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James Waltham Curtis (1839-1901) was an eminent Australian colonial artist whose work lives on as a tribute to Australia’s early days of European settlement. His approach is of technical, poetic and historical interest, emphasizing man’s battle with a primeval landscape and nature, his picturesque landscapes being fine examples of the late 19th century period which preceded the Heidelberg School
Curtis was an English painter and illustrator who, it is believed, came to Australia during the Gold Rush. He was also an engraver, carving wooden etchings for the Illustrated Australian News.
Working with oil on canvas, he depicted the majestic gums which towered over the figures of European Australians going about their daily lives. He emphasised the size, age and splendour of the ancient trees and landscape versus the relative insignificance of the human beings. His works depict a world and environment that was vastly different from the European landscape, and which had existed for centuries before settlers came to tame it.
Indeed, unlike many of his contemporaries, Curtis used a linear, detailed approach to the trunks and foliage to capture as accurately as possible the unique characteristics of the Australian landscape, rather than “Europeanise” it.
His 1895 work, A Bushfire, depicts man’s battle against a raging, roaring fire. Amid the horses rearing up, it underlines the men’s inability to hold it back.
But an 1899 painting, 15 months after a Bushfire, Plenty Ranges, Victoria, illustrates the aftermath. It depicts how the earth has healed and regenerated, with little evidence of where the bushfire has been.
Curtis’ work plays an important part in the preservation of Australian history and is an excellent reminder of how life was in the latter part of the 19th century.
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