The suburb of Kingston, in the City of Logan to the south of Brisbane, was named after one of the first European land owners, Charles and Harriet Kingston. Kingston and his family arrived in Australia from England in 1857 and eventually the couple took up a selection of Crown land in 1872. Early industry was timber, supplying the local sawmill, and once enough land was cleared, expanding to farming of cotton and sugar, then branching out to dairy and fruit groves with the Kingston’s specialising in grapes and wine.
The Kingston’s successfully developed their property and then enjoyed even greater prosperity when the railway line from South Brisbane reached the area by 1885. In October that year, 72 subdivided blocks of land named ‘Kingston Railway Station Estate’ were advertised to be auctioned. A poster map advertising the auction shows that the blocks were close to the station and a selling feature were the picturesque views from both the railway and the estate.
The first railway in Brisbane was built in 1879, when the line from the western interior was extended to the city from Ipswich to Roma Street Station on the opposite side of the Brisbane River. South Brisbane Station on the corner of Melbourne and Grey Streets — originally known as Melbourne Street Station until 1891 with the opening of the current building — was intended as a temporary terminus, pending an extension of the line across the river, however this was not implemented until 1978 via the Merivale Bridge into Roma Street.
Melbourne Street Railway Station, c.1891
Kingston Railway Station Estate sale by auction poster, 1885
When the Kingston’s returned from a visit to England in 1888, local artist Oscar Friström was asked to record their success with Kingston Estate, South Coast Line 1888 (illustrated). The family went on to build ‘Kingston House’ overlooking the railway station in 1890, which with its large ballroom and tennis court, became the social centre for the district. That same year, the township was officially named Kingston, formalised by the Surveyor General, however the name was already in use after the railway went through.
Oscar Friström Kingston Estate, South Coast Line 1888
Trains at Roma Street Station, c.1880-90
Detail of the train depicted in Kingston Estate, South Coast Line 1888
Oscar Friström
A self-taught artist, Carl Magnus Oscar Friström (1856-1918) produced this high-vantage view of the Kingston’s estate featuring a circular paddock with post-and-rail fence and an orchard of fruit trees as cattle graze in a meadow nearby. A band of thick scrub forms a uniform barrier in the background confirming that the productivity of orchard and farm have been won from taming the Australian bush.
Born on the island of Sturkö off the south coast of Sweden, after Friström arrived in Australia he settled in Brisbane in 1884 where he first exhibited landscapes and recorded clients properties, but he soon became recognised as Queensland’s premier portrait painter, and turned to producing portraits of his clients and social identities rather than their properties. In 1885, he went into a partnership with the Elite Photo Co., and four years later opened his own studio in Adelaide Street and then in Queen Street by the following decade. During the 1890s, he was the art master at All Hallows’ Convent School.
Friström is an important figure in the history of Queensland art as he was, with LWK Wirth (1858 –1950) and Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902), co-founder of the Queensland Art Society in 1887 and a member of the Society’s first committee. The Queensland capital had few professional artists at the time and not until 1895 did the Queensland National Art Gallery open at temporary premises in the old Town Hall on Queen Street.
Queensland National Art Gallery, Brisbane Town Hall, 1895
Oscar Friström c.1911
Brisbane in the late Nineteenth Century
Brisbane was proclaimed a municipality in 1859 and became the capital of the newly independent Queensland that same year, however it was not gazetted a city until 1902. Originally the neighbouring City of Ipswich was intended to be the capital, but it proved to be too far inland. Between 1881 and 1891 metropolitan Brisbane’s population grew from 37,000 to 100,000, and at the time Oscar Friström painted Kingston Estate, South Coast Line, Queensland’s first permanent Customs House (1886-89) opened in Queen Street to collect duties on imported products as Brisbane became a busy port city. As documented by JA (Joseph Augustine) Clarke and Isaac Walter Jenner (both illustrated), the Brisbane river had nearly continuous wharves surrounding the Customs House from Petrie Bight to the Botanical Gardens, and opposite from Kangaroo Point to the Victoria Bridge at South Brisbane where the railway wharves were a terminus for the South Brisbane railway line that extended to Kingston.
Go back in time to discover Brisbane’s forgotten landmarks, delve into our historical past, and uncover unique stories through the work of Australian artists in QAGOMA’s Collection.
Customs House, 1889
Joseph Augustus Clarke Panorama of Brisbane 1880
Isaac Walter Jenner Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm 1888
Curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA
We delve into a major reframing project for prominent Queensland ornithological artist and taxidermist Anthony Alder’s (1838-1915) painting Red-tailed Black Cockatoos c.1895.
Anthony Alder (Standing 3rd from the right)
DELVE DEEPER: Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’
The oil on canvas Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (illustrated) acquired in 2014 entered the QAGOMA Collection retaining only its original slip and without a picture frame. It is uncommon for a painting to enter the Gallery’s Collection unframed, yet this is the case with this Adler work, therefore, while the painting was undergoing conservation treatment, the Conservation Frames and Furniture Section commenced researching reframing options of frame styles that were historically accurate and aesthetically suitable for paintings by Alder.
Before conservation: ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’ 1895
Reframing paintings at QAGOMA is based on in-depth research, historical accuracy, and a knowledge of art and art history. There are numerous resources available when researching historic picture frames, and in the case of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, our research commenced with Heron’s home 1895 (illustrated), another painting by Alder in our Collection.
Heron’s home was acquired in 2011 in an original 19th century picture frame that incorporates traditional frame making techniques and materials. Picture frames such as this were made or supplied by either an established picture frame making firm or importers of gilt mouldings.
TIME-LAPSE: Watch as the original colours are restored in Anthony Alders ‘Heron’s home’
To prepare Heron’s home for display, both the painting and frame required conservation treatment. While working on the frame, it was revealed that all the original compo ornament from the top edge and sight edge of the picture frame had been removed, prior to the gold overpaint being applied.
Frame during conservation: ‘Heron’s home’
Painting after conservation: ‘Heron’s home’ 1895
The most exciting stage of the treatment revealed the inscription ‘Mr Alder’, written in pencil on the verso of Heron’s home frame, providing a tangible link between artist, painting and frame. Unfortunately, no other frame maker’s labels or inscriptions relating to who the frame maker was, or when or where the frame was made were found.
‘Mr Alder’ inscribed on the verso of ‘Heron’s home’ picture frame
Publications on Anthony Alder reveal some relevant information:
‘most of the works held by the [Alder] family are still in their original highly ornate gilt frames which, according to the family, were made by Alder himself’.
‘He also produced a wide range of castings including fruit, fish and gold specimens, all in exceptional detail and painted in naturalistic colours. At the Greater Britain Exhibition in 1899 he received a gold medal diploma for gilded replicas of large cakes of retorted gold from mines at Gympie and Charters Towers’
‘Alder was also a skilled cabinet maker’.
There is a long history of artists designing, and in some instances making their own picture frames. Given Alder’s expertise in cabinet making, casting, and gilding, and the accounts of his descendants, this raised the question… is it possible that Alder made his own picture frames?
Our research continued with visits to precinct partners, State Library of Queensland and Queensland Museum who also have paintings by Alder in their collections. Two works of particular interest are Lincoln sheep, Homeward Laddie 1895 (illustrated), and Eagle and Fox (Not Game) 1895 (illustrated). Being of similar scale and profile, these picture frames are virtually identical to the frame on Heron’s home, employing the same gilding scheme, consisting of the undecorated areas being water gilt and the compo ornament being oil gilt. The main variation is the use of different styles of ornament employed to decorate each picture frame. This information proved crucial in understanding Alder’s choices of picture frames in 1895.
Profile of the picture frame: ‘Heron’s home’
Picture frame: ‘Lincoln sheep, Homeward Laddie’
Anthony Alder ‘Lincoln sheep, Homeward Laddie’ 1895
Picture frame: ‘Eagle and Fox (Not Game)’
Anthony Alder ‘Eagle and Fox (Not Game)’ 1895
However the question remained… are all these picture frames made by Alder himself? If by ‘made’ we are referring to purchasing prefinished mouldings, cutting, gluing and joining the mitres, then possibly yes. However, if one is referring to producing the profiled moulding, applying the compo ornament, and executing the various gilding finishes then this is highly unlikely. To manufacture picture frames of this quality, specialised woodworking machinery is required, stocks of different compo moulds are needed, and the knowledge of specialised picture framing gilding techniques is paramount.
Although the construction methods, materials, and gilding techniques employed on the three frames for Heron’s home; Lincoln sheep, Homeward Laddie; and Eagle and Fox (Not Game) — all painted in 1895 — are typically 19th century, the deep moulding profile, and the four separate sections of compo ornament are unique. This lead to the belief that the picture frames undoubtedly have the same provenance.
Although distinctive in style, I found the style of frames to be somewhat familiar. I distinctly remember encountering a similar frame on another painting within the Gallery’s Collection. During a stroll through Collection Storage, my search was rewarded as I came across the frame I was looking for on Oscar Friström’s portrait, Duramboi, from 1893, (illustrated) also on display at the Queensland Art Gallery’s Australian Art collection.
A contemporary of Alder, Friström was a prominent Brisbane portrait painter. Duramboi is framed in yet another version of the picture frames found on the three Alder paintings, it has the same deep moulding profile, four different sections of compo ornament and the same gilding scheme.
Oscar Friström ‘Duramboi’ 1893
Two crucial pieces of information are uncovered during the examination of the Duramboi frame. Firstly, Friström donated the artwork to the Gallery in 1895, two years after it was painted, which dates the picture frame between 1893 and 1895. Secondly, I find the most important piece of information when I turn the picture frame over —...
