Charles Conder: 1868-1909
Conder and Art Nouveau

By the mid 1890s, Conder had become involved with the aesthetics of Art Nouveau – the idea that art should embrace all facets of life. This led him to broaden the scope of his work, becoming involved in book illustration and painting in watercolours on silk – fans, decorative panels, screens and ‘overdoors’, even decorating silk dresses.

Taste in London and Paris was moving away from a delight in naturalistic representation to embrace the world of the imagination. In Paris the Rococo art of the 18th century was being revived, driven by a new interest in Antoine Watteau’s idyllic pastorals, and by the poetry of Paul Verlaine whose Fêtes galantes re-created this lost civilisation. Conder loved Verlaine’s poetry and absorbed his imagery into his watercolours on silk. Lovers, courtesans, troubadours and poets mix with characters from the Commedia dell’arte (Italian comedy theatre) in an imagined world where all is intrigue and love. These works brought Conder contemporary fame around the turn of the century and remain an exquisite legacy of a lost world.

Charles CONDER
Great Britain 1868-1909
worked in Australia 1884-90
The awakening c.1905
watercolour and heightened with gold and white on silk
14.2 x 42.5 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Top image: detail