Ocean piece c.1950

Kenneth Macqueen’s love of the sea stemmed from his childhood. He moved to Sydney from Brisbane as a 12-year-old and, while his family lived near the city at Woollahra, he made frequent trips to the harbour to paint. In 1922 Macqueen settled at Mount Emlyn on the Darling Downs; however, he holidayed at the coast. These trips gave Macqueen the time and opportunity to sketch the sea. The subject appeared in his work from the early 1930s. In the late 1930s, Macqueen began to paint beaches at the Gold and Sunshine Coasts where he holidayed with his family. Excursions were made to Tweed Heads and Maroochydore and, following the war, to Tewantin where the Royal Mail Hotel was used as a base for daytrips to Noosa which, at that time, lacked suitable accommodation. Caloundra was a favourite destination from the mid 1940s.

The sea continued to inspire Macqueen — his watercolours on the subject form the other important theme in his oeuvre, second only to the farm. In his book Adventure in Watercolour: An Artist’s Story (1948), he described a ‘countryman's yearning for the sea’ and expressed delight at ‘the thunder of the surf, the patterned foam and the salty joyous air’ of the seaside.¹ Figures appear infrequently in his seascapes. Macqueen was more interested in the unusual landforms flanking seashores or in the designs thrown up by waves as in Ocean piece, which was based on photographs that Macqueen took while holidaying at Coolum. 

Endnote

1. Kenneth Macqueen, Adventure in Watercolour: An Artist’s Story, Legend Press, Sydney, 1948, p.3.