Joseph Augustine Clarke Archives

Go back in time to 1885 when Brisbane was a young township

Posted by Elliott Murray ● 11 May 2023

Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe’s watercolour Houses of Parliament, Brisbane 1885 (illustrated and currently on display at the Queensland Art Gallery) was painted just before the artist left Australia to return to England. We can clearly see Queensland’s Parliament House and other recognisable Brisbane landmarks from across the river in a depiction of the daily life of…

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Go back in time when Brisbane was a busy shipping port

Posted by QAGOMA ● 28 Mar 2023

Paintings of Brisbane by Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) such as Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm 1888 (illustrated) and View of Brisbane 1885 (illustrated) are on display in the upcoming exhibition ‘Isaac Walter Jenner: A feeling for Light’ at the Queensland Art Gallery from 2 September 2023 – 28 January 2024. The exhibition explores the…

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Go back in time to a busy corner of the Brisbane River

Posted by Elliott Murray ● 16 May 2022

George Wishart (1872-1921) was born in Brisbane and was taught painting by Isaac Walter Jenner, Brisbane’s foremost marine painter (illustrated below). Wishart also worked professionally as a photographer and was associated with local firm Thomas Mathewson Photographic Studio (see contemporary depictions of Brisbane below). Wishart’s painting A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897 is…

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Go back in time with early Brisbane watercolours

Posted by Elliott Murray ● 31 Jan 2022

Together with drawing, watercolour was most often the medium of choice for documenting the early years of settlement in Queensland, especially to depict the landscape, chosen for its ability to record fine detail, evoking atmosphere, and most favoured for its portability and convenience. In this watercolour Farm landscape with colonial homestead 1888 Robert S (Saunder)…

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JA Clarke’s grand picture of Brisbane

Posted by Judith McKay ● 12 Mar 2021

Public collections in Queensland have few outstanding examples of the work of our early artists. Of the major works dating from the 19th century, the Panorama of Brisbane 1880 by JA (Joseph Augustine) Clarke (1840–90), Queensland‘s first professional artist and art teacher, is undoubtedly the best known and most significant.1 Visit the nearly 4–metre–long panorama…

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