting, an "icon of Australian art", is part of a series of works by Roberts that "captures what was an emerging spirit of national identity."[1]

Roberts painted the work at Corowa.[2] The painting depicts a time of drought, with little grass and the soil kicked up as dust.[1] The work itself is a reflection on the pioneering days of the pastoral industry, which were coming to an end by the 1890s.[1]

The painting is now part of the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.[3] It was included in Quintessence Editions Ltd.'s 2007 book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "'A break away!' by Tom Roberts". The Le@rning Federation. Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/for_teachers/sample_curriculum_content/tm_-_arts_and_design.html?showcaseObjectID=2072. Retrieved 5 November 2010. 
  2. ^ Smith, Abigail. "Roberts' The Breakaway". Tom Roberts' Australia. http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/s06/afsmith/another_direction.html. Retrieved 5 November 2010. 
  3. ^ "A break away!". Collections. Art Gallery of South Australia. http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Collection/detail.jsp?ecatKey=3137. Retrieved 5 November 2010. 
  4. ^ Farthing, Stephen; Sanderson, Terry (2007). 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die. London: Quintessence Editions Ltd. p. 513. ISBN 0789315246.

External links

Paintings
The Artists Camp (1885) · Wood splitters (1886) · Bourke Street (1886) · Coming South (1886) · The Sunny South (1887) · Slumbering Sea, Mentone (1887) · Shearing the Rams (1890) · A break away! (1891) · The Golden Fleece (1894) · Shearing Shed, Newstead (1894) · In a corner on the Macintyre (1894) · Bailed Up (1895) · The Big Picture (1903) · Country Road Makers (1923) · Washing Day, Kallista (c1923) · Sherbrooke Forest (1924)
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