John Mather (artist)

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For the South Australian painter and newspaperman, see John Baxter Mather.
For other people named John Mather, see John Mather (disambiguation).

Mosman's Bay, 1889, by Mather, showing the ferry from the city to the artists' camps

John Mather (1848 – 18 February 1916) was a Scottish-Australian plein-air painter and etcher.[1]

Early life[edit]

Mather was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of John Mather, a surveyor, and his wife Margaret, née Allan.[1] Mather worked as a house decorator.[2] Mather studied art at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and migrated to Australia in 1878.[1][3] He was married in 1882[4] to Miss Jessie Pines Best, a daughter of Captain James Best, a pilot of Hobson's Bay. Together they had one daughter and three[4] sons,[5] Margaret Playfair, John Allan, Louis Melville (died in infancy), and Leslie Frank Strand (died in 1919).[6]

Career[edit]

In 1880, Mather was partly responsible for the decoration of the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne.[2][7] He joined the bohemian Buonarotti Club, camping with other members on plein-air painting expeditions, and from 1886 served, with Frederick McCubbin, Louis Abrahams and Jane Sutherland, on its exhibition selection committee established by Tom Roberts.[8] In 1892 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria,[1] then was a founding member of the Victorian Artists' Society, and its president in 1893–1900, 1906–1908 and 1911.[1] Mather was a member of the Felton Bequest Committee from 1905 to 1916 and as trustee, strongly supported Australian art.[1]

As a painter, Mather was also involved in the bohemian Artists' Camps of Sydney. In 1912 along with Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum, Walter Withers Mather formed the breakaway Australian Art Association.[1]

Three of Mather's own paintings, Autumn in the Fitzroy Gardens in oils, and Morning, Lake Omeo and Wintry Weather, Yarra Glen, both watercolours, were purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria.[1]

Residences, Studios and other Addresses[edit]

Mather had a number of homes, studios and other addresses throughout his career, including:

1881 Davis Street South Yarra,[9] Residence,
1885 F. Hyman & J. Mather, Artists, Colormen and Stationers and Decorating Business, 69, 71, 131 Swanston Street and 84 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne [10] Business
1885 95 Collins Street Melbourne [11] Studio
1885 -1888 33 Darling Street, South Yarra [12] Residence
1888 3 Murphy Street, South Yarra [13][14] Residence
1886 -1894 Koombahla, Healesville [15] Residence and Studio
1890 -1916 Austral Buildings, 117-119 Collins Street, Melbourne [16] Studio
1895 -1900 The Pines, Wellington Street, Brighton [17] Residence
1901 -1911 156 Alma Rd, St. Kilda East [18] Residence and Studio
1912 -1916 Cadzow, 383 Toorak Road, South Yarra [19] Residence and Studio,

Students[edit]

Mr John Mather is reported to have had a wide celebrity as a teacher, and though the majority of his pupils did not aspire to more than amateur status, there are artists of repute in Melbourne now who commenced their careers in his Austral School in Collins Street.[20] His students included:

• Jessie Traill[21]

• Ida Rentoul Outhwaite[22]

• Jessie Laver Evans

• M. J. MacNally[23]

• Ellis Rowan[24]

• Miss Robertson [25]

• Lady Downer [26]

• Margaret Forrest or Lady Forrest [27]

• Lady Williams [27]

• David Davies[28]

• Alexander McClintock [29]

• Polly Hurry

• Dora Wilson[30]

• Janie Wilkinson Whyte

Death[edit]

Mather died of diabetes at his home, Cadzow, South Yarra, Victoria on 18 February 1916; he was buried in the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery[1] and lay in a grave with no memorial for more than 100 years.[31]

John Mather's grave with no memorial, Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery

Written just thirteen years after his death, "The war claimed his only son and his daughter who was well known in Melbourne music circles, lives now in the United States. It is as if "the place thereof knoweth him no more " But how can an artist ever be forgotten as long as human eyes are irresistibly drawn to the quiet beauty of his pictures on the wall?"[32]

In July 2023 a small plaque was placed on the grave simply stating:

Mr John Mather 1848 – 1916 The beauty of his art endures.

The modest plaque and words maintain the poignancy of a grave with no memorial.[33]

The words, his art endures, refers to his painting and etching but also the art he nurtured as a mentor, teacher and one of the founding fathers of art in Victoria.[34]

Collections[edit]

  • National Gallery of Victoria[7]
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales[7]
  • Art Gallery of Western Australia[7]
  • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery[7]
  • Ballarat Art Gallery[7]
  • Castlemaine Art Museum[7]
  • Geelong Art Gallery[7]
  • Launceston Art Gallery[7]
  • Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Judy Blyth, 'Mather, John (1848? - 1916)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 438-439. Retrieved 2010-04-01
  2. ^ a b Serle, Percival (1949). "Mather, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  3. ^ Loch Long Passenger List 8 October 1877
  4. ^ a b Ancestory.com John Mather family tree accessed 6 Oct 2022
  5. ^ "The Argus, 21 Feb 1916".
  6. ^ Ancestry.com John Mather Family Tree accessed 6 Oct 2022
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan; McCulloch Childs, Emily (2006). The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art (4th ed.). Fitzroy: AUS Art Editions ; The Miegunyah Press. p. 667. ISBN 0-522-85317-X. OCLC 80568976.
  8. ^ Mead, Stephen F. (December 2011). "The Search for Artistic Professionalism in Melbourne: the activities of the Buonarotti Club, 1883 -1887". The Latrobe Journal. 88.
  9. ^ Prahran City Council Rates Records 1881
  10. ^ Sands and McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1885
  11. ^ Sands and McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1885 and label on reverse of 1885 watercolour (unknown title) sighted 11 December 2022
  12. ^ Prahran City Council Rates Records 1885 -1888
  13. ^ The Age, 18 Feb 1888, p 8, Situations Vacant,
  14. ^ Prahran City Council Rates Records 1885 -1888, Thallon's Ledger 1888 -1903, National Gallery of Victoria accessed 13 Feb 2024 and Autumn Exhibition Catalogue, Victorian Artists' Society, May 1888, p20.
  15. ^ Evening Journal, Latest News, 13 Dec 1886 p.2, Leader 10 Mar 1894 Fine Arts Amongst the Country Studios pp 32
  16. ^ Table Talk 26 March 1891 page 12, Sands and McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1890 - 1900
  17. ^ Brighton City Council Rates Records 1895-1900, Sands & McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1900
  18. ^ The Age 1 Jun1901 Art Notes p 8, Sands & McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1905-1910
  19. ^ Exhibition of Mr J. Mather’s Paintings 26 September 1912 Catalogue
  20. ^ The Age 5 Nov 1932 p4. Australian Artists of the Past
  21. ^ Jo Oliver, 2020, Jessie Traill A Biography, pp 29-30
  22. ^ The Argus 28 Sep 1929 p5, Memories of Mather
  23. ^ Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 1956. A Catalogue of Australian Paintings and Drawings in the Tasmanian Art Gallery p 44
  24. ^ The Argus The Argus 28 Sep 1929 p5, Memories of Mather
  25. ^ Table Talk, 29 May 1891. p5 Mr John Mather
  26. ^ The Registrar, 9 Sept 1913, p10, The Mail 13 Sept 1913 p1
  27. ^ a b The Mail 13 Sept 1913 p1, A Lifetime of Art
  28. ^ The Mail 13 Sept 1913 p1, A Lifetime of Art
  29. ^ The Australasian 28 Jan 1922 p34, Art Notes
  30. ^ Design and Art Australia Online accessed 4 Apr 2024
  31. ^ Site Visit 18 Aug 2022
  32. ^ MacGregor, L.F (28 September 1929). "The Argus". Memories of Mather A PAINTER OF SUNSHINE. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  33. ^ A 2014 photograph reveals that MATHER is engraved on the face of the granite border stones, now obscured by the existing ground level. Findagrave.com accessed 24 Aug 2023
  34. ^ Site Inspection and commission for plaque 5 Aug 2023

External links[edit]

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