We Will Remember All of Them
As it is Remembrance Day, I am paying homage to an artist you probably haven't heard of. A man who had a prolific career as an illustrator and landscape painter, later becoming an official war artist with many paintings held by the Australian War Memorial.
ALBERT HENRY FULLWOOD
Albert was born on the 15th of March 1863 at Erdington, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, the son of
Frederick John Fullwood, jeweller, and his wife Emma. He was the middle child
of six. From the age of 15, Henry, as he was better known, attended Birmingham
Institute on a scholarship. The census in 1881 shows most of the children
living together, Henry as a jeweller and artist. Upon completing his studies and soon after his
father had died, he migrated to Sydney arriving in December 1883 on the Rialto. He was listed as a lithographer
(printmaker).
Henry soon found work at
John Sands Ltd and became a black and white illustrator for the Picturesque
Atlas of Australasia and travelled extensively to Thursday Island, Darwin, Port
Moresby and later New Zealand. He was employed to capture images of these areas
for use in illustrated magazines that were becoming increasingly popular in
Victorian times to give the reader a glimpse of places they had never heard of
or ever likely to see.
Henry in younger days - Wikipedia
His illustrations were
sought after and were published in the London Graphic and Black and White, the
Australian Town and Country Journal, the Bulletin and the Illustrated Sydney
News - all having wide coverage.
He gained many artistic
friends and spent weekends with Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton at their camp
at Sirus Cove in Sydney. Henry was a member of the Art Society of NSW from 1884
but with Tom Roberts and others was less than satisfied with the influence of
non-artists on its committee and set up the breakaway Society of Artists,
Sydney.
In October 1896, he married
Clyda Blanche Newman the daughter of a photographer. Due to the economic
downturn during the 1890's, he auctioned his work and went with his family to
New York for a year and then to London. After the beginning of the new century,
it became aware that Clyda was suffering a mental condition and was placed in
Bethlem Asylum. She was removed to a better facility but due to financial
constraints was released to her home. It wasn't long before she became a guest
of Horton Asylum in Epsom. In the meantime, a financially stretched Henry was
finding as much regular black and white work as he could in London. He
exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1906 and the Salon de la Societe
des Artists France, Paris.
Clyda's health was not
improving but she was in a pleasant place. From February 1915, orders came that
the Asylum had to made vacant for wartime casualties and she was transferred to
the already crowded Cane Hill Asylum in Croydon where TB was rife.
Soon after the outbreak of
WW1, Henry joined the Allied Arts Corps. There had been a call requesting that
the Chelsea Arts Club members enlist as privates and work as orderlies in
hospitals. The idea was that artistic people would be able to give a more sympathetic
ear to the wounded as well as keep their hand in sketching and painting whilst
on duty. As such Henry was posted to No.3 London General Hospital, Wandsworth,
with fellow Australian artists, Roberts, Streeton, George Coates and others.
In 1918 with the rank of
Honorary Lieutenant in the AIF, he went to France as an official artist to the
5th Division and painted scenes of the Western Front, mainly watercolours, for
the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Tom Roberts on extreme right - AWM
Picardie, Somme, France July 1918 - AMW
Henry was demobilised in
December 1919 and returned to Sydney in February the following year. Together
with John Shirlow in 1920 he was a founder of the Australian Painter-Etchers'
Society and in 1924 served on the first committee of the Australian Water-Colour
Institute.
Henry's works are
represented in many galleries including the Art Gallery of NSW (some 31), the
National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, galleries in
Dresden Germany and Budapest and of course the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Albert Henry Fullwood died
from pneumonia in the War Memorial Hospital Waverley on the 1st of October 1930
and was buried in the Anglican section of the Rookwood cemetery. He was
survived by a son, Geoffrey Barr, who lived mostly in the USA and for a short
time in New Zealand. His son Philip and daughter Marjorie predeceased him. His
wife, Clyda Blanche, died in Carne Hill Asylum Surrey in 1918.
Henry's life was tumultuous, and he was known to have a
volatile temperament but his work, of which there is more than you could
possibly imagine, reflects his life and times in a keen eyed but poignant way
giving reverence to his subjects.
Albert Henry Fullwood lay
for years in an unmarked grave until early 1921 when a memorial plaque was
placed upon his plot.
A relative and historian,
Gary Werskey, wrote a book about the art of Henry with the title
"Picturing a Nation" and it goes a long way to giving Henry some of
the recognition he rightly deserves.
About the same time as that
book launch an exhibition of works from the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia
was held at the National Library of Australia Canberra showcasing Henry's work
as well as Julian Ashton, Frank Mahony and others.
On Remembrance Day we pay
respect to all those that died in conflict from the lowly cleaner to the nurses and doctors as well as the fighters involved in the AIF, the
Airforce and the Navy.
At the going down of the sun
We will remember them
Rest in Peace
For today's blog I have
referenced ancestry.com, the AWM, the Australian Dictionary of Biography,
Wikipedia, the National Library of Australia, "Picturing a Nation" -
the Art & Life of A.H Fullwood by Gary Werskey amongst other sources.
If you have any comments or
insights about this blog today, please add them here or at the group facebook
page at
Rookwood Cemetery
Discoveries
or simply send me a message
at
lorainepunch@gmail.com
Until next week.
Comments
Post a Comment