Today we talk about one of Australia’s most influential artist, teacher and recognizable names in Australian art history, who helped give rise to one of the most significant changes in how we see art here in this country.
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
Julian Ashton
He was born in Surrey, England in 1851. He grew up in the small countryside near London and started drawing and painting at a young age. His father Thomas Briggs Ashton, encouraged Julian to paint.
His father was a painter, wood engraver and dealer in artists’ supplies from Philadelphia USA, with considerable success in his ventures. Julian’s mother, Henrietta Ashton was the daughter of Count Carlo Rossi of Sardinia and Henriette Sontag.
Henrietta’s mother (Henriette Sontag) was a German opera singer who sang the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis in Vienna.
Julian’s family moved to Totnes, Devonshire in 1864, where he was enrolled in the local primary school. He was the eldest of 2 brothers and sisters. However, his father passed away two years later, resulting in the family moving to London.
By The age of 15, he started working at the Great Eastern Railway Company in Stratford and began learning about painting with an old friend of his fathers.
He started studying art at the West London School Of Art Night School two years later while working at his new job as a church fitter for Hart Son Peard and Co. London during the day.
Three years later, he started working as a successful illustrator at journals such as Chatterbox and Cassell’s Magazine.
Including spending a few months at the new Académie Julian in Paris before returning to London and having his artwork accepted into The Royal Academy Of London in 1876 at the age of 25. (Including the Society of British Artists from 1871 to 1879)
That same year he married his first wife, Eliza Ann Pugh (d.1900). Eliza Ashton was the daughter of a wealthy merchant banker.
She studied at the college for girls in North London before doing further studies in France, where she possibly met Julian while on his trip in Paris.
MOVE TO AUSTRALIA
Julian and Eliza had their first son “Howard” in 1877, before moving to Australia in 1878 onboard “The Cuzco” for Julian to start working as an illustrator for David Syme’s Illustrated Australian News which he did for five years.
They had their second son “Percival George” while in Melbourne in 1879. Daughter “Bertha” in Fitzroy in 1882. Rupert in 1885 and Arthur in 1886.
Ashton was well known for his sketches depicting the Kelly Gang done in 1979 for the IAN Magazine. At the time, the Kelly gang was yet to be captured and had eluded authorities for over a year until their capture at Glenrowan.(photo left: “A sketch From Life” Ned Kelly In The Dock by julian Ashton 1880)
In 1881 he joined the Melbourne-based Australasian Sketcher Group and exhibited with the Victorian Academy of Artists in 1880, 1882 and 1883, also exhibiting at the 1879-80 Sydney International Exhibition and the 1880-81 Melbourne International Exhibition.
Julian and his family moved to Sydney to work on the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia in 1883. They spent many years working out of Sydney. During that time, his wife Eliza started working as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
In September 1882, Julian became a member of the NSW Art Society with his work “Evening Merri Creek” which was painted on the banks of the Merri Creek located in Victoria.
What made this work so significant was that it was considered at the time to be one of the first Plein Air paintings to have been painted in Australia. (Meaning a studio-quality painting being painted outdoors)
Plein Air painting had not been widely used in Australia.
Until around the 1890s-1900s, the painting style had only been gaining momentum in Europe as a new way to paint.
Julian was one of the first Australian artists to begin using the technique, which gave way for Australian artists such as Tom Roberts and Fredrick McCubbin to popularize the method in Australian impressionism.
By 1883 Julian Ashton exhibited with the Royal Agricultural Society Of NSW and with the Art Society of NSW at Sydney Town Hall. That same year Julian won both the J.P. Russell black and white prize for the best black-and-white drawing of a head and a second prize for a work exhibited in the Art Society’s Easter Black-and-White Exhibition.
In 1884 Ashton was elected to the committee of the Society with his work and also displayed in the Society’s monochrome exhibition at Royal Arcade of Sydney.
Julian also had a considerable influence on Australian artist Charles Conder. Charles came about meeting Julian on sketching trips along the Hawkesbury River.
BECOMING A LIVING LEGEND
With his success in Sydney and establishing himself in numerous art societies in NSW, Julian decided to take a trip to Queensland and Western Australia and take inspiration for his paintings and drawings.
Starting in the town of Townsville, Northern Queensland, Julian visited the area for commissioned work for the Picturesque Atlas Australia, A atlas company from the states that had establish an office in Sydney for their new Australian publication.
While in Townsville, Ashton came across a resident of the area who owned a stuffed 6-meter long crocodile, with a crafty placement of the taxidermy on the banks of the Ross River. Julian sketched a complete drawing of the animal amongst the bush.
Hanging the drawing up at the Queen’s Hotel in Townsville, it quickly became a talking point amongst the staff and guests. When asked how far away he was from the prehistoric beast, he replied with “Ten Feet” and quickly became known ‘as the man who sat and drew a crocodile not ten feet from him.
JOURNEYS TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA
After spending time in Townsville, Ashton then travelled to Albany for his next series of works done of the town, surrounding wildflowers and bushlands for the Picturesque Atlas, as well as painting and drawing for himself and The Bulletin.
By August, he travelled to the harbour town of Freemantle, located southwest of Perth. He was fascinated by the old architecture built the convicts and spent some time sketching and painting around the area before returning home to Sydney.
SCHOOL OF JULIAN ASHTON
On Julian’s return to Sydney, Julian formed one of the most influential art schools in Sydney in 1890, Being president of the New South Wales Society of Artists from 1897 to 1898 and then from 1907 to 1921. Plus, President of the Art Society of New South Wales from 1887 to 1892.
His involvement amongst the Sydney art scene was starting to gain a large amount of momentum, Rubbing shoulders with artists such as Australia’s most recognizable printmakers and artist: Norman Lindsey at the NSW Society Of Artists.
Ashton was an advocate of the Plein Air Technique, which he taught at his school in George Street The Rocks Sydney. Julian’s painting style was a significant influence on the impressionists of the Heidelberg School, which was gaining real momentum after the 1889 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition.
Julian was a supporter of the Heidelberg group and believed the pioneering artists did not deserve the criticism received by art critics.
The new style of art challenged the old techniques that Australia inherited by England and Europe.
The group changed the outlook on how the Australian landscape was painted with its rich light and colours that you only get because of its geographic location. (you can read all about the Heidelberg Movement HERE)
The Julian Ashton school became known as the Sydney Art School and has had a number of successful Australian artists study at the school over its 131-year history.
Including Elioth Gruner, George Lambert, Thea Proctor, Adrian Feint, Syd Long, Howard Ashton, (Julian’s son) Dorrit Black, J.J.Hilder, William Dobell, Eric Wilson, Jean Bellette, Douglas Dundas, Arthur Freeman, William Dadswell, John Passmore, Joshua Smith
Max Dupain, John Olsen, Michael Johnston, Nigel Thomson, Salvatore Zofrea and one of Australia’s most well know artist, Brett Whiteley who was influential in the Sydney art scene working out of the Lavender Bay area. (Learn about the Lavender Bay Artists HERE)
ELIZA ASHTON: SOCIAL REFORMER FOR WOMEN
Eliza Ashton was deeply involved with the social change sweeping the world around the turn of the century. Being a writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, Centennial Magazine and The Daily Telegraph, she was a keen supporter and advocated for woman’s rights.
Being a founding member of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales, Eliza was a strong speaker in 1896 on the topic of The Political Status of Women, stating that the only way to the political emancipation of women was by extending to them the right to vote.
She was also a supporter of the education of girls, writing a paper for the Centennial Magazine talking about the importance of education for girls and women, not just for society but the future of the world.
Sadly Eliza passed away before she could see a lot of her dream’s come true, passing at the age of 48 in 1900 from a stroke.
A TURN IN THE CENTURY FOR ART
Between 1889-99 Ashton the trustee of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, influencing the objectives of the art gallery to encouraging and promoting local artists in Australia.
The gallery bought its first (Sir) Arthur Streeton for £70 in 1890, ‘Still Glides the Stream and Shall Forever Glide’, Questions were even asked in parliament about the number of his Julian’s own paintings bought by the trustees which he had played no part in their selection.
1893 saw a change in Julian’s medium when he experimented with Fine Art Etching, introduced to the form of art by American born cartoonist and printmaker Livingston Hopkins.
Livingston was an American illustrator working out of a number of magazines and papers in the USA, Moving to Australia after receiving a job offer by William Henry Traill from The Bulletin Australia, where he remained until his retirement in 1913.
Livingston helped proof etchings by Julian Ashton, including submitting his etching’s to The Bulletin. Julian made seven etchings in 1893, along with Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, who was also experimenting with etchings.
From 1897 to 1898, Ashton was president of the Society of Artists which was then in 1903, integrated with the Art Society of New South Wales to become the Royal Art Society of New South Wales.
In 1898 Julian organized the first, And probably one of the largest and most successful exhibitions of Australian art in painting, drawing and watercolours at The Grafton Gallery in London for the time.
This was almost unheard of around the turn of the century as Australian art had not had the exposure other styles of art had received: for example, European and British art.
This was big for Australian art, not only for the nationalism towards Australia’s art but also for the artists working out of Australia, who had long been ignored by the Royal Academy in London.
He used his influence with Sir Henry Parkes, Bernhard Ringrose Wise and benefactor Howard Hinton among others, to promote the artworks of Norman Lindsay, Watercolorist Jesse Jewhurst Hilder and the Australian Heidelberg Impressionists.
It was a sign of things to come, Ashton winning several awards for his works during this period, including the ‘Prix de Rome’ in France in 1900.
In 1907 he led a successful move to re-establish the Society of Artists and was president until 1921 and vice-president until 1940 when he returned to the Royal Art Society. Being a figurehead amongst the society, Julian’s art school became very prominent and very much integrated with the art society.
In 1902 Julian Ashton married Constance (Renee) Irene Morley, whom he did a portrait of in 1903 and now residing at the Trout collection.
By 1914 Ashton’s eyesight began to deteriorate, which saw a decline in how much work he produced. His final painting was painted in Bondi titled “The Wave”.
Awards such as a retrospective exhibition at the Education Department Gallery in Sydney was given to him in 1920, with his retirement from painting, the “Julian Ashton Book” was published to celebrate his career at a time when Australia’s art was changing at every corner and right through the heart of the Federation of Australia
He received the first NSW Society of Artists’ medal in 1924 for ‘the advancement of Australian art’ and a CBE in 1930. In 1935 the Sydney Art School was renamed the Julian Ashton Art School.
In 1938 he was awarded the Sydney sesquicentenary prize for watercolour painting, including the ‘Three Generations of Painters award, which was held at Farmers Blaxland Gallery.
Ashton involvement in the burgeoning art of Australia for over 50 years was a testament to his passion for art but also the country he lived in. ‘If Australia is to be a civilization of value, she must be a nation of artists.’ Julian Ashton.
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FUTHER READING
Wikipedia Julian Ashton
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ashton-julian-rossi-5073
https://www.daao.org.au/bio/julian-rossi-ashton/biography/