9 x 5"

Group Exhibition

22 January — 6 February 2021

In the late 1880’s, the Australian Impressionists known as the “Heidelberg School” began to paint on the lids of used cigar boxes as an immediate and portable alternative to linen.

It would forever intertwine the scent of tobacco and oil paint in the mythology of Australian art history. Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and Jane Sutherland, amongst others, used these boards on their frequent painting expeditions. The resulting works would form the first avant-garde painting exhibition in the history of Australian art. The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was held in the Buxton Rooms on Swanson Street, Melbourne, in August 1889.

While dubiously received by critics, the exhibition caused a sensation in a city that was still basking in wealth from the gold rush years. 183 impressionistic paintings—all roughly nine by five inches in size—were exhibited in the rooms that had been decorated in the fashionable Japonisme aesthetic of the day. The paintings themselves were exquisite—direct recordings of moments of dazzling light and implied detail that captured fleeting moments in life and the landscape. It was an exhibition that clarified the shift in antipodean painting from the more mannered colonial period.

Described at the time by critics as “preliminary sketches”, the works are now regarded as significant examples of Australian landscape painting—tightly held in major institutions throughout the country.

In 2020, the world became isolated, yet, somehow we found new ways to come together through technology. In holding the 9 by 5” painting exhibition at Nanda\Hobbs, we found an old way to build an artistic community. A collective project, this exhibition brings our artists and friends to the walls of the gallery to speak of where we live and how we can share our experience.

Anthony Hodgkinson and Ralph Hobbs
January, 2021

\ Exhibition featured works

Louis Pratt

Australia

2021 \ Red desert sand and mixed media on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Australia January

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Berlin Factory

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Chen Ping

Big Tree

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Black water, Bundanon

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Kathryn Ryan

Clouds over the old pines

2021 \ Oil on gesso board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

James Rogers

Coogee

2020 \ Paint, wire, glue on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

James Drinkwater

Drinks after the bout

2021 \ Oil and collage on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Adam Nudelman

Dusk at Cape Lintrap

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

James Powditch

Eaglemont - A Western

2021 \ Mixed media on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

James Powditch

Eaglemont

2021 \ Mixed media on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Kyle Turney

Field of dreams

2021 \ Mixed media on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Blak Douglas

Get over it

2021 \ Mixed media on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Impromptu Landscape No.2

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Kagaloon, en Plein Air

2021 \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Justine Muller

Ku-ring-gai

2021 \ Oil on card on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Laura Matthews

Lachrana Study

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Morten Lassen

Landscape I

2021 \ Oil and graphite on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

Morten Lassen

Landscape II

2021 \ Oil and graphite on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Nicholas Blowers

Mount Rumney, Hobart

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Zoë MacDonell

Reflections Blue

2021 \ Acrylic on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

Scotty Marsh

Scotty Marsh

2021 \ Acrylic and spray on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Kim Leutwyler

Sedona

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

Sirius Bright

2021 \ Acrylic polymer paint on panel \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Sirius Bright II

2021 \ Acrylic polymer paint on panel \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Jonathan Dalton

Six twelve, Friday Morning

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Christopher Horder

South King

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Gria Shead

Sydney after the rain

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

The Day's End

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Desmond Freeman

The Grand Canal seen through the facade of the Cei' d'oro, Venice

2021 \ Pen and ink on Arches 180gsm rag paper on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

Aaron Kinnane

The Lucky Country XI

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Aaron Kinnane

The Lucky Country XII

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Paul Ryan

The bored colonial

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Jason Cordero

The destination remained illusive

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Adam Nudelman

Towards 'Squeaky Beach', Wilsons Promotory

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Katy Woodroffe

Traces, Hobart Town 1825

2021 \ Acrylic and ground pigment on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Renata Pari-Lewis

Untitled Landscape

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Mathew Lynn

Wasted

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

Dee Smart

What lies beneath

2021 \ Watercolour, collage on board and epoxy resin \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Jun Chen

White Trees

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

Ben Smith

Wollumbin

2021 \ Oil on board \ 12.7 x 22.86

SOLD

Tom Adair

rocky outlook

2021 \ Airbrush acrylic on board \ 12.7 x 22.86cm

SOLD

\ Other exhibitions

James Drinkwater

ÉCOLE DES ARTS - Just outside Toulouse

18 November — 14 December 2024

David Fairbairn

THE SPACE BETWEEN THE LINES

24 October — 16 November 2024

Adam Nudelman

UNDER THE CANOPY OF A LOST PARADISE

23 October — 16 November 2024

Contact Us

to find out more about 9 x 5".

12 - 14 Meagher Street Chippendale, NSW 2008
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm Saturday, 11am - 4pm Closed Public Holidays (and Easter Saturday)