Johanna Hildebrandt Series: The Changing Landscape
Dry Riverbed with Finches is one of my very favourite paintings by Johanna Hildebrandt and I envy Andrew's friend Allan who is the proud owner of the painting. Allan owns several Hildebrandt paintings which, if you missed seeing them, can be seen in the previous post Johanna Hildebrandt Series: Bountiful Birds.
Today we will enjoy the penultimate post in this series with a showcasing of Hildebrandt landscapes.
Throughout the series you have seen many paintings by Johanna where she has painted the creatures and foliage of the Australian rainforests (in the main) against a backdrop of filtered light especially from the moon.
Dance at Sunset is a beautiful work where Johanna has exploited her own talent with brush and paint to create an image of the glorious gentle rising of the sun across the barren landscape. And we also see once more a delightful marriage of reality with fancy.
Johanna's more recent works whilst continuing to focus on native Australian creatures and the vegetation around them are no longer visions of tropical lushness and the brilliant colours it exposes.
The palette in Johanna's recent paintings is far more subtle and transports us to a land further outback where the red earth rules and often camouflages its native inhabitants.
Johanna has emphasised in her bio that:
As long as I can remember, I loved roaming the countryside. To this day I still do a lot of walking in the wilderness and always come away feeling refreshed and full of inspiration. The natural environment, particularly when it is wild and untouched, still has a profound impact on me.1
The harmony of life remains paramount in all the more recent Hildebrandt paintings and even if the landscape has become more barren and drier, the creatures are at one with their environment.
Please note that Johanna's background in Naive art remains in the repetition of patterns found in the trees, grasses, plants, rocks and their furry, feathered and scaly companions.
The love of the brilliantly exquisite characteristics of tropical plants are now receiving some attention and have arrived bold and beautiful heralding perhaps another artistic style path which Johanna is exploring.
We conclude today with a double panelled painting where a careful observation reveals all the characteristics of Johanna's style as it has matured over the past 40 years or so. The happy dance of birds against the summer sunrise where the light of the coming day begins to cover the countryside. And flanked on each side like bookends is an exquisite pattern of subtly patterned flowers embracing all that is good in life.
If you are yet to explore Johanna's website please click on the image below to be taken further into her virtual studio.
© Thank you to Johanna Hildebrandt who kindly gave permission for the images of her works to be shared on AnArt4Life and for providing assistance in the preparation of the posts on her works. All the paintings displayed were created in acrylic paints on canvas. She has had more than 20 Solo Exhibitions in Australia, Japan and Germany and has taken part in many important group shows internationally.
And a special thank you to the Collector Andrew from the Hunter Valley Region of New South Wales for sharing his Johanna Hildebrandt collection.
Andrew would also like to give a plug to Clare Farrelly who does such a wonderful and professional job of photographing these paintings so that they can be presented in such a way which is fitting to be showcased on the AnArt4Life blog.
Credits
1.https://www.artsyshark.com/2015/05/29/featured-artist-johanna-hildebrandt/
2. https://www.jhildebrandt.com.au/
3. Correspondence with Andrew Johns