Sorrento Portsea Artists Trail

history

In 2004, the Mornington Peninsula Shire established Arts Nepean to encourage all forms of the arts in the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula. For many years the Peninsula has inspired the work of a number of famous artists, and one of the projects undertaken by Arts Nepean has been to establish the Sorrento - Portsea's Artists Trail which aims to bring the artists work to life by positioning images of the paintings as close as possible to the scene viewed by the artist.

Funding was provided by the Mornington Peninsula Shire under the terms of a Community Partnership Agreement with Arts Nepean and donations from Sorrento Rotary Club, the Tallis Foundation and local businesses and individuals in Sorrento and Portsea. With the help of the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery and Sotheby's Australia, the first five paintings were identified and stands installed by the end of 2005. Later, further paintings came to light and nine more stands were subsequently installed. The positions of the fourteen stands are shown in the attached plan.

Download Artists Trail PDF

the future

This is an on-going project. It is known that other artists have worked in this area and it is hoped to extend the trail in the future. To be considered, the work of the artist must be in a State or Regional gallery collection and/or the artist must be referred to in McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Artists. Please contact Arts Nepean if you have any suggestions.

artists works displayed

• Albert Tucker 1914 -1999
  Sorrento. 1942
  Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Collection
  Proceed down ramp to beach at Websters Corner and walk westward about 100 metres
  
  
• Roland Clark. Active in Australia 1890's -1905
  Nepean Historical Society Collection
  Koonya, Continental and Sorrento Hotels 1904 - The stand is on Sorrento Jetty
  
  
  
• Roland Clark. Active in Australia 1890's -1905
  Sorrento Foreshore with Buildings. 1904
  Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Collection
  This is located near the entrance to the Sorrento Pier, beside the toilet block.
  
  
  
• Ray Hodgkinson 1911 - 1993
  View from Munstead Wood. c 1947
  Private Collection
  Proceed to the beach end of Lentell Avenue, Sorrento (parking is available part way down the avenue).
  
  
  
• Sir Arthur Streeton 1867 -1943
  Point King. 1920
  Private Collection
  Proceed down Lentell Avenue, Sorrento (parking is available part way down the avenue). Enter the gate to your left and walk up the hill, about 300 metres, in front of the houses.
  
  
  
• Arthur Boyd 1920 -1999
  Laycock's Jetty. 1957br /> Private Collection
  Proceed to the end of Point King Road (limited parking is available), and walk right about 100 metres, along the path to the Point King monument.
  
  
  
• Sir Arthur Streeton 1867 -1943
  Sorrento from Point King. 1921
  Private Collection
  This is at Point King, next to the Arthur Boyd painting, basically of the same view.
  
  
  
• Sir Arthur Streeton 1867 -1943
  View from Barrett's Point, Portsea. 1921
  University of Adelaide Visual Arts Collection
  Go towards the bay beach to the bottom of Franklin Road, Portsea (parking is available). Walk up the path to the right for about 100 metres, then veer left on a track towards the water. There are 3 big steps down to the painting.
  
  
• Penleigh Boyd 1890-1923
  Portsea. 1922
  Private Collection
  Walk along the Portsea Pier road and, before reaching the pier, turn left and walk about 150 metres across the sand, around the rocks and behind the retaining wall. Alternatively, walk down The Cutting (parking available) and then about 100 metres to the right, along the beach in front of the bathing boxes.
  Note: access is not possible at high tide.
  
  
• Penleigh Boyd 1890-1923
  Portsea.1921
  Private Collection
  This is at Police Point. Follow the entrance road around to the right. The stand is by the fence overlooking Portsea Front Beach.
  
  
• John Perceval 1923-2000
  Quarantine Boundary, Portsea. 1957
  Australian National University Collection
  From the car park at the end of London Bridge Road, take the sealed walking track to its end, overlooking London Bridge.
  
  
• Isaac Whitehead 1819-1883
  Ocean Beach Sorrento. 1871
  Private Collection
  This is located past the Parks Victoria kiosk entry to the Sorrento Back Beach, about 100 metres along the back beach (Coppins) walking track.
  
  
• Emanuel Phillips Fox 1865 - 1915
  At Sorrento 1915
  Private Collection
  Proceed to the back beach at the top end of St Pauls Road. Walk towards Diamond Bay to side track on to
  Jubilee Point.
  
  
• John Perceval 1923 - 2000
  Ocean Beach Sorrento. 1957
  National Gallery of Victoria Collection
  From the Diamond Bay car park, walk up the sealed
  path to the top of the steps leading down towards the beach. The painting is to the right.