Fire's on

Arthur Streeton’s Fire’s On captures a charged moment inside a quarry where hard labor and sudden danger collide. Smoke rises sharply from an explosion, cutting through the clear blue sky and drawing attention to the raw force released from the earth. Small figures move along paths and ledges, dwarfed by rock faces that feel unstable and immense. The land here is not gentle or pastoral. It is fractured, exposed, and actively worked.

Streeton transforms industrial labor into a powerful landscape drama. The steep drop, scattered stone, and drifting smoke create a sense of tension and scale, emphasizing how fragile people appear against the forces they unleash. Painted in the late nineteenth century, the work reflects a time of expansion and extraction, when progress meant reshaping the land. Yet Streeton does not glorify the scene. Instead, he presents it with clarity and realism, showing both human effort and the quiet risk that comes with it.