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==World War I==
==World War I==
[[File:Harold Septimus Power - Bringing up the guns.jpg|thumb|''Bringing up the guns'', 1917]]
[[File:Harold Septimus Power - Bringing up the guns.jpg|thumb|''Bringing up the guns'', 1917]]
After war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Australian government appointed official war artists to depict the activities of the [[First Australian Imperial Force|Australian Imperial Force]] in the European theater of war. Power was appointed in 1917 and was attached to the 1st Division, A.I.F. from September to December of that year and then again in August the following year.<ref>[[Australian War Memorial]] (AWM), [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/artist_profiles/power.asp H. Septimus Power biography]</ref> Official [[war artist|War Artist]] during the [[First World War]] and was renowned for his depiction of [[animal]]s, in particular [[horse]]s, on the field of [[battle]].<ref name=":0" /> After the war, Power was contracted by the [[Australian War Records Section]] for the next two decades.
After war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Australian government appointed official war artists to depict the activities of the [[First Australian Imperial Force|Australian Imperial Force]] in the European theater of war. Power was appointed in 1917 and was attached to the 1st Division, A.I.F. from September to December of that year and then again in August the following year.<ref>[[Australian War Memorial]] (AWM), [http://www.awm.gov.au/people/artist_profiles/power.asp H. Septimus Power biography]</ref> Official [[war artist|War Artist]] during the [[First World War]] and was renowned for his depiction of [[animal]]s,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=3 January 1951 |title=Septimus Power dead |pages=16 |work=News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130364360 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> in particular [[horse]]s, on the field of [[battle]].<ref name=":0" /> After the war, Power was contracted by the [[Australian War Records Section]] for the next two decades.


== Between the wars ==
== Between the wars ==
Line 48: Line 48:
Power conducted art lessons in his studio on the corner of [[Elizabeth Street, Melbourne|Elizabeth Street]] and [[Little Collins Street|Little Collins Streets]]. Among his students were [[Joan Lane]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=1980-06-13 |title=Composite on show |pages=16 |work=Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262759092 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> and [[Janet Dawson]] who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."<ref>Dawson interviewed by John Landt in {{Cite book |last=Landt |first=John |title=Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=October 2020 |edition=Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences |location=Canberra}}</ref>
Power conducted art lessons in his studio on the corner of [[Elizabeth Street, Melbourne|Elizabeth Street]] and [[Little Collins Street|Little Collins Streets]]. Among his students were [[Joan Lane]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=1980-06-13 |title=Composite on show |pages=16 |work=Australian Jewish News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262759092 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> and [[Janet Dawson]] who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."<ref>Dawson interviewed by John Landt in {{Cite book |last=Landt |first=John |title=Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=October 2020 |edition=Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences |location=Canberra}}</ref>


Power died at Richmond, Melbourne, on 3 January 1951 and was buried with Presbyterian rites in Brighton cemetery. He was survived by his second wife Margery Isabel, née Desmazures and sons Harold and Hayden,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 May 1940 |title=Family Notices |pages=23 |work=The Adelaide Chronicle |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92396961 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> the progeny of each of his marriages. He is well represented in public Australian galleries.
After a long illness, Power died at a private hospital in [[Richmond, Victoria|Richmond]], Melbourne, on 3 January 1951. Announcing his death, the Adelaide ''News'' reported that "Power received higher prices for his oils and water colors than any other living Australian artist."<ref name=":1" /> He was buried with Presbyterian rites in Brighton cemetery. He was survived by his second wife Margery Isabel, née Desmazures and sons Harold and Hayden,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 May 1940 |title=Family Notices |pages=23 |work=The Adelaide Chronicle |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92396961 |access-date=2022-10-31}}</ref> the progeny of each of his marriages. He is well represented in public Australian galleries.


== Commissions ==
== Commissions ==

Revision as of 09:32, 31 October 2022

Harold Septimus Power
H. Septimus Power standing sixth from the left in this group portrait of Australian official war artists, 1916-1918 by George Coates, 1920. Oion canvas, 124.2 x 104.5 cm.
Born
Harold Septimus Power

31 December 1877
Dunedin, New Zealand
Died3 January 1951
Melbourne, Australia
Known forillustrator, painter, war artist
Spouse(s)Isabel Laura Butterworth
Margery Isabel Desmazures

Harold Septimus Power, usually known as H. Septimus Power or H. S. Power (31 December 1877 – 3 January 1951) was a New Zealand-born Australian artist, who was an official war artist for Australia in World War I.

Early life

Caricature of Harold Septimus Power, 1920s, by John Henry Chinner from Saturday Journal, Adelaide

Harold Septimus Power was born on 31 December 1877, in Dunedin, New Zealand, to Peter Power, an Irish-born hatter, and his Scottish wife Jane.[1] His family migrated to Australia when he was young. In his early teens he left the family home to pursue a life as an artist.

Early paintings

After varied occupations, Power moved to Adelaide where he began his art studies.[2] He exhibited in 1899 with the Melbourne Art Club and soon after moved to Adelaide where he worked as an illustrator and political cartoonist for the Adelaide Observer, South Australian Register and the Adelaide Critic.[1] In 1904, he was commissioned by the trustees of the Art Gallery of South Australia to paint an animal scene. On 17 September, of the same year, he married his first wife Isabel Laura Butterworth.[1]

Between 1905 and 1907 Power studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, later settling in London. He became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Animal Painters.[1] During this time, he also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. His first one-man exhibition took place at the Guild Hall in Melbourne, Australia in June 1913. During this exhibition he displayed oils and watercolours of rural landscapes that were used as backdrops for equine scenes and hunting.[1]

World War I

Bringing up the guns, 1917

After war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Australian government appointed official war artists to depict the activities of the Australian Imperial Force in the European theater of war. Power was appointed in 1917 and was attached to the 1st Division, A.I.F. from September to December of that year and then again in August the following year.[3] Official War Artist during the First World War and was renowned for his depiction of animals,[4] in particular horses, on the field of battle.[1] After the war, Power was contracted by the Australian War Records Section for the next two decades.

Between the wars

During the interwar period Power spent time both in Melbourne and overseas, exhibiting on periodic returns usually featuring a work recognised in the Royal Academy, fetching prices of prices of five hundred guineas even during the Depression, though by the 1970s they were considered unfashionable and auctioned for around A$7,000.[5] With W. B. McInnes in 1927 he painted the ceremonial opening of the Federal parliament.

He married his second wife Margery Isabel (née Desmazures) in Adelaide on 5 September 1936,[6] and they lived in bayside Hampton.[7]

After 1945

Owned by Merrill Family Trust
Harold Septimus Power-My Vase Arrangement-Circa 1930 to 1945.

Power conducted art lessons in his studio on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Little Collins Streets. Among his students were Joan Lane,[8] and Janet Dawson who took his classes from the age of 11, between 1946 and 1949. She described him as "a funny old man [who] always had an unlit hand-rolled cigarette on his lower lip, which jiggled up and down as he talked. He was very kindly, and also a very good technician, and just taught basic things."[9]

After a long illness, Power died at a private hospital in Richmond, Melbourne, on 3 January 1951. Announcing his death, the Adelaide News reported that "Power received higher prices for his oils and water colors than any other living Australian artist."[4] He was buried with Presbyterian rites in Brighton cemetery. He was survived by his second wife Margery Isabel, née Desmazures and sons Harold and Hayden,[10] the progeny of each of his marriages. He is well represented in public Australian galleries.

Commissions

  • 1904: Elder Bequest commission from the trustees of the AGSA, for an animal picture, After the Day's Toil[11]
  • 1927: Opening of the Federal parliament
  • 1924: War, a mural for the Public Library of Victoria

Collections

  • National Gallery of Australia[12]
  • National Gallery of Victoria[13]
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales[14]
  • Art Gallery of South Australia[15]
  • Art Gallery of Western Australia[16]
  • Queensland Art Gallery[17]
  • The Sir Claude Hotchin OBE Art Collection, Shire of Narrogin[18]

See also

Bibliography

  • Holden, Robert. (1988). "Power, Harold Septimus (1877 - 1951)," Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 11. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press.
  • Reid, John B. (1977). Australian Artists at War: Compiled from the Australian War Memorial Collection. Volume 1. 1885–1925; Vol. 2 1940–1970. South Melbourne, Victoria: Sun Books. ISBN 978-0-7251-0254-8; OCLC 4035199

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Holden, Robert (1988). "Power, Harold Septimus (1877–1951)". In Serle, Geoffrey (ed.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 11 1891-1939 Nes-Smi (1st ed.). Melbourne: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University and Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0 522 84380 8.
  2. ^ Reid, John B. (1977). Australian Artists at War, Vol. 1, p. 15.
  3. ^ Australian War Memorial (AWM), H. Septimus Power biography
  4. ^ a b "Septimus Power dead". News. 3 January 1951. p. 16. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Streeton painting sold for $10.000". Canberra Times. 31 October 1973. p. 21. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Family Notices". The Australasian. 12 September 1936. p. 14. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Family Notices". Advertiser. 30 April 1940. p. 6. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Composite on show". Australian Jewish News. 13 June 1980. p. 16. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  9. ^ Dawson interviewed by John Landt in Landt, John (October 2020). Janet Dawson’s Printmaking, 1957-60 (Thesis : Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies (Advanced), College of Arts and Social Sciences ed.). Canberra: The Australian National University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ "Family Notices". The Adelaide Chronicle. 2 May 1940. p. 23. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  11. ^ McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan; McCulloch Childs, Emily (2006). The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art (Fourth ed.). Fitzroy BC, Vic. ISBN 0-522-85317-X. OCLC 80568976.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ "Septimus Power - Search the Collection, National Gallery of Australia". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Septimus Power". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Works by Septimus Power". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Septimus Power". AGSA - Online Collection. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Septimus POWER". Art Gallery WA Collection Online. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  17. ^ "POWER, Septimus | QAGOMA Collection Online". collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  18. ^ "The Sir Claude Hotchin OBE Art Collection". Shire of Narrogin. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
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