AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPES

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 36

AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPES

EXHIBITION OF ROBERT JOHNSON’S WORK. A number of people interested in ber when the exhibition of paintings by Robert Johnson was formally opened. In all 27 works of art were displayed, the subjects ranging from rustiee scenes to work depicting the famous Blue Mountains in Australia. All the subjects were Australian, and were dealt with in a manner to demonstrate the artist’s wonderful grasp both of the requirements of his subjects and of the technique of his art. In no instance did any work fall below standard, the exhibition as a whole being one of the finest one-man collections of landscape work ever displayed in Dunedin. The exhibition was opened by Mr D. E. Theqmin, after which Mr P. R. Sargood, president of the Art Society, gave a short address on Robert Johnson’s life. “ Robert Johnson was born in New Zealand, in poor circumstances," Mr Sargood said, “ and at an early age had to struggle for his livelihood. He was apprenticed to a signwriter in Auckland, soon showing his inherent genius at this profession, so that in time he gained a place in the art circles of the city. He gradually worked his way up, but at the outbreak of war enlisted, and served in France. At the close of hostilities he eked out a preedrious existence as an itinerant artist, but finally managed to secure the means to take an art course in Paris. After that his future seemed assured. He returned to Australia, feeling that in that country he had a field for his artiaMa sense, and that there was a more rosy outlook in art circles there than elsewhere.”

Some years ago, Mr Sargood continued, Robert Johnson’s pictures were exhibited in Dunedin along with the works of two other artists, some of his works then being secured for the Art Gallery. In his first one-man exhibition at Sydney he sold 1200 guineas’ worth of paintings, showing that the buying public appreciated his work. The editor of Art in Australia had stated that Johnson was one of the most prominent artists in Australia to-day. _ He had pictures in many of the galleries of the world, including the Auckland and Wellington galleries. As an Australian born, the speaker could appreciate Robert Johnson’s treatment of the Australian scenery in its various moods, having recaptured the intense sunshine, the great heat, and the wonderful - stillness which were such marked features of the Australian climate. Johnson had also realised the poetry of Australian country life in its various stages, and had surrounded his treatment of this subject with an atmosphere which was unmistakably rural as Australia knew it. The exhibition will be continued until June 9.