A book of trees at Bombay on the Shoalhaven, Tallaganda, 2003
John R Walker
Gouache and ink on Chinese paper
759.9944/3
Another of Walker’s passions as an artist is the Australian flora, in particular, trees. This concertina artist book features the Bombay swimming hole on the Shoalhaven River in the Tallaganda National Park near Braidwood. Walker provides a snapshot of tree species in the region, including the snowgum and ironbark.
Courtesy of Utopia Art Sydney
Across
its thousands of hectares, Tallaganda National Park plays host to a huge
variety of environments. Up at its highest points, you’ll discover subalpine
snow gums and even high-altitude swamp. On the eastern side of the Great
Dividing Range, you’ll find tall, moist forest dominated by ribbon gum and
narrow-leaved peppermint, while on its west slopes are forests of mountain gum.
Walker’s artwork is widely represented in major
galleries and collections throughout Australia, including the Art Gallery of
New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia, and he is a multiple
Archibald Prize finalist.
An exemple of contemporary artistic representations of NSW landscapes and flora, enhancing
the Library’s rich collection of artist books.
The
Shoalhaven River stretches from its mouth at Shoalhaven Heads through to the
Eastern side of the Great Dividing Range southwest of Sydney. It is 300
kilometres long. Bombay Swimming hole is linked to the Shoalhaven River, one
kilometre away. It’s the local swimming hole for Braidwood residents.
The Library recently acquired two unique
artists’ books by the significant NSW landscape painter John Walker. These
books are presented in concertina format, allowing the panorama and scenes
within to be viewed both as stretching vistas and individual vignettes.