The Art of Frederick McCubbin by Bridget Whitelaw is a definitive study of one of Australia’s most significant landscape and figure painters, Frederick McCubbin (1855–1917), a founding member of the Heidelberg School and a key figure in the development of Australian Impressionism.
 
Published by the National Gallery of Victoria to accompany a major exhibition, this book offers a comprehensive overview of McCubbin’s artistic journey — from his early realist works through to his evocative bush scenes and late romantic landscapes.
 
Whitelaw explores McCubbin’s role in shaping an Australian national identity through art, focusing on his human subjects, poetic engagement with the natural environment, and his influence on later generations of artists.
 
The volume includes detailed reproductions of McCubbin’s most celebrated works, including Lost (1886), Down on His Luck (1889), and The Pioneer (1904), accompanied by curatorial commentary and contextual essays on his life, style, and symbolism.
 
Bridget Whitelaw, a senior curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, has been widely recognised for her scholarship on Australian art and artists. Her work on McCubbin remains one of the most respected and authoritative studies on the artist.
 
Personally signed by Bridget Whitelaw to the half-title page.