The Squatter's Daughter 1924

Curator: Today we're looking at "The Squatter's Daughter," an oil painting completed by George Washington Lambert in 1924. The scene depicts a rural Australian landscape, bathed in sunlight. Editor: The light! It’s so typically Australian, bleached and hot. The whole painting feels still, lazy… summery in that shimmering heat haze sort of way. The almost white horse seems very docile; the rider’s posture too. Everything and everyone seems resigned, patient. Curator: Lambert's choice of subject here is really interesting. The title itself gestures towards complex historical and social narratives. Squatters in Australia occupied land without legal title, often displacing Aboriginal populations. Depicting the squatter's daughter suggests both privilege and a fraught relationship with the land. Editor: Hmm, true. But there’s something innocent in the painter’s eye too, wouldn’t you say? It is a study of contrasts: the hard sunlight, versus the young girl's comparatively tender age... It really makes me wonder who the squatter and his daughter were – were they happy? Did they find paradise there? What's this landscape worth? I'm left wondering. Curator: I find it relevant to consider Lambert’s background in relation to this work. Though born in Russia, he identified strongly with Australia. Yet he painted this scene largely from memory after having left the country. One could argue his representation is imbued with nostalgia, perhaps idealizing a complex history of displacement. This idealisation would later inform notions of the bush and Australian identity as separate to other colonial projects. Editor: Absolutely. It has this quality to it... dreamy almost. I also adore the materiality, so textured, and the painter is not at all scared to apply light to darker areas, making this very rich, full of tone... full of visual energy that I almost mistook as "stasis." The eye of an artist can really mislead you sometimes, trick you, just to make the picture worth looking at. The history only fills the emotional and philosophical void. Curator: It's these tensions that makes "The Squatter's Daughter" such a compelling piece. We're drawn in by the seeming idyll, but also asked to consider the layered histories beneath the surface. Editor: Agreed! Lambert really gives us an evocative snapshot that ripples out far beyond this simple depiction of the landscape and the inhabitants. I will be taking this piece's image home, if that is okay, I want to reflect further on this and the points we talked about here... maybe even take inspiration for an oil painting of my own!