RootsWeb is funded and supported by
Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community.
Learn more.
About Us | Contact Us | Copyright | Report Inappropriate Material
Corporate Information | Privacy | Terms and Conditions | CCPA Notice at Collection
Early Bellingen landscape artists* CLICK ANY PIC TO ENLARGE IN ANOTHER WINDOW * By
the commencement of the second millenium the New South
Wales mid-north coast town of Bellingen and its district
had become home to many engaged in artistic pursuits.
The best known earliest paintings of the district are by the renowned Australian landscape painter Elioth Gruner (1882-1939) who has often been referred to as ‘the last of the Australian Impressionists’. He was one of Australia's most popular painters in the 1920s and ’30s and was awarded the Wynne Prize seven times. The Wynne has been judged and awarded annually since 1897 by the trustees of the New South Wales Art Gallery for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or water colours or best figure sculpture by an Australian artist. His work is represented especially in the Art Gallery of NSW and is held by the galleries of all Australian mainland States and several regional galleries. When painting in the Bellinger River district he displayed works for sale in the office of the E. J. R. W. Raymond family garage then located at the western end of the town's main street. One of his paintings donated by the Hammond family who in 1909 built the extant Hammond & Wheatley shopping emporium in the town is held by the Bellinger River Historical Society Museum. Two of Gruner's best known works with Bellingen or Bellinger in their title appear immediately below. After his death decorative prints (art photos) of both were produced and sold and occassionally appear in second-hand shops and on Ebay. One gallery that sold framed prints of his ‘Bellingen pastoral’ was the Brooks Robinsons. It has been said it was painted from Marx Hill situated east of the town on the Waterfall Way. However clearly only the second work appearing below was of the scene as it was viewed from there in 1937 and, as there is no corresponding place in the Valley from which ‘Bellingen pastoral’ could have been painted it follows it was of another river and "Bellingen" in the title a misnomer perhaps bestowed when first offered for sale by a dealer?
Ern Mantova worked as a house decorator and signwriter and in 1904 married Emily Louisa Parker. By 1913 four children births were registered. Sometime after 1910 they must have divorced as under her maiden name Emily married Francis A Gumley at Mosman in Sydney in 1915. By 1913 Ern Mantova was the Kiama district representative for the AMP Society when on 13 April that year he rescued Catherine Frances Pollock née McDonnell from drowning whom he subsequently married in 1915. She had been carried out to sea at Storm Bay (Priest's Beach) when a strong undertoe was running in high seas and her husband John, who initially went to her rescue did not survive his own rescue. E. J. Mantova was awarded a Royal Humane Society Medal for the rescue. For a period during the great depression Ern was contracted to the Shell Company working on roving commissions doing signwriting and mural advertisments for its petroleum products. His second marriage also did not last and in 1931 he arrived in Bellingen where he was first listed in the electoral roll for 1938 with the occupation of signwriter living in Mary Street. In Bellingen where he remained a resident until he died after a short illness on 13 March 1952 he followed the occupations of signwiter and house painter and executed hundred's of landscape paintings of the river, town, and district which found a ready local market. What makes his work most appealing and collectible is the regional nature of the scenes depicted as they document a specific place. This always enhances a quality artist's value. Many consider in his best works he captured the "feel" of the Bellinger better than Elioth Gruner. Since 1971 an E. J. Mantova Memorial Art Competition has been held annually in conjunction with the Bellingen Agricultural Society Show. The four oils pictured immediately below were commissioned by a local businessman H. M. Raymond in the 1940s. ‘Bellingen - western approach’ c1945 by Ernest Mantova - oil 27 H x 35 W When "western approach" was painted the depicted sealed section of the road from Dorrigo ended only a short distance west of the town. Long gone the poplars and the shady jacaranda that strewed its blossoms upon bishop and swaggie alike. On the left now forest hiding the once Masonic Lodge now plays host to different rituals. Across the road upon the crowning ridge long gone the ‘Coronation Hall’ where folks danced and celebrated their nuptials but elsewhere in this now heritage protected street at least to the year 2013 had not sounded a demolition hammer. On the left down by the river, defying transience and testimony to the tranquility, on moonlit nights like questing witches in dark flights the flying foxes still swirl aloft. ‘Road to Bowraville’ c1945 by Ernest Mantova - oil 27 H x 35 W In Road to Bowraville, as the afternoon shadows fell just past the old entrance to Bellingen hospital, arguably at his best Mantova depicted the way ahead. CLICK here to request a free original size high resolution 4MB image of this picture with border suitable for printing and framing sent by email attachment. ‘Bellinger pastoral’ c1945 by Ernest Mantova - oil 27 H x 35 W By means of an approaching storm Mantova rendered this pastoral scene from the lower Bellinger River valley more dramatic than the depiction by Elioth Gruner of a similar scene featured at the top of the page. ‘Dorrigo Road’ c1945 by Ernest Mantova - oil 27 H x 35 W The road to Dorrigo, today named the Waterfall Way, when the bitumen surface ended before the first hill. The central mountain named "McGrath's Hump" is known to people of the local Gumbaynggirr aboriginal tribe as "Old Man Dreaming". 1945 gouache on card - 14 cm x 5 cm The above 14 cm wide gouache by Ernest J Mantova was painted atop a card signed on its' front by 67 attendees at an 80th birthday party held in August 1945 for Mrs. H. M. C. "Carrie" Raymond in the no longer existing Coronation Hall that was situated a few houses further east in Coronation Street. The scene depicted was as viewed from the entry gate to what is now number 10 in the street overlooking the road to Dorrigo (now the Waterfall Way). It was painted by the artist about the same time as the above featured oil was painted from lower down the road embankment. ‘From Marx Hill’ by Ernest Mantova image provided courtesy of Jacob Regeling ‘Bellingen River’ by Ernest Mantova image provided courtesy of Andy Serafin The above two identical in composition pictures were painted by E. J. Mantova from Marx Hill located on the Waterfall way a few kilometers east of Bellingen. There are several known versions of this scene painted by him from varying position on the hill including one uncompleted at the time of his death held by the Bellinger Valley Historical Society Museum. It would be surprising if in painting for an essentially local market Ern Mantova did not depict the trees along the banks of the river as they were at the time. As such the species in his above varies significantly from those depicted in the Gruner version of the same scene shown second down from the top titled ‘The Bellingen River’. The Gruner is somewhat enhanced by depicting mature jacarandas trees in flower on the river banks, where it would be expected other species such as the willows depicted in the Mantova's would have grown, and placement on the right side of a tall gum tree obsuring the farm lands on the northern river flats. However certainty as to which was the more accurate is not possible without knowing the respective dates they were painted. Click either above image for a comparison of the scene from Marx Hill as depicted by Ern Mantova with a photograph taken in 2012 from the realigned road further down the hill.
|