Background: material space

The exhibition title and concept references the famous 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition held at the Buxton Rooms, Swanston Street Melbourne in 1889. All seven artists in that exhibition, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin, Charles Conder, C. Douglas Richardson, R.E. Falls and Herbert Daly, were National Gallery School alumni. McCubbin was also a staff member and Louis Abrahams, also a former student, supplied the 9 x 5 inch cedar cigar box lids on which the works were painted.

At the time, women made up the majority of the National Gallery School student cohort and alumni. It is significant to note that Jane Sutherland, Clara Southern, May Vale, Elizabeth Parsons, and Jane Price, who practised en plein air painting and were associated with the development of Australian Impressionism, were not included in the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition.

In contrast, representation in the current 9 X 5 NOW exhibition is characterised by inclusivity and diversity of identity, generation and practice. Each contributing artist was supplied with a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) plywood board, and a range of works have been returned from across Australia and overseas that include contemporary approaches to photography, drawing, text, painting and cross media practice.

It is easy to forget that en plein air painting promoted by the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition was avant garde and challenged the prevailing status quo. In this light, the 1889 exhibition can be considered one of the first Artist Run Initiatives (ARIs), which have since come to characterise exhibition practice in Melbourne.