ideas done on small canvases that he did very quickly, such as his show at the famous 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition in Melbourne, "9 by 5" referring to the size in inches of the cigar box lids on which most of the paintings were done. Roberts had more works on display in this exhibition than anyone else. In 1888 Roberts met Conder in Sydney and they painted together at Coogee beach. The younger Conder found these painting expeditions influential and decided to follow Roberts to Melbourne later that year to join him and Streeton at their artists' camp at Heidelberg. While Conder painted Coogee Bay emphasising on the decorative qualities of form and colour, Roberts' Holiday sketch at Coogee(1888) embodies his primary focus on the landscape's natural effects. It is an early testament to Roberts' plein-air 'impressionist' technique, which brought out the sun's glare on the bright blue sea, bleached white sand, dry grass and spindly seaside vegetation. Legacy Roberts' life was dramatised in the 1985 Australian mini series One Summer Again. A "lost" painting titled Rejected was featured in a 2017 episode of the BBC series Fake or Fortune?. It was determined by experts to be a genuine Roberts, dating from his student years in London. Roberts' granddaughter considered it a self-portrait. If so, it would make it his oldest surviving self-portrait. Retrospectives A retrospective toured Australia in 1996–97 and another was shown at the National Gallery of Australia from December 2015 – March 2016. Roberts was one of four Australian artists whose paintings featured in the Australia’s Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery, London, which ran from December 2016 to March 2017; it was described as 'the first UK exhibition of its kind'. Gallery See also Australian art References Further reading Croll, T.H. (1946) Smike to Bulldog : letters from Sir Arthur Streeton to Tom Roberts, Sydney, Ure Smith, (Sydney: Waite and Bull) Gray, Anne. Tom Roberts: La Vita Con Brio pp. 11–29, and Harmonic Arrangements: Tom Roberts' Painting pp. 31–58, in (2015) Tom Roberts, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Pearce, Barry (2000) Australian art in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, External links Tom Roberts on Picture Australia Tom Roberts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Tom Roberts on artistsfootsteps.com Tom Roberts essay at the National Gallery of Victoria 1856 births 1931 deaths Heidelberg School People