This evocative Australian town scene by Ric Elliot
(Australian-English 1933–1995) 
captures the quiet character of a small rural settlement, with modest buildings, 
an almost empty roadway and a solitary female figure viewed from behind. 
Telegraph poles, verandahs and simple architecture evoke mid-20th-century Australia and 
the everyday life of towns increasingly altered by modern development. 
 
Rather than presenting a grand landscape, 
Elliot celebrates the ordinary Australian streetscape, 
giving the work a nostalgic, almost documentary quality 
and preserving a particular moment in Australian social history.
 
Oil on Board
 
Dimensions: 
Painting – 23 x 39.5cm 
Frame – 41cm x 56cm 
 
Signed lower left 
 
The composition is distinguished by Elliot’s restrained, 
earthy palette of dusty pinks, ochres, muted greens, pale blue-grey & warm terracotta, 
beautifully conveying the dry light and atmosphere of the Australian countryside.
 
Areas of relatively smooth paint are contrasted with more heavily textured passages in the roofs, 
foliage and foreground, while simplified architectural forms give the scene 
a distinctive naïve-modern character. 
 
The strong perspective of the road and veranda posts draws the eye 
into the township, while the lone figure provides both scale and a quiet human presence.