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John Shirlow (Aust., 1869–1936).

Sailors’ Home [Melbourne]

1933. Etching, signed, dated and titled in plate upper left to centre, editioned 7/50 and signed in pencil in lower margin, 23.5 x 20.8cm.Slight foxing, soiling and old mount burn to margins.

Image held in the National Gallery of Australia.

Born in Sunbury, Victoria, John Shirlow was the “first Australian to make etching the basis of his career. Schooled in Melbourne, he studied for a time with Artur Loureiro (1853–1932) and attended design classes at the National Gallery School from 1890 to 1895. In 1904 he published Five Etchings, the first portfolio by a painter-etcher in Australia; it was followed by three other art books, and a school textbook on perspective. Specialising in renderings of old Melbourne buildings, which are now of great historical interest, he drew directly onto the plate in reverse. In 1929 he founded etching classes at the Working Men’s Institute. Throughout his life a prominent figure on the Victorian art scene, he was involved in various choirs and bushwalked with R.H. Croll and C.J. Dennis. He was a Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1922 to 1936.” Ref: National Portrait Gallery.

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Item #CL203-47

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