Johanna Hildebrandt Series: The Vivid Landscape
Johanna's paintings are exhibited in galleries all over Australia and she has had a very long list of solo and group exhibitions here in Australia and also overseas. She is also represented in many publications which you can check out by clicking here.
When Johanna moved to Australia she became inspired by the vibrance of the landscape and the vast array of amazing wild life and vegetation... afterall Australia is considered to be the oldest continent in the world at 4.4 billion years!!!
And many of our species resemble quite closely their prehistoric ancestors - just look at these crocodiles!!
In fact in many of the Hildebrandt paintings you do feel you have been transported about a few millions years back to a very different and very mythical landscape.
As discussed in the previous post in the series, in observing the Australian natural landscape around where she was living, Johanna saw the connections she has to her love of the painting style of post-impressionist artist Henri Rousseau. You can learn more about this by clicking on the image below.
But as you can see in most of the paintings Johanna's love of this landscape has gone far beyond recreating the scenes before her eyes!
When you look at one of her paintings there is an explosion of colour and intricate details which combine to take the viewer into another world - a world where fact and fancy merge into a mystical wonderland - an idealised and very peaceful world in harmony with all that exist on this plane.
The Green Tree Frog and Plumed Egrets and Orchids as shown below illustrate this amazing cacophony of colour and both paintings were included with a number of Johanna Hildebrandt paintings on "The House of Bodleigh" greeting cards in 1991.2
As Johanna has emphasised:
In my paintings I depict the magical colours of the tropics and the vivid flora and fauna of the rainforests. 1
Johanna not only creates in a vast array of startling colours, she loves to play with the ever changing dramatic light which is found in the Australian landscape.
And the moon and its subtle filtering of light through the trees and plants is a frequent feature in many of her paintings as you can see in many displayed in this post.
As Andrew has commented: I'm noticing many of Johanna's paintings are night time paintings, often with a full moon... the time that you get to see many of our nocturnal or semi nocturnal very special wildlife. 2
As happens with all artists, their style gradually changes and this is shown in Wombats in Button Grass below. We will look at some more of Johanna's more recent paintings in a little while.
The paintings you are viewing in this post all come from Andrew's collection and he has commented that:
This painting was created several years later 2007 quite some time after the last painting of Johanna's that I purchased in 1997. Johanna painted this one along with several others after a trip to Tasmania.2
If you have fallen in love with Johanna Hildebrandt's view of the Australian landscape and want to see and learn more click on the wombat and you will be taken to Johanna's website.
Tomorrow Andrew and I will enjoy a showcasing Austrlian bird life through the eyes and hands of Johanna Hildebrandt.
© 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.jhildebrandt.com.au/
2. Correspondence with Andrew Johns