Jo Reitze, Yarra River, St Patrick's Cathedral, 1985
Summary
This vibrant oil on canvas was made by Melbourne-based artist Jo Reitze in 1985. Asymmetrically split, the composition gives cultivated nature the lion’s share of the pictorial space. Behind this bright, textured and free-form natural domain, St Patrick’s Cathedral – one of Melbourne’s major religious landmarks and so often a focus in itself – is forced from centre stage, a shadowy presence that plays second fiddle to a joyous expression of nature.
The captivating beauty of gardens is a favoured subject of Jo Reitze, who brings out the essence of each of the many gardens she depicts through texture, colour and tonal contrast as much as through form and detail. It is thus little wonder that it is the park rather than the cathedral that infuses ‘Towards St Pat’s’ with spirit and joie de vivre.
